Once upon a time, all of us carried cash in our wallets, pockets, and purses. When we needed more, we stopped at the bank or cashed a check at the grocery story or unearthed it from a hidey hole we kept secret from the rest of the world.

Nowadays, lots of folks use cashless ways of paying for good and services from credit and debit cards to services such as PayPal and Zelle. So I bet you think that we have decidedly tilted in the direction of a cashless society.

Nope. Cash, after credit and debit cards, is the third most used method of payment in the U.S. Americans have a great fondness for the folding stuff.

Oh, make no mistake, there was a trend toward a cashless society during the pandemic. (Amazing how often that word shows up when talking about change, isn’t it?) But it slowed and then stopped when the pandemic ended. It seems that most Americans still prefer cash, carry cash, pay in cash, request payment in cash for person-to-person transactions like those at yard sales, etc. etc.

There’s another reason that cashless transactions slowed down—we became aware of how much we are tracked by the companies that wield the power behind those monetary exchanges. Cash is the only way to pay that guarantees anonymity, and come to find out, we like it that way. How we spend our money is no one’s business but our own, right?

My husband and I now use cash as our default whenever possible, especially as we became aware of the financial burden (fees) that using cards places on our favorite local businesses. We pay and tip at local restaurants only in cash. Transactions at our local co-ops, resale shops, and at the farmers markets are now only in cash.

And as for purchasing online—well, let’s just say that Amazon misses us, and will continue to miss us. In fact, I consider it an interesting challenge to locate online retailers that do a much better job with superior products than Amazon. In fact, according to Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification, Amazon’s algorithm is guaranteed to show you only junk products in the first ten to fifteen choices that show up in your search results. And that’s deliberate on Amazon’s part.

(Seriously, read his book. It’s a true eye-opener.)

Our return to cash is yet another step in our personal quest to make better (non-digital) decisions about how we spend the minutes of our lives. I am starting to see the same quest developing among our friends, and I hope (through you), the trend toward cash will accelerate.