EFTPOS and ATMs changed not just the way we bank, but arguably, the way we live. But was that a good thing? Produced by Justin Gregory.

"I'm like the Queen; I do not carry cash."

A few years back, a Kiwi actor flew out to Shanghai to film a TV ad.

The shoot would only take a few days but he told his friends to expect him back in about a month. He had never been to China before and wanted to have a good look around. Fair enough.

So his mates were a bit surprised when he arrived home just a week later.

What happened, they asked, we thought you were staying longer?

"Oh yeah," the actor replied, "yeah, I meant to. But it's the weirdest thing. Do you know they don't take Taranaki Savings Bank EFTPOS cards in China?"

For more than 30 years, electronic banking and especially EFTPOS have been the way we pay here in New Zealand. I truly can't remember the last time I carried cash or paid for something but didn't swipe a card to do it.

If you open your wallet, purse or what have you right now, I'll bet you find more bank cards than cash in there. Unless you're Professor David Tripe, Massey University's head of banking studies.

"Gosh, I've got $180 in there!"

How many bank cards?

"Let's see...a credit card, another card, another card and a debit card. And a second credit card."

Or you might be tech expert and PR guy Paul Brislen, who forgot to bring his wallet to our interview.

"Yes, and I drove here, without my licence so now I'm in trouble with the law."

Cards on the table (so to speak) - Paul Brislen does do PR work for Paymark, which controls around 75% of all EFTPOS transactions in this country. But the opinions here are his own, he promises.

In case you're not old enough to remember, back in 1984, when people went shopping for a new synthesiser, some legwarmers or a can of hairspray ("now with extra CFCs!") they didn't pay for them with an EFTPOS card. More often than not, they used cash.

A few people had direct salary credits but a lot of us still got our wages in cash in a brown envelope. We'd set aside enough for the week, then, in our lunch break, go to the bank with our savings book and deposit the remainder.

If you ran short over the weekend, when the banks were closed, your only option was to write a cheque, but banks and retailers didn't like that very much. Cheques took a few days to clear, and during that time you could make a mistake with your bank balance and your cheque would bounce.

Of course, sometimes it wasn't a mistake…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details