Are shops accepting cash?

[TheChosenTwo]

A relative has given me A load of cash to buy Christmas presents on their behalf. The banks around me are only open between 10-2 weekdays only. I’m at work so can’t get there. Can I just spend the cash in shops or are they only accepting card payments?

I work in a shop and we take cash, are those other shops actually refusing to take cash or just that they prefer card payment? I find it hard to believe that retailers would rather lose a sale than accept cash in the current economic climate - certainly every shop where I live (admittedly a rural area) accepts cash.

One local shop actually refuses to take a card for payments under £5 !

Just to add @MrsShelton - they do have a machine to do that for you INSIDE the bank but it’s pretty limiting being open only between 10-2 Monday to Friday, it’s not easy for me to get there because I’m at work which is a 15 minute drive away, I get 50 minutes at lunch and I very rarely take more than 10 minutes to wolf it down before getting back to work! I’m not sure if I’d make it there and back in time considering I would also need to park and walk in plus then queue (which I would imagine would be long if anyone else is in the same boat as me and trying to do their banking in their lunch hour!).

@Ragwort the ones I went to refused cash and said they were only accepting card payments. Maybe if I’d declined to make the sale they would have changed their minds but to be honest, it wasn’t a problem to pay on my card, I have the money in the bank to cover it and I needed the things I was buying anyway. I didn’t want to piss anyone off, slow things down for the queueing customers or be awkward for anyone.

you can probably order an online paying in book on line, or sometimes they are at the end of your cheque books

hopefully you can get rid of your cash some how or other. my dm gives me a cheque every week but i know other people, who have been shopping for relatives, who are given cash for doing so, they manage to spend it in the supermarkets.

@TheChosenTwo I've never needed a bank paying in slip when putting money in my bank account at the post office and I do it regularly at 2-3 different PO just need to put your bank card in the chip and pin machine at the counter, it's very easy.

You don't need a paying in slip at the post office, just your card.

www.postoffice.co.uk/barclays

(There are pages for the other banks too.)

@Ragwort yeah some shops are refusing to take cash & obviously happy to lose the sale.

Lush, Starbucks, Primark etc round my way have signs at the checkout saying they've suspended cash payments at the minute.

where do you draw the line though?
not accepting cash?
how about letters, the post?

just wash your hands, there are plenty of hand sanitisers available.

I can understand retailers not wanting their staff to be handling money all day long during a pandemic. They can't wash their hands between customers. Even more so in hospitality.

I thought cash is legal tender - aren’t shops obliged to accept it?
Also, recent studies indicate that cash plays very little part in Covid transmission compared to aerosols of expired breath. Apparently true of surfaces generally - so masks and distancing are more effective than avoiding handling cash, door handles etc.
Try an experiment OP. Go to a shop, offer cash. If they refuse, say you don’t have a card, and then stand there and look at them, expectantly.
I’d lay money they’ll grudgingly take the cash! If not, put the purchases on the counter, look tearful and start to walk away. A change of mind may follow...!

@Babdoc oh my god that sounds mortifying for both the staff and myself! I would definitely not do that I really wouldn’t put anyone in that position, they will just be following company policy (whether I agree with it or not) and I’m really not going to make life awkward for anyone.
I don’t have a cheque book, does anyone have cheque books anymore? I haven’t seen one in absolutely years!! I suppose people still do have them but I can’t think when I was last given one.

If not, put the purchases on the counter, look tearful and start to walk away. A change of mind may follow...!

I bet it would. Shops need the money, they don't know when the government will next decide to shut them down.

If there's a sign saying they aren't accepting cash then it's a bit brazen to stroll in with cash expecting to be taken seriously isn't it?

Supermarkets definitely take cash, even if only at their self-service tills, so if you do your food (and Christmas alcohol) shopping in person you’ll be able to get rid of it that way eventually.

I take cash out to top up my electric key as the shop won't accept payment by card.
Ragwort yes a shop I use frequently won't accept card payments under £5. Also the fruit and veg stall is cash only.
Personally I will be returning to using cash only once the covid thing is over.

@PhilCornwall1

If not, put the purchases on the counter, look tearful and start to walk away. A change of mind may follow...!

I bet it would. Shops need the money, they don't know when the government will next decide to shut them down.

Depends on the shop really. Some shops have done very well throughout the pandemic.

@MrsShelton

Pay the cash in via machine?

I would be wary of paying that much cash into my bank account via a machine I think you get a receipt for paying in but not for the amount paid in

Depends on the shop really. Some shops have done very well throughout the pandemic.

Of course, that will always be the case, but they are more the exception though. Looking at the places I've been through during the lockdowns, there were more closed than open and a lot of the local independent shops didn't shift to online.

M & S have a bureau de change, is that any good ?

@Babdoc jesus,someone did research studies about cash and covid transmission?? who wasted money doing that? please can you link......

our store has remained open all along.....so its expected that cashiers stand there serving what? a few hundred customers per 8 hour shift (many not offering the courtesy of wearing a mask) and happily take this cash? really? how are they supposed to wash hands ....leave the till? leave a queue to form? (there will no doubt be a thread slating retail staff for queues)

or should they just shut up and put up?

no, you have a handy pot of hand sanitiser on your till,

@MrsShelton

our store has remained open all along.....so its expected that cashiers stand there serving what? a few hundred customers per 8 hour shift (many not offering the courtesy of wearing a mask) and happily take this cash? really? how are they supposed to wash hands ....leave the till? leave a queue to form? (there will no doubt be a thread slating retail staff for queues)

or should they just shut up and put up?

Bank and building society cashiers have to do this all day long. Handling cash is not that big a deal, as long as you're careful and sensible.

@MrsShelton it was the Bank of England that commissioned the survey. They found the risk of Covid transmission from cash was low. It is no more risky than it was this time last year. By refusing cash transactions we are excluding people and that needs to stop.

Yes, but we the workers hate it.