What are the implications of a cashless society ?

[SoBoredHelpMe]

ive noticed more and more places are becoming card only and I think it won’t be long (say within 5-10years) that we will become cashless. So I was thinking of positives and negatives and the main negative I see is the lack of privacy as everyone’s spending will be recorded digitally. A major positive though is that it would make it very difficult for e.g. drug dealers to operate ?

would be interested to hear other people’s thoughts on this …..

But unless you actually use it, the ability to do so will disappear. If people are that bothered about wanting the ability to use cash then they need to use it to send the message to shops, cafes, banks, govt, etc that there's still a demand for it.

It's a bit like all the people whingeing that shops and pubs are closing but who didn't use them enough to keep them open.

Use it or lose it!

"Use it or lose it" is entirely correct.

One of my clients is a small convenience store. Over the years, the mix between cash and card sales has been steadily moving over to card, and is currently around 85% card sales. About 5 years ago it was 85% cash sales! Cash is a pain for them as they need a till, safe, staff to count it and drive it to the bank in the next town, and insurance premiums cost more for handling and keeping cash. They're waiting until cash sales are under 10% of total sales and then they're going card only as it won't be worth the time and cost to handle cash when it's such a small proportion of sales. Covid was a massive "nudge" to their customers, mostly elderly who suddenly didn't want to touch "dirty" cash and miraculously found that they could work out how to use a debit card after all!

They used to have a cash machine in the store, but fewer and fewer people were using it - sometimes there was as little as just 1 or 2 withdrawals per day. Again, not worth having as it took up valuable floor space and was a pain to look after (they had to fill it up themselves, sort out blockages, etc, so it was time consuming for no gain). In fact, they said people used to use their card to withdraw a tenner and then spend the tenner at the counter! How mad is that?

I've another client whose just re-opened a small village sandwich/pie shop. I used to be the accountant for the old owners before it closed. The new owners made it clear from day 1 they were card only. Sales are brisk and higher than the old owners, so clearly the customers are happy paying by card. Added benefit for the new owners is much lower insurance premium, not having to buy a traditional till, not having to buy a safe, etc.

People need to wake up. If they want cash to remain in use, then they need to use cash and make it clear to shops, cafes, service providers, that they want to pay in cash - the best way to get that message across is to use cash, not just say they will!

Like anyone's going to pay tax for swapping food between friends. Utter bollocks.

If a business/trade is involved, it's not tax free, and if the money's worth value isn't going through the books, it's not legal!

If you, say, grow tomatoes for your own use, and your neighbour grows lettuce for their own use, then, yes, you can "barter" tomatoes for lettuces tax free, because neither of you are in business nor trading in fruit/veg. If one of you sells their fruit/veg as a business/trade, then bartering isn't tax-free!

There's plenty of parts of the country that don't even have stable broadband services (my home included) so the thought of a cashless society is laughable.

I strongly suggest you never ever take that attitude if or when someone from HMRC comes knocking.

The reason I knew immediately that you were spouting bollocks about it being tax free is there was an attempt to revive barter back in the 90s (possibly in Swindon) after the last economic crisis. And immediately the Inland Revenue (as was) jumped in and said "that's nice dear, But you still have to pay tax on it, and in pounds sterling).

I have fuck all problem if people are willing to break laws they consider silly or unreasonable. As long as they don't then whine when the court doesn't see it their way.

In a nod to a parallel thread, you could also say being paid cash in hand is "tax free" if you don't declare it. Which is is, only not legally.

There is a bizarre world of "Benefits in Kind" meets the taxman in the UK. Could be a long running series on ITV2. Who knows.

I can't imagine HMRC coming knocking because I've given my neighbour a bag of apples in exchange for some runner beans. But if they do, I'll be sure to take their concerns extremely seriously . 😂

It would put paid to tradesmen asking to be paid in cash.

No business is involved and I have checked it all with my accountant and it is tax free and legal.
Eggs anyone? Lamb? peas? Beans?

I leave 12 eggs out for the milk man and he brings me all sorts 😂 by the end of his shift the cab of his truck is like an Abel and Cole display 😂

Eating out going up 7-15 percent regardless of the size of the party. An automatic tip added to every bill, even a quick coffee in a cafe "because being cashless makes it hard to tip"

This happened to us at center parcs for a party of 2 having a panini and a drink.

Speaking of which, cp are completely cashless so I can't send my kids off on their bikes to get an ice cream now.

And I assume the lovely milkman pays tax because he is an honest law abiding citizen 😂 the paranoia around self employed people paying tax is unbelievable on MN!

I've just checked with my accountant and it is the wording. We 'swap' we do not barter. Ever. Never. We swap. And give. And get given 😂

Cashless is cheaper

Often when you pay by Ringo or the other annoying phone apps for car parks it's 20p or whatever more expensive that paying with cash. (Ive no idea why, surely the benefit is that the machine needs to be emptied less often)

I used a parking app recently. Cash payment not a option. First of all had no signal at the actual carpark, met friend at a restaurant, tried to login, couldn't remember password, got new password, then lost wifi connection again. The whole thing took about 25 min and I was hoping I wouldn't be fined for parking without paying. If I'd just stuck £2 in the machine, it would have been done in seconds! And don't even start on the ones where you have to call a number and say your registration number "A, B, 09 .."
Robot woman " ....did you say ZT 25...?" Aaaarghhh!!!

It's amazing how much the payment providers end up with.

I have a small business that uses stripe, we lose around £300 a month in transaction fees.

But cashless is so much easier for us in other ways.

I Live in France.we recently came to England for a holiday and to visit family(1st time since before covid) and were surprised that we had to pay by card in so many places.what was annoying was there was no choice.