In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

Re:In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete by objclxt on Monday July 17, 2017 @02:36AM (#14786150)

To add to this: it's not just low transactions fees for the merchant, it's cheaper payments for the customer as well.

Both Alipay and WeChat have spent billions subsidizing and discounting. Go into a restaurant in Beijing and there's a good chance you could get 10 or 15% off your bill by paying with WeChat.

So given that it's both cheaper for the merchant and cheaper for the customer it's no surprise it has taken off so much.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete by muninn_ on Monday July 17, 2017 @07:05AM (#14787348)

Well yes and this is because they are paying to build the infrastructure out. In the U.S. that infrastructure already exists so there's no need for subsidies.

But to add to that, I would love to live in a world where I don't have to play the credit card game, but using cash in the U.S. at least is putting you behind. The prices are the same for an item whether you use cash or not, except with even the worst credit card you can get 1% cash back.

[ Parent | on HN ]