Yes, and I’m thinking that they won’t. Pretty much every utility and every retailer, that I’m familiar with at least, accepts bank debit payments and credit card payments electronically or via mail. Where in the world would take your gold to use as payment? Even if there is an outlet that accepts direct physical transactions, do they have the wherewithal to weigh your gold and take the amount that equals the bill you owe? Suppose your bill is $179.85. Can they EXACTLY extract $179.85 worth of gold?
Does your credit card company take actual dollar bills? You’d probably have to go through an intermediary to turn those into a money order or check first. A gold buyer is just another intermediary.
Well, if your credit card is issued by a bank with local branches, presumably you could walk into a branch and hand cash to the bank teller to settle your credit card debt.
Another problem with owning gold (or other bullion or rare coins) is loss due to theft, being misplaced (which happens frequently), fire, flood, or other disasters. Do you have access to a safe deposit box? You can’t really insure such items at a reasonable rate.
You often see businesses charge for using credit cards because it costs them a fee, but there’s also risk in taking in cash and checks, with loss between leaving the business and the bank deposit box, or with skimming by unscrupulous employees.
If the economy truly collapsed I imagine the gold buyers will be scarce. Or, plain tapped out. I mean if they want to receive food or medicine they will have sell gold or work another kind of trade.
Bartering can just go so far.
I like the idea of barter or trade. I can see trading a few eggs for a bunch of greens. But if I have an appendix gonna burst I need specialized care, and preferably a human being doctor. So yeah, he might take gold. He also might be hungry and need boots.
Ain’t it crazy?
A coin store as mentioned above probably would give you more than melt value.