Why are there so many wallets on Kickstarter?
kickstarter.com
kickstarter.com
I don't know what it's like in the USA, but in germany wallets of this type are used by everybody and everybody's happy: http://i.imgur.com/v3mRk1H.jpg
Still, nice to read more details about the internal workings of a kickstarter campaign.
I think a lot of it is that most people don't need to carry either too much plastic or too much cash these days. Most of the gas and store credit cards are gone or at least not widely used. A lot of information is on your smartphone. Many people use cash less.
As a result, a lot of people are experimenting with minimalist wallets or phone cases that can be used instead of wallets.
(Phone in one pocket, wallet, keys and work badge in the other).
http://www.allreli.com/product/allreli-google-lg-nexus-5-fli...
It has space for two cards and 3-4 paper notes.
I have two sets of keys; one with my car keys, the other with bicycle keys + work badge.
I think priorities are different if you have a purse/bag you regularly use that can hold a wallet. Still couldn't find a wallet I loved though, that one I had to settle for. (I also use a lot of cash when possible so it made sense not to go minimal.)
Lately I just fold them up and put them inside the band of a slim wallet. In the past I just bundled them with a rubber band.
I've also all but abandoned cash. My needs are clearly not yours.
I despise them. I think you can probably get back issues from sitting on them.
My girlfriend won me a humn wallet (featured in the article) for free and I've been using that. I've gone through several types of slim wallets, and for a couple of years just wrapped a few cards in cash and put a solid rubber band around it.
6-8 pieces of leather adds a significant amount of thickness--your wallet is thicker when empty than mine is fully loaded.
I've got 9 coins in my wallet right now (I live in a country with $1 and $2 coins) so having a wallet with no space for them isn't really an option.
This has been the only thing stopping me from getting a smaller wallet, personally. I have one of those (which are okay if you carry them in your front pocket and don't wear formal attire) and I'd replace them with something simpler at the drop of a hat if it wouldn't mean ending up with loose change in your pocket.
This is just plain wrong for many European countries.
Absolutely not true for every European county.
The article is really about from Sept 2015, the limit for contactless payment goes up to £30.
It's true that credit cards aren't popular in Europe or where I'm speaking from, the Netherlands, as there are lots of bank-integrated payment processors like iDeal in the netherlands (cheaper than creditcards for merchants, free to users, instant and without chargeback risk) for online transactions, and things like SEPA (also generally free and fast) or Paypal exist for international transfers. I only use my CC when making a rare purchase online where I absolutely have to, or sometimes to book a flight or hotel abroad.
For everything in store though, debit cards are extremely well used. And as the debit card is connected to a bank account that offers credit, too, they function like creditcards. (and I can indeed use my debit card e.g. in the North America, China or Africa). So while 'creditcard' numbers in reports aren't as high as the US, cards that offer credit are ubiquitous.
In fact I don't think I've paid with cash in the past 10 years here in Europe, except in clubs where paying with a card is weird (unless you booked a table which is a bit silly for anything other than a holiday imo) and that's not a joke. I'm not sure what it's like in say Portugal, but I really don't need to keep any coin around unless I go to the local market, a club or my shady barber. Where are you based in Europe?
Beyond that though my wallet is loaded with cards. Public transport, insurance, student id, gym (up until they moved to a fingerprint scanner), discount card at supermarket etc.
Given all this I don't think I'll be carrying a wallet in the 2020s, any credentials that are on the chip in my plastic cards can go on the chip on my phone. Kind of scary in a way, cash is a bit like in-person communication, it's not monitored the way that digital communication is monitored by government, businesses and malicious parties. The death of cash at some point means our entire economic life is recorded by banks which worries me every now and then, although it'll probably be decades before it's phased out completely and the majority of economic activity has been digital for a long time, but still.
edit -- seems you're right! Two years ago the majority of transactions (53%) was still cash based. Much more popular than I'd have thought. Guess I'm a huge outlier. Debit has grown 15% since then so it might be slightly different today.
Still it's not true that it's necessary to carry a lot of coin, at least not where I live. Even at markets like this: http://hoogeveenheefthet.nl/site1/images/stories/bedrijven/m...
about 40% take cards. At supermarkets it's virtually 100% and there are special checkouts for card transactions where you can't pay with cash (because cash transactions are more expensive, take longer to process, have a higher error rate and make the shop a bigger target to theft). I honestly barely ever use cash.
I was extrapolating from my personal experience in Germany and as a tourist in other EU countries. It seems that my experience is not representative of that of residents of some of those countries.
I wonder why Germany is so different.
Definitely wrong. In Denmark I never carry any cash. In US I have to carry at least some cash. Why are there no bigger bills than $100?
And then i only really need ID Card ( if there is such thing in your country ), and Bank Account card for using ATM, and some cash.
We dont need new wallet, we need to get rid of useless things inside out wallet with better alternatives.
Quick google search returned this app, I've never used it though: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/key-ring-reward-cards/id3725...
I bought their "Card Sleeve" wallet a few months ago and have been very happy. It forced me to pare down my wallet to only the daily necessities. I keep the variety of other cards and extra cash in my bag using this simple, inexpensive, ingenious system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGiPemyCRyE
(although it seems obvious, I recommend watching the entire video to see how this could actually be put to use as daily pocket wallet).
I liked it fairly well, but it can't manage a large amount of cash (I worked for tips at the time, so I had lots of bills).
I eventually ditched it for a rubber band, but it was pretty well-worn by that point.
It must work apparently because people keep buying stuff.
It's about what's easy and cheap to make a buck I think.
Cards on the inside with cash wrapped around them. The "v" created by the clip makes it super easy to "clip" -- way easier than any money clip that I've used.
This reminds me of the programmers who write cross platform apps using something like JavaScript because it's easier for them to make. It's not what the user wants, and the user doesn't care about the effort that went into making the application. Just like if the wallet doesn't perform up to the level of every other wallet, I don't care how hard the person making it worked on it.
But for some reason, we expect people to care about how much work we put into making something that they're not going to think about again. We seem to have trouble accepting that a huge portion of our work won't go noticed by the vast majority of everyone, much less the vast majority of people who actually use our product.
Well, for me that was actually true. I always pay with card, have a few cards for access/memberships and maybe a few notes just in case. All wallets I could find in the stores in my town were big and bulky, probably what my dad would use. I never carry coins. I actually spent quite a bit time on finding a wallet fitting my needs, and that I liked the look of.