Wallets, a thing of the past?
The other day I was in a bit of a rush to get out of the house to catch the bus for my first class. As the bus pulled up, I reached into my bag but my wallet wasn’t in its usual spot. I frantically dug through the other compartments of my bag but it was no where to be found. Then it struck me, I had left if on the kitchen counter and this wasn’t the first time I’d forgotten it. With no wallet, it meant I had no bus pass nor change for a bus ticket; thus, the bus driver refused to let me on.
As I was walking home to retrieve my wallet, I started thinking about how convenient it would be if I were able to store my uPass in my phone since I’d be very unlikely to go out without it – it would practically be like leaving the house without a shirt on! It’s funny, I tell this story because I came across an article in the Globe and Mail today that touched on this very issue.
Back in 2005, MasterCard introduced PayPass to Canadians which allowed consumers to make payments by a simple tap of a card or mobile device – with no need to sign or enter a PIN. According to the article, almost all MasterCard credit cards issued in Canada are Pay-Pass enabled and 19 out of 25 of the largest brick and mortar businesses in Canada have agreed to use to this technology. Canada is the second most mobile payment ready country in the world according to a Mobile Payments Readiness Index study recently conducted by MasterCard.
With MasterCard expanding mobile payment to more and more platforms, there will soon be no need to carry cash, payments cards, credentials, loyalty cards, and coupons. “The average Canadian has from 15 to 20 credentials in their wallets today,” says Ledas.
Which do you prefer?
