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Casinos are closed, brothels too, in train stations and at airports there have been hardly any people for months who have withdrawn euro bills from Kersten Trojanus ATMs.

"Due to the Corona crisis, the demand for cash at our machines has plummeted by 75 percent," says Trojanus.

People shop on the Internet, they hardly need any more bills.

Trojanus is not only the managing director of the ATM operator IC Cash.

He also speaks for the Arbeitsgemeinschaft ATMs, an association of machine operators that are not banks, including providers such as Euronet and Cashpoint.

There are 5,000 devices in the whole country, which corresponds to around ten percent of all machines.

A larger part of it is hardly needed anymore.

Trojanus says: "Around 1000 devices of the working group were temporarily taken out of service due to a lack of demand, 200 to 300 completely dismantled." For many Germans, going to the ATM was part of their everyday routine for a long time.

In 2017, the Bundesbank found that a German stands in front of a machine at least three times a month, enters his PIN and takes an average of 189 euros with him.

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For decades it was considered a kind of natural law that coins and notes are more than just a means of payment for Germans.

The question is whether this is changing now.

You can pay by card almost everywhere

Corona has significantly changed the way we handle cash.

People currently need less cash, and the banks are also noticing that.

At Commerzbank, for example, “We have recorded an average decline in the demand for cash between ten and 15 percent over the past twelve months.” Last spring, the savings banks reported an intermittent run on ATMs.

But that was typical in times of crisis.

When it became clear that the cash supply also worked in pandemic times, the hoarding of banknotes quickly subsided.

Added to this is the new experience that for some time now it has suddenly been possible to pay with a card in grocery stores of all kinds, even in small bakeries.

The operators and customers wanted it that way, contactless, hygienic, and that's how it happened.

Source: WORLD infographic

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A comprehensive survey by the Bundesbank, carried out between August and October last year, shows that Germans still use cash for 60 percent of all transactions.

Three years ago it was 15 percentage points more.

And according to estimates by the retail research institute EHI, almost 60 percent of sales at the tills are now made electronically.

“Cash is completely outdated as a means of payment,” says the Würzburg economist Peter Bofinger, a long-time member of the Advisory Council on macroeconomic assessment.

Digital payment methods such as PayPal are much faster, less complicated and, above all, more hygienic.

The corona crisis and the booming internet trade clearly showed that.

“Absolutely anonymous”: Cash has a number of advantages

Nevertheless, says Bofinger, cash will remain important for an economy like Germany.

Because it has one characteristic that digital payment methods do not have: “Cash payments are neither registered nor can they be monitored.

It is absolutely anonymous and therefore an expression of personal freedom.

People have a right to it, ”says Bofinger.

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At the moment it is becoming apparent that cash is also being used as a way to store valuables.

Because the Bundesbank assumes that not even ten percent of all euro notes in a shop or restaurant change hands, i.e. are used to pay.

People hoard them, at home and abroad.

In many countries outside the EU, the euro is also used as a parallel currency and iron reserve because people distrust their own national currency.

There are no exact figures.

Most people are reluctant to provide information about how much cash they are keeping in a safe deposit box or at home.

It is therefore a presumption that parts of very large assets are dormant in the safe or in lockers.

Should a bank get into trouble, as it did during the financial crisis, the money would be safe.

This also explains why the announcement by the European Central Bank that it would no longer issue any new 500 euro bills caused great excitement among the very wealthy and particularly anxious people.

Because to store the same amount with 200 euro bills, you need a lot more space.

More and more banknotes printed

This could also explain a supposed paradox: although cash has lost its importance as a means of payment and many machines are orphaned in shopping streets and tourist strongholds, more and more banknotes are being printed.

For example, the Deutsche Bundesbank put 821 billion euros in additional cash into circulation last year.

That was an increase of 71 billion over the previous year.

A third of this took place in March, when not only the savings banks recorded exceptionally high demand.

It was the highest monthly growth since the introduction of the euro.

The Linz economist and shadow economy expert Friedrich Schneider believes, however, that there is a completely different reason for the significantly increased demand for cash.

One that has nothing to do with dwindling confidence in the economy or the financial system.

Because Schneider believes that at least a third, and possibly even half, of the increase is due to undeclared work.

Especially in the crisis, he says, many economic activities are shifted to the realm of the shadows.

Not only hairdressers have been working in secret in the past few months.

ATM operator Trojanus assumes that the demand for cash at its machines will remain low for at least a few months.

How many there will be when shops open again and a more normal life is possible, he doesn't know either.

It doesn't just depend on the Germans, however.

Trojans are also missing the tourists.

They are often "very cash-savvy," he says.

Initially, Trojanus asked for state aid for his company.

“We have applied for bridging aid.

And I assume that we will get the grant too, ”he says.