Increase in cards being declined - anyone else noticed this?

[tulips27]

I was in the queue for the checkout in M&S yesterday and someone's card was declined in front of me and I suddenly realised I've been seeing it more and more often recently. One notable example was in Morrison's where the self checkout loudly announced "sorry, your card has been declined" which I thought was a bit embarrassing for the guy in question. I mean, surely it could be a lower volume or something? I'm going to mute the self-checkout every time I use it now.

Anyone else noticed this?

My Google pay will not work in one shop in town, I've three accounts linked and all get declined. But works fine with the actual card 🙄 I thought it was a glitch but after the 4th seperate time I've given up and now don't go in there.

For online shopping the best solution I've found is never to let them keep my card details. It only causes problems when cards expire or when you want to use a different card but it's not the one linked to your address.