*Original post was from my READ.CASH account
So, according to the news, coins in the Philippines will be of no longer use in the near future by 2025 to be more specific as per the Central Bank of the Philippines.
Small businesses will now be using QR code for transactions instead of using coins. The idea is mainly to prevent virus from spreading thus no contact from both the customer and the seller.
Opinions from some vendors and common customers were asked about this idea of a “Coinless Society”.
QR CODE
What is QR Code? It is an abbreviation for Quick Response Code that was designed for an automotive industry in Japan back in 1994. A QR code contains black square grid with white background. Information can be stored in the QR code like, email address, website, price tag, location and any data depends on kinds of transaction.
The Quick Response System became known outside the automotive company and some adopted it as it is easier to do transactions with QR Code. Unlike the old UPC barcodes that have very limited storage capacity and are quite slower to read than QR Code scanners.
This idea of the Central Bank was for small businesses as they are the ones whose transactions use coins almost everyday. They have come up with this because coins are being handed to anyone thus making it a carrier of viruses.
What good could it bring?
Aside from virus prevention it has a positive impact on the consumers. Firstly, Philippine peso coins are being devalued overtime. Paper bills are being converted to coins like, the 2-peso, 5 peso and 10 peso bills thus making it of no value to common people.
Coins also are heavier to carry and thus make some mess during transactions. It can also delay the process of business transactions if a customer has lots of coins as it will consume time to count coins of huge amounts.
Some people also got confused of Philippine coins these days as they are almost identical.
These are only the advantages of replacing coins with QR Codes not to mention other uses like for advertising, loyalty programs, virtual stores and or restaurant ordering to name but a few.
Are the Pilipino people ready?
The question is quite troublesome. If this Coinless Society is meant for small business how could it possibly be? Sari-sari stores and street vendors are those to be affected by this. Not all have given the privilege of education and this QR code means nothing to people whose food depends only on a daily basis income. Transactions will be using smartphones as a device scanner and of course there will be a platform for E-wallet. I don’t think a Taho vendor or Balut vendor selling on the street would agree to this.
Another thing was that common Pinoys used to purchase in sari-sari store (small store) by retail like pisong paminta, pisong bawang or pisong sibuyas although you can no longer purchase anything with a piso these days. Imagine if they will be using QR code for this.
These are just a real life situation of what will be the Pros and Cons of using this QR code for transactions. If I'm going to ask about this, I would still go for Coinless Society however we will have to be considerate of people who know nothing about this technology. I personally can say that cashless transactions are good as I myself have been using this type of transaction for a couple of years now.
