Jul 01
The Cashless Millennial Generation: What Does It Mean for You?
For more than a year, I have been informally polling the Millennials in my audiences. I simply ask them to raise their hands if they have twenty dollars or more in cash in their pocket at that point. Consistently, about five percent do. While we generally get a chuckle out of this, I have to wonder about the impact of this shift on our society. What does it mean for our understanding of money? What does it mean for the rate of savings among those currently younger than 25? What impact does it have on the nature of incentives? What impact is it having on consumer promotions? How will it impact you in your job, no matter what you do?
For years, I’ve been recommending that store managers give out cash bonuses to employees who provide successful employee referrals. Simply adding the reward to the next paycheck, I’ve argued, has less of an impact. The employee knows it’s coming and has probably spent it on the utility bill. Cash, I’ve said is truly exciting. It burns a hole in your pocket. You become the focus of attention all day because of the wad in your wallet. But will we see a time in the future when the employee looks at the cash and says “What’s this? I’d rather have a gift card.”
In a consumer-focused, and soon to be cashless culture, will we have to re-think the meaning of compensation? Will salary surveys give way to lifestyle surveys, so that rather arguing for more money, employees will choose from a cafeteria of benefits including, flex hours, tele-commuting, control over work environment, communication tools, health care, training, personal development and oh, by the way, old-fashioned cash compensation?
For an emerging generation, the sky is always the limit, and society has reinfored this for them thru advertising, parental messaging, and the evolution of a convenience-oriented consumer culture. For Millennials, cash is slow, cumbersome, easy to misplace and, for heavens sake, has to be counted. With electronic accounts, the computer will always tell you instantly and accurately how much you have. The big question is what impact will all this have on the way you do business.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:02 am
Bob,
This is such a great observation. I learned about this the hard way. I’m an author and speaker specializing in career advice for young professionals (mostly Millennials), and when my book first came out, I would bring boxes to my speaking events and sell only one or two. I was devastated and worried my book was terrible. A college student finally pointed out my mistake. I was only accepting cash and checks (checks — how old fashioned!) and the young people attending my events all wanted to use their debit cards. Once I started taking credit and debit cards, sales soared.
By the way, I’m 33 years old, not THAT much older than the Millennials, and this is totally different from my spending mentality.
Thanks for a great post. I just learned about your blog and became a subscriber.
Lindsey Pollak
author, “Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World”
http://www.lindseypollak.com/blog