I realize some of my friends in other countries are going walletless. I need to catch up with the times. It’s making me feel old and not caught up with the latest trends. I just saw a TikTok video about it and it gave me a wake up call. It’s time for a change.
I’m trying to go walletless in Taiwan. Here are the possible problems and solutions I can think of:
Need to carry ID on person
Article 16 of regulations for APRC says:
" Article 16
In accordance with paragraph 1, Article 28 of the Act, aliens over 14 years of age inside Taiwan’s national border, shall carry on his/her person the passport, the Alien Resident Certificate, or the Alien Permanent Resident Certificate.
Should an alien have none of the documents stated in the preceding paragraph, another identification document designated by the competent authorities shall be carried upon his/her person."
Solution: I’ll carry my phone with the NHI app and the digital NHI card that the gov issued
Physical copy of driver license
Solution: I won’t drive, or I’ll keep a photo of my driver ID on my phone
No digital easycard for iPhone
Solution: I’ll stick to Tamsui lightrail (accepts credit card), taxi and Ubers. If I need to travel to Taipei, I’ll use a bike or walk.
Some places only accept cash
Offer to do a bank to bank transfer, Line pay, or JKO pay. My bank (HSBC) offers free transfers.
You could get an easy card sticker and stick it to the back of your phone, or get an easy card watch. Being able to use the Taipei metro seems like a big thing to give up just to go walletless. Besides, cash is king here. You are almost certainly limiting yourself to 50% of vendors by not having either an easy card or just cash itself.
I think if you push for a bank to bank transfer, they might accept, since they all have bank accounts. My hair stylist was able to give that option when I said I prefer no cash.
Instead of going walletless, just try to reduce your wallet. Carry the bare essentials. You can get a dual debit card/easy card so you can use public transport and get money from ATMs. If you really want to free up a pocket, get a slim phone case that has space for a card or two. Stick an emergency $1000 note in the sole of your shoe just in case.
I feel like carrying around extra stuff outside the wallet is a hack/workaround, I’m a purist and want to go all the way. Plus when I go to HK or Singapore, I’d have to take off the sticker in order to use their transit systems (which are cardless).
I am worried about someone stealing the car, and them finding out my address. I keep the garage opener in there so they’d have access to my garage.
It’s a top 5 app in the US app store and popular with the young generation
Off topic, but I think China companies make the best surveillance software. Their Aqara smart home products is quite reliable and reviewed very well on Reddit. I found an Aqara US reseller in Taichung (make sure to get the international reseller, because the domestic reseller in Taipei will route traffic to China).
This is going to be hard even as a Taiwan citizen. Also you can’t ever tell if you could have police interactions, and if you have no ID they are going to have to somehow ascertain who you are, and this could mean a trip to the station.
Aside from the fact that a lot of vendors in Taiwan do not take anything but cash.
I wonder whether the NHI digital card on your phone app works for this purpose? It’s issued by the government. It has your name, ARC number, and birth date, even a QR code. It’s requested in real time and only valid for 5 mins. Maybe I’ll stop by the police station to ask.
Perhaps this is one way to force them to go digital? If you insisted, I think they will accept bank to bank transfer. It’s also doing my part to solve the tax evasion issues with cash only merchants.
I know some are against cashless because of reasons, but I for one would love it.
One thing I liked about the states is that everyone, even street vendors, takes credit card. They have this weird device that mounts to their smartphone that they can swipe cards with.
I kinda hate carrying cash around because those loose change weights a lot, especially in the summer (in the summer, an extra gram in your pocket feels like a kilogram). I got 4nt extra that I can’t use on anything, because I need just 1 stinking NT that I can’t ever find on the street (you never find loose change in Taiwan on the streets, while this is quite common in the states) just so I can get rid of those 4 1nt coins. Sorry for ranting, but that’s why I would love it if I can just go eat at some street vendor here and paying with Apple/Google/Samsung pay.
(by the way those 4 1nt coins comes about because some vendors cough Costco cough have prices like 99, 499, 49, 98nt which meant if you paid cash for everything you wound up with jars full of 1nt coins that weights 10kg and is a pain to deal with. Is it so hard to make your prices a more even number that has a more agreeable change regimen than hauling many kilograms bags of 1nt coins to fill your till?
Think of the amount of money saved if society went cashless. Printing and minting notes and coins do cost money, and so do carrying them as well as keeping them secure.
I’d also love to go walletless too, being able to use the phone to do what a wallet did. For one my wallet is almost 5/8" thick, that’s quite thick by the way especially in the summer. It also weights enough that movement could be impeded.
By the way I’ve experimented with placing my easycard inside the phone case so I don’t have to keep digging the wallet out. Well the problem is, not only is it going to screw with the NFC, the NFC also made it impossible for the easycard to be read at all.
Another problem is that they keep making those credit cards that have RFID which again, messes with your easycard. I’ve found lining the wallet with tin foil works, just make sure your main easycard is on the outside of that tin foil.
Anyone have a solution for this? I’ve seen others with their easycard on their phone case but I have no idea how they are able to make this work. Yes I can use an app to use the phone’s NFC to turn the phone into an easycard, but unfortunately this slows things down as you must open the app, wait for it to load, before you can do this. You can see this won’t work during rush hour.
