Life&living

EDITOR RUI YANG XU_ |

THURSDAY, NOV. 05,2020 |

THE VOICE

2

Jamie Friesen pays with debit card at a restaurant downtown (6G MCLACHLAN PHOTO

Mo money mo COVID pro

blems

More shoppers have begun embracing going cashless due to the pandemic

= By MEG MCLACHLAN

espite the increasing use
of digital payments since
the start of the COVID-19
pandemic, many Vancou-
ver businesses are still accepting cash.
Many coffee shops, breweries and
retail stores only accepted credit and
debit cards when they reopened this
spring, believing the virus can be trans-
mitted through contact with money.
Some businesses decided to accept
physical money and mitigate the risks
with higher cleaning standards.
“We did at the beginning just use
card(s], but with all of our cleaning
procedures that we have to do, we take

cash because we are super safe,” said
Carolyn Snow, an employee of Finches
Tea House located on West Pender.

Since the pandemic, 12 per cent of
Canadians have had cash payments
refused by merchants, according to a
recent survey conducted by the Bank
of Canada.

A handful of Vancouver-based busi-
nesses are still not taking cash payments
from patrons.

33 Acres, a Vancouver-based brew-
ery, has not accepted cash since they
reopened and have no plans on chang-
ing that policy, citing the lack of
hygiene associated with cash.

According to a study done by the
World Health Organization, the

COVID virus can be found on surfaces
such as stainless steel and plastic for up
to 72 hours. However, the WHO has
not recommended against the use of
money, but is reminding people to
wash their hands after handling cash.

The Bank of Canada in a report
strongly encourages businesses to
continue to accept cash. Refusing
money from a customer can put some
people at risk who do not have other
forms of payment, especially for food
and pharmaceuticals.

Most Vancouver-based businesses
accept all cash, card and digital forms
of payment.

“[When] we opened our door and
did cashless for a couple of weeks,

[we] realized quickly that a lot of
people have cash and ... you turn the
cash away, you turn the sale away,” said
Miles Wishlow, owner of The Corner
Store, a high-end clothing company in
Mount Pleasant.

However, a cashless economy might
be in the future following trends seen
in digital payment options like Wehat
Pay and Alipay.

“One of the things that governments
are thinking about right now is intro-
ducing government digital currency.
Central Bank digital currency... which
could potentially be replacing physi-
cal cash,” said Lucas Herrenbrueck,
an associate professor of economics
at SFU.

The pandemic could be responsible
for fast-tracking the switch to a digital
form of currency.

According to a report published by
the Bank of Canada, 35 per cent of
Canadians reported decreasing their
use of cash asa result of the pandemic.

It is unclear what the exact cause of
the decrease is. But nevertheless, this
may be the beginning signs of consum-
et’s doubt in physical cash.

“Metal coins [are] a social conven-
tion, just like paper money is and
just like digital money is becoming,”
Herrenbrueck said

“Paper money works fine, as long as
everyone trusts in it, and itisa problem
when everyone doesn't.”

Esports

Langara Orange
and Black starts
off with different
results this year

m= By VERONIKA
KHVOROSTUKHINA

ntering the Collegiate Star-
) team Black prevailed

against the University of Denver
with 2-1 score, while team Orange lost
to the University of California, Santa
Barbara at 0-2.

Two teams of the Langara Esports
Association competed for the very first
time in the North American division of
the international League of Legends

teams make their season debut

tournament on Oct. 24. The league,
which includes universities and colleges
from across the continent, including
local UBC and SFU, runs until Jan. 31
with playotts beginning in April.

Langara Esports
Association is the
only sports orga-
nization currently
active on campus,
as the COVID-19
pandemic deci-
mated traditional
athletics. Sport
fans have been
unable to attend lL
games they might normally be used to,
such as basketball and soccer.

Nelson Than, a member of the Black
team, intended to use their victory
against the big-name school as moti-
vation to keep improving, “[Our goal]

“We are here to
win first place,
with the side goal
of destroying UBC
and SFU.”

—LAWRENCE "TRANCE" AMADOR

is to learn, become better players and,
of course, try to win the entire thing.”

“We lost, but it’s all part of the learn-
ing process,” Team Orange player Faith
Vaughan said, “We are very hard-work-
ing, and we’ve
grown so strong
as ateam this past
week.”

All 10 of the
Langara athletes
participating in
the tournament
were competing
for the first time.
—! Vaughan said that
she feels confident in her team, because
they have “the best coach.”

The teams’ coach is Lawrence
“Trance” Amador, a second-year busi-
ness student at Langara and a former
professional player. Amador recently

earned the “Challenger” rank in the
League of Legends, placing him among
200 best players in North America.

“We are here to win first place,
with the side goal of destroying UBC
and SFU,” said Amador. “You gotta
have some school spirit.” With a total
of $10,000 USD in prizes, the first
place team walks away with $5,000,
adding a lot of incentive for teams
to play.

For Lilith Wu, who handles
communications and management
of the teams, most of the work is
done before the game day. On Satur-
day, she was watching the games and
staying on standby.

“Ultimately, I want to see them
win. But we are also just here to make
friends,” said Wu.

Due to scheduling issues the next
game dates have yet to be announced.

KEVIN LI STATS

AGAINST UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

43 kills

Li's 43 kills as the AD carry of
team Black in their two wins
making up 43.9 per cent of all
team kills.

0 deaths

Through those same two games,
Li was able to avoid dying.

86 per cent

Li contributed to 86 per cent of all
team kills through the two games.
The highest among all players.

SOURCE: LANGARA ESPORTS