Do you still use cash?

I don't do chain restaurants, I also have never found a restaurant that only takes cash.

Family run restaurants that only take cash do not charge hundreds for meals. They tend to make specific food related to their cultural background extremely well. If I want an excellent Eritean meal I do not go to the restaurant in town that takes cards, but the small family run restaurant that only takes cash whose food is far superior.

In some cases you'd needs hundreds in cash

You are aware that most people don't spend "hundreds" for a meal in a restaurant ?

And you'd have to be checking all the time you have enough cash to cover your meal.

Well I would do that anyway. I'd never order food / drink without being aware of what it cost.

I only use cash to tip my hairdresser. I keep some in my phone though, in case card systems fail at a vital moment.

Agreed and I also use my Apple Watch to pay, so even if my phone malfunctioned, I've other options.

I haven't used cash for years - I only take my phone and watch out with me, no purse, and use Applepay for everything. Much easier, and if I lose my phone it can't be used to pay with, unlike debit/credit cards.

@CasperGutman yes I do as well, now I think about it.

You can usually only open a free bank account if you regularly pay money in. So most people can not get multiple cards.

You do not need much cash in case of network failure. A £20 note will get you through the few hours/half a day if the network goes down. But it is sensible to keep some cash.

Good point, so have I. The device itself is still a single point of potential failure though, so I'd take at least one physical card if travelling far away from home.

@Jc2001 card network did go down in my local high street for an afternoon. Chains could not sell anything. Independents still accepted cash. It meant I could get milk and some salad for tea.

Are you afraid of a zombie apocalypse or something? There are thousands of things we need to rely on in modern society. And if card network went down, where are you getting your cash from? So unless you're keeping thousands under your bed, just in case, you'll be at the mercy of the flesh eating zombies like the rest of us.

I've a number of cards on my phone.

My MIL gives me cash (for gifts, or paying me back if I buy bits and pieces to do DIY for her etc). It just ends up sitting in my wallet, unspent - partly because I usually leave it at home and just pay for things with my phone. I realised recently that I had almost £400 in there, so I finally banked it.

I can't remember the last time I went anywhere that required payment in cash only. I regularly buy from places that only accept card payments, though. I don't have a payment 'back up plan' from day to day. If travelling a long way from home I do make sure I take a few different cards though, in case one bank or payment network has an issue.

Or it's stolen

Or jammed shut?

@Beowulfa what's your back up plan do you have if you lose your purse?

@Beowulfa not got one and at 59 never had a issue!

I suppose if the unlikely event one shop went down I'd go to the next.

No big deal.

What's your backup plan for if your phone is lost, stolen, stops working?

Maybe the nation is split into those who have a Plan B mentality and those who
assume everything will always be ok. I know who I'd rather have in charge.

Yes, definitely. I always have around £50 - 100.00 in cash in the house or on my person and pay often pay cash, especially on market stalls and small shops (lots where I live - middle England market town). That said, I do use a credit card or my phone to pay as needed.

Never carry cash and never had an issue where they could only accept cash.

I use my contactless on phone only.

Maybe but I've never been to a restaurant that don't take cards and they're not all chains.

In some cases you'd needs hundreds in cash. And you'd have to be checking all the time you have enough cash to cover your meal.

I have lost a new bouncy fiver bouncing out of my bag on a windy high street
and surely cannot be the only one. The streets here are paved in platinum so
no one bothered.

I never carry cash in the UK and only draw money out if I need it and rarely more than £20

However when Im on holiday I always carry cash so it’s probably a strsnge contradiction. I’ve just always used cash abroad

I use cash wherever possible. I have changed my weekly shop to a supermarket that has staffed checkouts and accepts cash. I actively avoid card only places.

I have twice been in situations recently where it was cash only (wifi issues and a local power cut) and couldn't believe the amount of people who didn't have an emergency tenner on them.

Interestingly, a local pub that's been card only since lockdown has a new landlord who now also accepts cash.

I find it alarming how reliant people are on their phones, given we've had high profile cyber attacks this week, and the ongoing Post Office enquiry in which the stubborn insistence that technology couldn't be wrong resulted in massive injustice.

I suppose I mostly use my card but I do also use cash.

i take £50 and put it in my purse for emergencies or if cards crash for the day or for the times I use cash. when it gets down to the last note I top it back up again. Sometimes it gets used quickly but other times it goes down quicker.

off the top of my head I always use cash to do the following.

i tip in restaurants with cash so I know it’s actually going to the person who is coming to the table.
i tip at the door in cash if I get a takeaway on a Saturday night.

I take a taxi a few times a year (if that) that I normally pay in cash

I put money in some of the birthday cards I send to nieces and nephews.

dp very rarely uses cash or carries it which is annoying if he finds himself needing some and I’m with him. although he pays his hairdresser in cash and mostly remembers to take it out the machine or get it out to pay me back if he’s forgotten