For the longest time, forgetting your wallet on a night out meant turning right back around or cancelling plans altogether. Without cash or physical cards, you’d be rejected at the door and have no way to take part in the evening. Today, having your phone in your pocket is often enough to keep the night going, whether you’re buying a ticket, paying at the bar, or even splitting costs with friends.
Nightlife no longer runs on physical payment methods, thanks to tap payments and mobile wallets that make transactions feel smoother than ever. “Going out” naturally feels seamless because there’s less preparation required, and that reduced friction benefits businesses too. With contactless payments now standard, people can make more spontaneous purchase decisions.
Moving Towards a Cashless Culture
Moneris, a Canadian credit and debit card processor, predicts that cash purchases will make up just 10% of spending in Canada by 2030. But it took decades to get here. Moving away from cash came in waves, with some industries adopting digital payments earlier than others. As technology matured and consumer habits changed, contactless cards and mobile wallets became more of an expectation. Everyone grew accustomed to paying for almost everything with their phones, which encouraged businesses to offer that option to keep up.
Now, cash is the exception, reserved for scenarios like paying street vendors or when digital payments aren’t practical. However, digital payments have created a universal expectation that payments should be simple and seamless, no matter how you pay. You’ll even find one-click payments across digital spaces, from retail and subscriptions to entertainment platforms, marketplaces, and even online casinos that accept Interac. In short, the easier the payment, the better the experience and that goes for any industry.
How Contactless Payments Became the Norm
Before we thought of contactless payments as second nature, most transactions relied on cash or chip-and-PIN payments, no matter what you were purchasing. In this way, payments were a lot slower and more deliberate—even prompting customers to think twice about a transaction before going ahead with it. Both customers and businesses were involved in a much more layered, step-by-step process.
When NFC (near-field communication) technology became cheap, banks and card networks built it into terminals and cards and rolled it out to the public. Low-value purchases like coffee, transit, and convenience store purchases benefited first, and mobile wallets encouraged quick-tap behaviour in other contexts. People stopped thinking much about how they were paying, as the process became automatic.
Why Cash Is Disappearing at Bars and Clubs
Bars and clubs are fast-paced, high-traffic environments that require payment systems that can keep up. Cash, being finicky and disruptive, can create delays that slow down service and interrupt the flow of a busy night. Handling crowded environments and rowdy people along with physical cash is asking for trouble, often leading to accounting mistakes and security concerns. Card terminals and mobile payments simplify the process and make it easier to manage high volumes of transactions efficiently.
Cashless payments benefit both the customer and the business, allowing guests to focus on their experience and businesses to receive payments quickly so they can provide better service.
Cashless Payments at Concerts and Festivals
Concerts and festivals present similar pressures to bars and clubs but with even heavier crowd movement. With thousands of people moving through a single space, the more convenient transactions are, the better. Most major events require attendees to use mobile wallets or event-specific systems like RFID wristbands and QR codes to pay for merchandise, concessions, and other items. That way, every step of the experience is made easier, and crowds don’t have to cluster at payment points.
Organizers can also get an informed look into spending patterns to improve operations and layout decisions for future events. Meanwhile, attendees won’t have to worry about carrying cash or losing their wallets.
The Little Frictions That Still Exist
As great as all the above is, technology isn’t perfect. We’ve seen cashless setups crack because of failed tap attempts, venue-wide system outages, and other interruptions. And when people don’t have backup options, the once-effortless flow loses its rhythm. As digital payments operate in a network of moving parts that all rely on each other to work, one break in the chain is immediately visible.
Network congestion is a huge challenge, as thousands of people trying to send and approve transactions can strain local cell networks and lead to delays in approvals. Even the smallest instance of lag can be enough to create more queues at food stalls during peak times. POS systems can also still require resets or freeze up, which then require staff to restart connections or switch terminals.
Then, there are personal friction points. Phone batteries running low or even dying halfway through the night can become a huge issue if it’s someone’s only payment method. If a patron makes a large transaction or happens to be from out of town, banks may flag transactions or request verification.
Venues often have fallback options or design backup systems in case of these scenarios, but they aren’t always consistent. High-end clubs or major festivals are more likely to invest in such systems, while temporary setups or smaller bars might have limited infrastructure.
The Next Phase of Going Out
Going out comes with serious expectations around how smoothly everything should run once you’re at a venue. Everything from ordering drinks to entering events is expected to happen quickly and with no interruptions, and that’s mainly attributed to digital payments. Payments used to be a highly visible part of a night out, such as waiting for change and closing tabs. With this now out of sight and users accustomed to it, venues need to keep up with frictionless payments. The spotlight needs to stay on the experience, with payments handled in the background.