Ever wonder why NS55, CDC, and other big daddy "handouts" nowadays always come in the digital form?
For IT dinosaurs like me, I surely miss those hardcopy paper voucher days!
Have you also noticed the booths around high traffic shopping areas offering smart phone courses for senior citizens?
Yup, big daddy laying the groundwork.
Singapore fell behind China with WeChat Pay and Alipay - Mainland Chinese tourists coming to Singapore a decade ago were surprised Singapore so "behind"!?
Yup, when I was in Shanghai, they were already using mobile payments at the wet markets.
Once big daddy realised it, we quickly developed our own PayLah! and other apps.
The benefit is that big daddy can better target and monitor their handouts do what as they are intended.
For eg, if $300 is given to lower income families to offset their grocery bills, the recipient cannot then use the digital $300 to buy Toto or enter our casinos integrated resorts...
Big daddy knows!
As for the ugly side, like "kiam siap gui" boyfriends who after a breakup, demand gifts given to their girlfriends back!?
Trudeau's Canada very shamelessly froze the bank accounts of those citizens who financially supported the truckers' strike.
That's low.
Of course, that would not happen in Singapore! (I not stupid; I don't want to be invited for kopi)
Anyway, we are living in interesting times!
In my lifetime, I can witness a new innovation in money.
The last time money had such an innovation was when the Chinese invented paper money!
And that's even longer than when policemen wore shorts...
Tap and go is digital too. :-)
ReplyDeleteCW,
DeleteThat's the existing (or dumb) version of digital cash which even old fogeys like us are familiar with:
Credit cards
Nets
PayLah/PayNow
Stored value tap and go cards like MRT, Kopitiam; etc.
The new innovation in digital cash (smart version?) is one tapping the blockchain technology.
Singapore will tikam tikam try out small scale versions here and there, with an eye to the ultimate Statist's wet dreams - Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC.
There's a reason why our big daddy is positioning Singapore as a hub for blockchain innovation, but not exactly "promoting" cryptos like El Salvador ;)
Imagine in the old days when people were used to gold, silver, and copper coins as money - then paper money came along and slowly replaced all of them!
Let's have long life like Dr Mahathir!
We may witness the birth of a new form of money yet!
Smol,
ReplyDeleteRecently checked out Punggol's new hawker centre on a weekday to beat the crowds. Expected every stall to be pretty much cashless with Paynow/ Nets QR or even credit card paywave/paypass ... but no, it's still mostly cash lol.
And the kicker is the hawker centre is promoting some unknown app wallet (at least to me) for their cashless option with 10% discount. The double kicker is that you topup this app wallet using Paynow haha. Man I thought we were already moving away from stored value systems? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We started off being pioneers of cashless with stored value cards e.g. ez-link & kopitiam cards lol.
Then rest too long on our laurels.
S'pore's approach with cash alternatives seem to be survival of the fittest & trial and error. However the govt Paynow has eaten most of paylah's market share. Ocbc & uob versions are barely in anybody's mindshare.
Nets pivoted early enuf with nets QR, and they're still holding on to vehicle cash card monopoly. The new satellite IU system may make it obsolete though.
Spur,
DeleteOur hawkers in Queenstown lagi power!
Quite a lot of them don't even want to participate for the CDC digital vouchers... Especially when the hawkers are already in their 60s or 70s and IT dinosaur like me!
When it was paper CDC vouchers, most don't mind. But the moment its digital version only, too "leh cheh"...
I fully empathize as I too have no PayNow or other digital wallet apps. LOL!
Not only Singapore, US and many Western countries have been caught off guard by China's rapid leapfrogging in technology!
China already has the lion share in mobile 6G patents. Imagine in the future when we moved to 6G, the whole world would be following the industry standards set by China!?
Good luck banning Huawei products then!
I am a late starter on this digital front.
ReplyDeleteIt was only this year that I stopped bringing my wallet when I go out. Now when I go out, I will just bring along my smartphone. Even my IC is digital.
And when I dont drive but take public transport, I just bring my Silver Passion Card. Together with my smart phone, I dont need to carry anything else it seems.
mysecretinvestment,
DeleteYou win liao!
When CBDC is introduced in the future, the migration would be "seamless" for you.
You may be late starter, but you have leapfrogged many much younger than you!!!
It seems you have fully embraced this Smart Nation thingy ;)
I can't.
I find it weird to go out without some cash in my wallet. Maybe I've watched too many Mafia movies. It's a lot easier to tip for good service in cash ;)
I have one dumb question, "How do you pay for toilets?"
Hi SMOL,
DeleteHmm, when you have to go, you have to go.
So far, we (in S'pore) are lucky that there are many free public toilets including at MRT stations!
Malls, parks and many public & commercial buildings have free toilets. We were shocked that we have to pay 1 Euro to use the toilets at the train station in Germany. And they 're not like very clean.
I could pass a month without having to use a paid toilet in S'pore.
I was also pleasantly surprised that our MRT station also dish out free mask for those forgetful commuters. I benefitted from this twice this month. I dont normally take public transport, but when I do, I tend to forget to bring a mask!
mysecretinvestment,
DeleteCome to think of it, I suspect big daddy is phasing out "paid" toilets...
The new Margaret Drive hawker centre toilets are "free", but the legacy hawker centre at Mei Ling Street I believe still got cleaners collecting "toll".
Nothing is free. The cost of maintaining toilets will be added into rentals, and ultimately, we the consumers pay.
Hope our Singapore public toilets can one day reach the "first world" standard like in Japan!
OK, Changi airport toilets already there. Props to the management and cleaners there ;)
Oh! I know many forget about private car owners in Singapore. But as a public transport user, let me say my thanks and appreciation to private car owners like you!
Without you paying Additional Registration Fee (ARF); Excise Duty; Certificate of Entitlement (COE); Road Tax; and all sorts of Road Tolls - I, the cattle class public transport people - would not have access to all the wonder roads and public transport infrastructures in Singapore!
Thanks Bro!