Dog walker wants cash in hand

Sometimes ATMs are broken or empty. Not every supermarket is big enough to have a free machine operated by a large bank. People in rural areas often have no choice but use the privately operated ATMs that come with fees of around £2.50 for every withdrawal. Not everyone has a car, or the time or inclination to drive out of their way to visit supermarkets to withdraw cash they don't otherwise need, simply to indulge the whims of a small business they use. Since when was the customer supposed to tolerate inconvenience to suit small businesses?

Your use of the word 'nonsense' is interesting. It implies that you think people are lying or exaggerating about the inconvenience of being asked to pay in cash. It has a whiff of contempt about it, as if the customer is always in the wrong and their opinions are neither here nor there.

If you don’t want to pay cash get someone else?

People always come on these threads and say of course it's all fine and above board, but it's not.

It doesn't cost a small account holder anything to receive a bank transfer and it's not more convenient to receive cash unless you want to pay it on in cash to avoid VAT, as well as income tax.

It's up to you OP. You might need to find a new dog walker, but personally I'd much rather there's a trail for what I've paid to whom, just in case there are queries later. I don't suppose he's issuing invoices or receipts for these cash payments?

Exactly. Completely pointless waste of a journey and my time

Er no I dont- I walk my own dog and I dont eat cake 😂

I dont use businesses that only take cash or pressure me to take cash- why on earth would I when there are plenty of businesses that make it far easier to pay???

Cash only businesses need to seriously wise up because they will be out of business soon the way things are going

By the time I have got in the car driven 5miles, in gridlocked traffic and with today’s fuel prices, to the supermarket to get the cash I may as well have walked the dogs myself or gone inside and bought the cake, though?

I’ve booked the services because I am time poor - once I have waste 30-45mins to drive somewhere to find an ATM that is actually working so it may mean going to a second location 3miles away (and yes, many do charge a fee on top) - what is the point? On that basis, I would cancel and they lose custom.

Tax avoidance was the first thing I thought of - cash has no record if it's not banked which is why so many small businesses will ask for cash.

I try not to pay in cash, to avoid enabling under-reporting of income and also because I hardly ever have cash on me.

What on earth is the problem with cash. I use cash for all smaller payments in shops ect, paying window cleaner, leaving tips in restaurants etc. It is just saving the dog walker having to go and take the cash out of the bank.

Because you are the ones who want the dog walking or cake baked etc.

It's not that hard to either go to a bank and withdraw some cash or find someone else! I've NEVER withdrawn cash and had to pay, so maybe you need to find a new ATM!

No they don’t - bloody hell have visited every single one? 🙄 half the time they are out of order too

Even if it was free (which it isn’t) I don’t want to carry cash around with me, it’s unsafe and not advised

Well that’s great for you but not so great for those of us who do have to pay!

Im not doing it! Business owners in this thread are moaning about bank charges but that affects customers too so why should we absorb the cost?

Credit card fees are a cost of being in business, surely

Why are you all so sure those bank transfers are being declared, anyway? I’ve worked as a sole trader for nearly 15 years and no one has ever asked to see my bank statements.

Come on people, you all know he wants to evade taxes! Shops have cash registers to record cash and leave a trail.

No, you’re making assumptions, but you don’t actually know!

@BehindTheMirrorAgain
every supermarket has a free cash machine so can we stop with the nonsense that cash withdrawals are so difficult.

I was a tutor, everyone paid cash. Then one woman said it was inconvenient for her and insisted on paying by bank transfer.
Did she pay me on time? No!

I always pay my cleaner via bank transfer, generally while she is in my home. She gets a notification straight away and seems happy with the arrangement. It really shouldn’t be a problem these days.

I have paid cleaners by cash in the past and it was genuinely a nusiance, as there are very few cash points around my area. No banks now and I don’t regularly visit either a supermarket or a petrol station. I found myself constantly chasing my tail to have it ready each week - it was an odd number so also required change and shops didn’t seem to have any of that either! In the end they were all willing to change to bank transfer.

However one prospective cleaner was pretty clear about why she wanted cash (for tax evasion purposes) and became aggrieved, almost hostile, when I explained why I was only willing to pay by transfer. In the end I said that I wasn’t paid by cash myself and that someone cleaning a school or hospital on low pay wouldn’t be paid by cash, so I didn’t quite see why she should be the exception to the rule. Obviously we didn’t take things any further!

So I just don’t do it and am always open about that from the outset.

This was Barclays, it was a few years ago now. It was all free for 24 months and then the charges came into play, it felt easy as it was my regular bank. In hindsight, I probably should've moved but, what's done is done. My customers didn't mind paying cash, most of the them prefer cash.

It's all in the past for me, so it's been and done but I was just trying to simply say for some the small charges add up, so it's not always a bad thing!

Not anymore - since I gave up due to inflation. It was never a you MUST pay in cash. For smaller transactions it was preferred. I also live somewhere very small, where I know the bank machines don't charge. So was never an issue. Literally talking about 2 ATMs.

Interesting if the dog walker is charged for a bank transfer. I hsve only heard of this if it is payment via a csrd machine. I always add tip to a mini cab for example to cover this.. My DDs used to attend an activity where you had to stand in the queue snd had over a couple hundred pounds every few weeks. We did get a receipt but it was super annoying not to be able to do a bank transfer. And inexplicable tbh given the amounts. Then there was the remote Irish B&B only taking cash, miles from a cash point...with no warning. Super relaxing on the morning we were checking out...not....

You presume hes only evading tax. He could be evading CMS. Would you feel the same then?

Which bank was this? I had a HSBC business bank account. Monthly charge for running but nothing for bank transfers.

Have you considered the cost to your customers of paying to withdraw cash? ATMs where I am charge for it.

Its equally understandable why people don’t want to pay in cash!

Someone not on the fiddle will have no issue with giving proper receipts, even for cash transactions and in fact they should insist on it. I honestly despair when it's considered unreasonable for a customer to require a receipt when they've been amenable enough to comply with the request for cash in the first place, even if it inconveniences them. Obviously if someone has done you a deal for cash then you know you won't get one. But if you are dealing with them on the basis that they are not on the fiddle, fully licensed and insured and what have you, then of course you are entitled to a receipt. It's the only proof you have that you paid for their services at all. What happens if their work or their product turns out to be faulty or non-compliant with safety regs?