> thinking about it, a "cashless" society would also have to be
> one without postage stamps and gift cards.
I think "cashless" really means "when cash is outlawed, only outlaws will have cash" ... of course all the other underground markets will continue to exist, it's just that they will stick out like a sore thumb and become less efficient due to having to hide the cash. It's already been the case that large-scale underground market participants have a "cash problem" and often "sell" cash at a steep discount; this trend continues.
On the other hand, we're all paying ~3% to a tiny transnational cartel just to use these cards .
/jordan