Sainsburys checkout lady said that “lots of people are switching back to cash just now”

[Harpings]

I know it’s just one checkout person. But is this something others have noticed/ are doing? Just wondering if so and why it would be ?

Who decides who is a bigot? I believe men can't become women and have been called one as a result. Tomorrow it could be another opinion that makes you a bigot. You can be phased out of the market too if your opinion doesn't fit!

They encourage people to "gift aid" so they get the tax relief, so most people donate by standing order and do a yearly gift aid declaration, instead of having to fill out a gift aid declaration envelope for the cash every week. It's usually only the casual/occasional visits who donate in cash.

Churches and other charities can claim 'assumed' gift aid on small anonymous donations - all gifts of up to £20 that are/could be from any one individual can be claimed for GA. So if you're being generous and giving £40 anonymously by cash, put two £20 notes in the tray/box and don't put them both in inside one envelope!

Most people - at least those who are on PAYE only (no tax returns) - don't have to complete a yearly GA declaration: the charity/recipient will deal with all that and the giver will just receive a letter automatically.

At a festival last week one of the stall holders was saying that at the last venue they were at the cash only bars couldn't serve anyone.

Conversely, I was at a festival a few weeks ago where the mobile signal was shite, the bars payment system went down so all the card only stalls and main bars couldn’t serve anyone. The independent stalls taking cash we’re doing a roaring trade.

Perhaps they should - it would help cost control, budgeting etc and avoid costly mistakes like going into expensive overdrafts or finding their card is rejected due to lack of funds. Of course, modern banking apps mean you don't need spreadsheets as many will analyse your spending into different categories, give you updates as to your "burn rate" of how many days of average spending you have left before pay day, etc.

Well - what is complex about the message? Banks take a cut of visa and mastercard spending.

If I pay a shop £10 and they use this to pay for their deliveries, the bank doesn't get a cut of two transactions.

Someone with dementia who can no longer manage their money us very different from someone who is older and can no longer manage online banking.

Who decides who is a bigot? I believe men can't become women and have been called one as a result. Tomorrow it could be another opinion that makes you a bigot. You can be phased out of the market too if your opinion doesn't fit!

It seems that a 'bigot' is a word that you can use to insult anybody that you disagree with on anything.

You are completely right about 'bigotry' being shifting sands, whereby today's accepted truth is tomorrow's bigoted hate-speech.

All charity giving can be gift-aided (if not for a service or good) just by completing a gift aid form. If you give by standing order make sure your charity of choice has your gift aid details and they can claim an additional 25% on your donation even if by standing order.

Yes, I do. Because if I know what I’m spending money on, I know where I can cut back. It’s all very well saying ‘I just need to know what I have left’, but what if you get half way through the week, you have no cash left, and no milk/bread/anything else you need? Some of us have to budget tightly, and spending on my card helps with that. I understand that isn’t the same for everyone, but it works better for me. Not sure why anyone else would be bothered about how I organise my finances.

I must admit I'd like an electronic form of cash, that is anonymous. Something like a workable ubiquitous bitcoin. I hate the thought that everything you buy from car parking to bus fares makes you totally track-able. Use digital wallets, and then the likes of Google know where you go and what you spend your money on. And that's more bounty for them when selling your data.

AI can scan electronic ledgers to detect fraud in a nano-second. I've always thought VAT was just a method to audit trail spends.

The government keeps trying to gey rid of things and then having to roll back because they find it is needed.
Latest was landlines phones. And then they realised those alarm call buttons didn't work without a landline.
I don't care if over priced coffee shops in the city no longer take cash. And if you holiday where I live and refuse to use cash you can eat at the middle of the road places and go back home grumbling about food upside London. All because you refused to use the small independent places that take cash only and offer the best meals here by a long shot. No skin off my nose.

Same here. I don't have a smartphone for the same reason.

Who sets these fees? Who can change these fees? Who is in control of these? When can they change the fees?

We need to consider the implications for a society with only card payments, and only two providers. This takes thinking about our choices, I know it's another thing to think about, but there are things we're stuck with now because we didn't consider them - teenage mental health crisis likely because of social media and phones being one of them. We can't roll back the clock and stop teens from using phones now. Let's think about cash before it's too late.

The mobile may that serves our area was down/not working right for a year or more. I had to ask several people to phone me back on my landline in that time so that we could have each other.

All charity giving can be gift-aided (if not for a service or good) just by completing a gift aid form. If you give by standing order make sure your charity of choice has your gift aid details and they can claim an additional 25% on your donation even if by standing order.

Yes, of course. But I was just pointing out that there is a mechanism whereby anonymous giving can also be claimed for as if a GA mandate were in place.

In fact, it would of course be abusing the system if done knowingly/deliberately anywhere along the line, but it would be technically possible for somebody who doesn't pay enough tax to qualify for GA to drop a bunch of £20 notes anonymously in an offering basket every week and then their giving could end up attracting GA relief.

Banks do charge for processing card payments.

@Gettinagoldtoof

I live in central London, huge numbers of businesses are going cashless. I always complain and usually leave.

I doubt the counter assistants are bothered nor will even report up to management. The owners/managers will have made an informed decision and will accept/expect a certain level of customer refusals.

Whether we like it or not, it's happening. At my son's Uni, literally everything is cash free. You can't even buy a coffee with cash as the catering outlets (for both students and general public) are card only, as are the campus shops. It was his graduation last week - photos, souvenir stands, etc all cash free. If you want to print or photocopy anything you have to "top up" your student account and enter your student number into the machine - again, no "cash" option. Same with the campus laundries. In the 3 years he was there, he says he literally never used any cash - he brought back the few notes we gave him when we took him - untouched!

At most football matches we go to, they're cash free. You have to use your card to buy a drink, pie or a pint. Our home ground has been like that for a couple of years, and more and more away grounds have changed now.

More and more buses are going cash free and require payment by card or tickets bought in advance on their apps. No need for a mobile signal in rural areas as the card machines are set up to take details of your card, memorise and process later when they get a signal. Same happened on a heritage train ride we took over the Settle and Carlisle line - bought some coffees when the train was in the middle of nowhere - no mobile signal, but the cardholder accepted payment anyway. Not having a signal doesn't stop a vendor taking card payment in places where there isn't a signal - they just need a different kind of reader/merchant account that provides for it! Same with car park machines - likewise they can read the card anyway and just charge/process it later.

The younger generation are virtually cash free already, and as they grow older, future generations will likely be coming through cash free. It's far too late to reverse it.

There are a lot more than just 2 card providers though!

I hate the thought that everything you buy from car parking to bus fares makes you totally track-able.

Same here. You don't have to be doing anything illegal or even perceivably unethical to not want somebody effectively looking over your shoulder at everything you buy or do. Same principle as that I don't do anything I'm ashamed of when using a toilet cubicle, but I still always close and lock the door.

It's all about big data these days - for analysis and advertising, among other purposes - but nobody ever seems to stop and think any more that those are MY data and it should be up to ME if I grant anybody access to them, rather than it just being assumed that they're up for grabs by anybody.

I always pay my weekly food in cash as got bored with online shopping plus see more bargains in the store in person so win win.

Yep, data that could be used and abused and corrupted.

Yes, some people take it way too far, but how on earth is it a ‘conspiracy theory’ to say that banks can track your online/card spending but they can’t track cash spending?

It’s not just banks or the government, women in abusive relationships often have their income and spending monitored by their partner as part of that abuse. Being able to access cash and save or spend cash can be an absolute life line for women whose every move is monitored.

More than one woman I’ve known has had a small, cash based side gig which allowed her to save enough to leave.

It must be so hard for those who don’t have younger people/family to help. My dad gets quite downhearted about it all and says modern day life doesn’t care about older people.

Sad to say, he's right there. Older people are quite cheerfully othered and treated as non-existent across the whole of society.

Banks keep telling us that 95% of transactions are made online, with the obvious suggestion that we all just need to be a little more canny, adjust our habits slightly and then we must all do the other 5% of banking online as well.

Of course, what they know full-well and simply couldn't care less about is that it isn't all of us doing 95% of our banking online, but whilst many/most of us do all of it online, a great many elderly people do 100% of their banking in-branch. How odd that massive banks struggle with correctly interpreting statistics and averages...

Except you need to pay staff either to count ot or do other stuff while you could it. You need to take it to the bank (fuel, parking) and really that should be 2 people for safety. You'll have higher insurance costs. Etc, etc. Cash isn't costless

But those personal alarm systems are a rip off when you factor in landline costs. My Uncle is paying £60 for a landline he doesn't use but for ordering food once a week via the Internet, and then the alarm system rental on top. Granted it does give a little peace of mind.

You can get mobile phone style alarm systems that are in some ways better as they afford you to be able to use them when out of range of a base unit. Perhaps useless if you don't get a signal in the house.