Day Without a Wallet: Dallas

After the meeting I walked two blocks to the deli, having decided on a soup and salad combo I saw on the menu. Using Apple Pay on my device, I paid for lunch and some office supplies before heading back to work.

On my way into the building, I met one of my clients in the lobby. We have metered parking and she was looking for change to feed the meter. The City of Dallas has implemented Pay by Phone on most of their meters downtown, so I used my phone to take care of the 30 minutes she needed.

Heading home after the long day, I spent my return trip relaxing and listening to music on Spotify’s curated playlists from some of my friends who keep up with the music scene. As I reflected on the day, I realized that forgetting my wallet wasn’t so bad. It was comforting knowing what I could accomplish with just my phone. In fact, maybe my wallet will be something I phase out of my daily routine once and for all. 

Adam “Jax” Lotia is the Chief Science Officer at Glass Media, where he spends most of his days working in the Labs. Adam uses an iPhone 6 in his day-to-day life.

This is part of our Day Without a Wallet series, exploring what can be done without a wallet and only a smartphone in various cities across the country.

From time to time, I walk out the front door and absentmindedly forget my wallet. I’ll receive a phone call while I’m leaving and grab my keys and bag, forgetting the one thing that most of us consider critical: my wallet. But today, instead of returning home to grab it, I simply carried on with my day without a second thought.

I started my daily routine a little differently knowing the weather was going to be less than ideal. In Dallas we can’t handle any sort of cold weather – especially snow or ice, which was forecasted – so I decided to forgo my usual drive, opting to take the light rail from Plano to Dallas. The light rail station is just one block from my home, and my destination station is just two blocks from my office. On the quick walk to the train station, I used the GoPass application on my phone to get my ticket, avoiding lines at the station and the hassle of keeping track of a printed ticket. Once en route, I used the time to catch up on podcasts, e-mails and various tasks on my phone that would normally have to wait for the office.  

After catching up on email in the office, I met a colleague for a meeting at a coffee shop down the street. The shop offered paid Wi-Fi, but rather than entering my credit card information, I used my phone as a hotspot instead and got online in seconds. As I browsed the deli menu for the store down the street, I noticed that my connection seemed faster than what I normally get from the Wi-Fi in my building.