Five Ways Your Wallet Might Change In 2015
The inside of your wallet is set for a makeover in 2015 -- and no, we don’t mean an influx of cash, though that would be nice. That overstuffed billfold wearing an outline in your jeans is slowly being decluttered by new technologies.
These squares will be some of the first to go:
1. Credit Cards
By October 2015, your credit card will have to include a microchip to be compatible with a global standard for integrated circuit cards known as EMV. Under the EMV system, cards are inserted instead of swiped. This so-called chip-and-pin system, where the "chip" is a microchip, is already used widely outside the U.S. and is more resistant to fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports.
If you use Apple Pay, you may not have to carry your card at all as more and more businesses adopt the mobile payment system. Chevron is the latest to say it will work with Apple to accept Apple Pay at the pump.
2. Tickets
StubHub and TicketMaster both have apps that allow you to get your concert or event tickets emailed and scan the QR code at the door. Eventbright is another popular app for digital ticketing, although sentimentalists may have a hard time letting go of paper tickets as a souvenir.
3. Gift cards
Unless you are a paragon of organization, your wallet is probably full of expired gift cards -- or, perhaps worse, gift cards with balances around $1.25. According to BankRate, 59 percent of 2014 gift-card sellers surveyed allowed cards to be purchased in digital form -- adding that this reflects a “slow but fairly steady rise for digital gift cards, starting in 2011.”
If you’re on the receiving end, the card won’t get lost somewhere between your library card, which can also be digitized now through CardStar, and your old student ID.
4. Receipts
According to CNBC, the e-receipt dates back to 2005 -- and the first to offer them was none other than Apple. As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, it makes sense that these wallet-stuffing slips will phase out. Of course, it’s helpful to be able to track purchases, but stores that opt to e-mail receipts get the added bonus of your contact information.
Even CVS -- whose receipts are so ridiculously long they've inspired an Internet meme (and this amazing Halloween costume) -- will likely be forced to make the shift.
5. Drivers' Licenses
In 2015, Iowa will become the first state to allow citizens to use a mobile app as an official driver’s license. The precedent for this is mobile car insurance cards, which cops would also check in a pullover situation and are accepted in 30 states.
While it will be weird to bid these constant companions goodbye, the wallet itself still stands on solid ground as a fashion statement. And if you pick the right classic, you don't have to update it for years. The iPhone? Not so much.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.