Why Do We Pay to Move Money?

Imagine you want to send a toy to your friend in another town. You could mail it yourself, but that takes time and effort. If you hire a courier, they might charge extra if the weather is bad or if there are many packages. Money works the same way! Even though money is just numbers on a screen, moving them from one bank account to another requires people to do work.

Banks have to keep cash in their vaults or at other banks to make sure they can pay you when you need it. This is called liquidity. When you send money to Japan, the US bank doesn't just wave a wand and the yen appears there. They have to actually swap dollars for yen.

Sometimes, one bank holds too much cash while another runs short. To fix this imbalance, they pay each other. These swapping costs are passed on to you as fees or exchange rates. So yes, money has weight! Its weight is how hard it is to move from one place to another without breaking the system.