An insidious crown of thorns is creeping into our everyday transactions under the cover of convenience and we are all complicit in its ascent.
The emergence of a cash-free society is decimating our currency and soon – perhaps sooner than we think – we may Paywave goodbye to the coins of our childhood. With their passing we will pay an unexpected price for their obsolescence.
![Illustration: Michael Mucci](http://web.archive.org./web/20170906223917im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/j/q/u/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.ghjs24.png/1433821882812.jpg)
I would once have given you my two cents on this subject but since 1992 five cents is the minimum denomination available for critical contemplation.
But for how long?
The meter is running on the Salvos and buskers in the Devonshire Street tunnel, who will need to be EFTPOS enabled or go the way of the Walkman. No longer will a cliff dive down the back of a car seat or couch, or a fishing trip to the bottom of a handbag, yield a catch that keeps you in coffee for a day.
And what of the Anzac Day two-up tradition? To cries of "Come in Spinner" will the response be "PIN or chip"? Will Smith and Cook rock off instead of taking the toss? Will the pot still jack when winnings no longer cascade into the tray?
Coin purses. Piggy banks. Pockets, for god's sake!
For almost 3000 years coins have spun stories of regions and regents, republics and revolutions. Their tailings entombed with emperors; plundered by pirates and sunk to the bottom of the sea. Wars have been fought, wishes made, fortunes hoarded and squandered. Florins, doubloons, guineas and crowns, roubles and drachma and dollars – handfuls of history in our pockets.
But the sleight of hand that transmutes plastic into purchase bewitches us all. We save seconds, top up, tap and go and with each impersonal exchange accelerate the end of the coin age.
There is a compelling irony that coins featuring our endangered indigenous species are in themselves facing extinction, swiped out by nationless corporate currency, brand names and Bitcoins.
Australians, it's time to embrace change.
Enjoy the weight in your wallet, the jingle when you walk. Throw a coin in a fountain. Throw three. Put another coin in the jukebox, baby, and … pause before you pay. Because the truth is, if we cannot handle small change how will we ever face up to big ones?
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