CASH, PLEASE!

I got my new mobile phone last weekend, since the old one was hanging by a thread. This is only the second mobile phone that I actually paid for in my entire life, since all my others were hand-me-downs from Dad. That’s the good thing about having a mobile phone geek for a father, since he is always after the latest models, and the rest of us less particular mortals get stuck with his leftovers. However, this time round, he lost his phone just days after he indicated an interest in a new phone, so I had to get a new one for myself.

I went to a Singtel distributor instead of the Hello! shop, since I wasn’t too interested in the massive queues. However, at this distributor, I was requested to pay cash for my new phone, because of the high cost of doing business for the distributor in using either NETS or credit card payment. I was just a little put off, because I had to go some ways to an ATM and get the cash, and if I had been in a hurry, this shop would have lost the sales. Just how many people carry hundreds of dollars with them on a whim? And carrying about 10 credit cards with me, and not being able to make use of them in such a situation makes me feel downright stupid.

There was an article in the papers recently regarding Singapore’s drive to going cashless, and comparing Singapore to countries like US, and some Scandinavian countries. The main point of the article was the lack of a single streamlined and integrated cashless system in Singapore that would do the job effectively and efficiently. We now have NETS and EZ-link in addition to the usual round of credit cards, but there are obvious gaps and overlaps in the various systems. The conclusion was that Singapore would have a long way to go before we will be able to catch up in terms of going cashless.

After the experience with the mobile phone distributor, I have to agree with the article. In addition, the final system should be such that it does not significantly add to the cost of doing business for retailers, who may in turn pass the cost on to the end user. If it is indeed the government’s drive towards a cashless society, then they should also ensure that a monopolistic (or oligopolistic) kind of situation does not arise, and allow the service providers to arbitrarily adjust their costs, as we have seen from the NETS saga here. (I could also name a few other monopolistic public service companies with frequently protested price hikes, but I think we all know which ones these are). Otherwise, we may all just end up with a white elephant on our hands.

By the way, my new phone is a Samsung Ultratouch. I chose it because…..I like the red edgings. Engineer I may be, but I’m still a girl at heart. Why pay so much for something that doesn’t lift your spirits every time you look at it?