More and more Canadians are living without ever using cash according to a study by Dalhousie University. About 1,500 Canadian in January were surveyed about a cashless grocery experience and what it meant to them.

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According to the study, six per cent of Ontarians still pay with cash and most of them prefer credit.

CHCH News posted an informal poll on Twitter to find out how people prefer to pay for groceries. Out of roughly 800 people who responded, debit was most popular with 47 per cent, some replied saying they love cards for gathering points.

Our @manesa_d is working on a story today about how the way we pay for groceries is changing and what that all means. So, can you please tell us how you choose to pay for groceries?

— CHCH News (@CHCHNews) February 8, 2023

Although the preferred method of payment varies, what seems to be common is what’s convenient. The study by Dalhousie University found that most Canadians feel comfortable going cashless at the grocery store, but there were some concerns like privacy and discrimination according to Sylvain Charlebois, director of Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

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“When you give a piece of plastic to your grocer you’re giving a part of yourself. They feel that if a grocer goes cashless it would discriminate against people that actually do use cash, there are many underbanked or unbanked in Canada,” Charlebois said.

Joanne Johnson from the Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits agrees that going cashless could impact the homeless and low-income population. “These people do rely on cash and another issue is with regards to getting a card, credit card, pre-paid visa, bank account, for one you have to have a bank account, not everyone has ID.”

Charlebois adds that retailers are not obligated to accept cash, 26 per cent of Canadians actually feel that in five years many grocers will actually go cashless. So it’s something that a lot of people actually see happening.”