Pay cash to avoid junk food purchases

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A simple way to stop the “BUY ME” calls, when shopping

Are you an impulsive purchaser ? Paying cash, will help you limit the number of unhealthy items that land in your grocery basket.

A trip to the grocery store is like walking through the valley of temptation, you’re tempted by hundreds of items, that are NOT, on your shopping list.

You know you shouldn’t but… the unhealthy snacks call out “TAKE ME HOME”, as you stroll up and down the various aisles.

You TRY to RESIST.

But resistance is futile

You’re battling million dollar marketing campaigns and your sugar gremlin.

Psychology and biology conspire against you.

Nine times out of ten – you give in, adding “JUNK” to your shopping basket or trolley.

And once the item it homeward bound, you will consume it, sooner or later. If you’re like me, it is SOONER, sometimes before you’ve actually left the parking lot.

But you can resist…

All you need to do, is when you get to the till, pay CASH.

i.e. DON’T PAY electronically.

Cut up those debit and credit cards, put away the mobile phone. They may be convenient, but they’re stripping you of your ability to defy those BUY ME urges.

This has been shown by several groups around the world. One study, carried by a group of marketing researchers, from State University of New York, went so far as to peek inside the shopping baskets of shoppers.

Peeking inside shopping baskets

The researchers teamed up with a large retailer, whose till operations were able to record the items bought and how they were purchased i.e. cash, credit or debit card.

NOTE : This study pre-dates mobile payment methods.

A 1000 shoppers agreed to have their grocery purchases scrutinized by the team, for a period of 6 months. To avoid the influence of hungry children and cranky mother-in-laws on shopping purchases, the shoppers were all from one person households i.e. they were shopping for me, myself and I.

The shopping experience

Was highly variable. Some people only used cash, some only used cards, but most people mixed and matched.

The mixers showed some interesting trends in their purchases.

When they paid cash, they bought less JUNK FOOD.
When they swiped either a credit or debit card, they bought more JUNK FOOD.

NOTE : Junk food was defined as cookies, ice-cream, sweets, doughnuts, puddings and potato chips, basically sugar gremlin munchies.

Why cash is KING

Paying cash for anything, is inherently PAINFUL.

Digging through your wallet to find the precious notes and coins, carefully counting them out and then HANDING them over – feels like you’re losing something.

And you don’t want to get to the till and NOT have enough money to pay for your purchases. Having to put things back IS EMBARRASING.

Swiping that card is painless

In contrast, if you swipe a card – you feel nothing.

IN THE MOMENT !

That is not to say, you don’t notice – you do, but much later. There may be lots of regrets, but in the moment you make the purchase, you don’t feel a thing.

The effect of paying cash

The research team speculate, that the sense of loss, that accompanies cash purchases, helps consumers focus. It forces them to ask that difficult question…

DO I REALLY NEED THIS ? Aka is it actually on my shopping list !

Especially if funds are low.

Is plastic money causing obesity ?

Maybe.

Interestingly enough, as the use of cash has decreased, obesity rates have increased. Could this be more than co-incidence ?

Pretty sure what is going on in my purse, impacts what ends up in my basket. There a beginning of the month and end of the month shopping sprees.

Smart shopping

For you

Are you an impulsive purchaser ? Is the voice left standing invariably the BUY IT voice ?

Give yourself an unfair advantage – lose the credit / debit card, only pay cash.

It might be a little inconvenient, but you will have to think through your purchase. And when you think about it, a box of doughnuts, washed down with a strawberry milkshake, probably is not really worth it.

For junior

A pay cash philosophy, will also help you, if you’ve got company when shopping….

You won’t win any prizes for Mom of the year, but you will be able to curtail, juniors “BUY ME ….. THIS, THAT OR THE OTHER”.

What about my sugar gremlin ?

He is probably telling you, THIS WOMEN IS CRAZY !

Ignore her.

Paying cash is like living in the dark ages !

A full blown sugar gremlin tantrum is NOT NICE. If your’s is out of control, you need to TAME HIM. Click here to learn more.

How Credit Card Payments Increase Unhealthy Food Purchases: Visceral Regulation of Vices. Journal of Consumer Research (2011) 38 (1) : 126-139. Manoj Thomas, Kalpesh Kaushik Desai, and Satheeshkumar Seenivasan.

The Impact of Mobile Payment Channel on Consumer Consumption: Evidence from Alipay. SSRN Electronic Journal 21 October 2018. Yuqian Xu, Anindya Ghose, Binqing Xiao.