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Bank cards and smartphones have become the most popular means of payment in this country. The people on the street feel this in particular. They are among the silent victims of a society that is carrying less and less cash.
Sven ZauggEditor Sunday view
A swipe with the card, a short beep and the bill is settled. Fast, easy, contactless. Bank cards and smartphones have become the most popular means of payment in this country. According to surveys, only 35 percent of Swiss people prefer cash – these are mainly people with low incomes. Even in shops for daily needs, the acceptance of coins and bills is steadily declining.
The people on the street feel this in particular. They are among the silent victims of a society that is carrying less and less cash. Some have neither a bank account nor a mobile phone, they don’t know a quick transfer via Twint, only Münz could alleviate their misery a little.
Walter von Arburg from the social services pastor Sieber says: “Many of our clients report that more and more passers-by are apologizing that they don’t have any cash with them.”
The corona pandemic has accelerated the trend towards a cashless society. A number shows just how quickly: the mobile payment service Twint alone gained 700,000 users in just one year. According to his own statements, he now has around four million “active” accounts.
Beggars evade
“With far-reaching consequences,” adds Walter von Arburg. “In order to make money, the beggars turn to illegal activities such as prostitution, receiving stolen goods and stealing. Or they approach tourists who often still have cash with them.”
The Salvation Army has also noticed that the Swiss population hardly carries any cash with them and has reacted: Spokesman Holger Steffe says: “In the classic pot collection, our street collection campaign at Christmas time, we also notice tendencies towards cashless payments and have been offering them for some years of donating via Twint.»
While the people on the street hardly ever receive alms, the donation pots of the local aid organizations are full to bursting. In megacrises, the Swiss population shows particular solidarity.
Just a few weeks after the start of the Ukraine war, the aid organizations had collected 285 million Swiss francs in donations, almost as much as the tsunami donations in all of 2005. At 300 million Swiss francs, this was previously considered a record donation for a single event.
Red Cross record
In 2021, a total of two billion francs were donated to aid organizations in Switzerland. 70 percent of them came from private households. A record that is likely to be surpassed again this year, as information from the largest Swiss aid organizations suggest. For example with the Red Cross, the oldest and largest aid organization in Switzerland. Final figures for the current year are not yet available. But last year’s record of CHF 44 million should easily be broken, according to spokeswoman Sabrina Hinder. In particular, the volume of online donations is constantly increasing. Hinder: «Since the corona pandemic, trust in digital means of payment has increased and many people have become more familiar with them. This also has an impact on donations.”
Swiss Solidarity also observed an extraordinarily high level of solidarity this year, as spokesman Fabian Emmenegger says: “The Ukraine collection was the second largest in the history of Swiss Solidarity.” The intensive media treatment of the topic was central: “The more awareness and educational work is required on a complex topic, the more difficult it is to collect donations,” says Emmenegger.
Helvetas should also achieve record results: by the end of November, the aid organization had received donations totaling 43.5 million Swiss francs. More than ever since it was founded in 1955. And Caritas Switzerland states that the donations before Christmas are well above the previous year’s result of 28 million francs.
That these records tumble in rows is not a matter of course. In this country, too, rising living costs are putting a strain on the household budget. The rise in prices has not yet affected donations. And the relief organizations remain confident for 2023. Yet.