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 ?

Mine too

You can still support local businesses and pay by card. Although there is a cost to the business there are other advantages such as security, not having to make risky trips to a bank branch, (if you can find one) and being able to make extra sales due to customers not needing to carry wads of note when they see something they like. (Yes I know that's a disadvantage for some customers who impulse buy things they can't afford).

Always been a cash person. Just easier for budgeting, as others have said. Tap, tap tap. I've gone in work the Monday after a works do and some others are too scared to look at their accounts!

The merchant does have to pay a small part of the transaction to the bank I know. But I also know that few years back they'd have to pay a small fee to deposit large amounts of cash. Not sure if it applies Still, but some places might feel sending a load of cash to the bank is risky and would rather have card payments.

As for the Govt wanting a cashless society? Maybe a small truth in it, but probably only due to shops / trades people and tax. It's makes no odds really trying to control what the customers spends, the govt probably just want people to spend anyway to keep the economy afloat. Its the public that choose what they use to spend.

A credit card statement lists all the expenditure though! Thats why I prefer it to cash, I can see clearly where my money has gone.

Yes. I work on a supermarket checkout, and I've noticed a lot more people paying cash recently. Today, in fact, l got a 'drawer needs attention' flag on my till after less than three hours. That happens when there's a lot of cash in there.

I prefer cash and I think it should always be an option.
I don't like the idea all my spending can be tracked and where I am, what I am doing, not that I think anyone cares enough to look, but I am a bit funny about it for that.

I can understand how people would prefer real money if they are budgeting rather than getting a statement with money already spent that month.

I don't like the idea all my spending can be tracked and where I am, what I am doing, not that I think anyone cares enough to look, but I am a bit funny about it for that.

I don't think that is being funny, I think it's understandable and we shouldn't need to justify wanting basic freedoms and privacy.
It's like anything, some people wouldn't mind or see it as a problem but they don't get to cast your vote too.

Just because the alternative can be packaged up as natural progress and easier by disingenuous people who pretend the don't understand the coloured paper and metal tokens.

Yes it does but alot of the statement had names that we couldn't recognise as where we had been. Tesco, John Lewis...yes but 'LD Jas' 'xld geronics' etc. Wtf?

I think it’s wish fulfilment on her part than reality. I really don’t get this ‘I find it easier to budget with cash than a bank account’ malarkey. ‘Easier to track spending with cash?’ Much easier to do that with a phone. Lots of the ridiculous ‘use cash only’ posts on FB ignore the fact that it costs businesses to pay cash into an account. I suspect the real reason to want ‘cash only’ is to fiddle the taxman. It’s people of a certain generation (of whom I am one!) who are resistant to change.

I hadnt thought about having accessible cash (under the bed not really an option) but thinking about it I do have some in a building society. So assuming I'm not debanked by 3 banks at the same time, I will manage I guess for some months.
I've seen an interview with Farage, he cant pay his gas bill, and worse the bank (coutts) still have his money.

I mean it's one thing to be debanked, but to then not have access to that money in your account is something else. Hes stuck in limbo, unable to open an account anywhere and unable to access money. It all seems so Orwellian.

All this for his views, we all know how our views are as welcome as a fart in a elevator. It's only a matter of time til we are in the firing line and threatened with or actually are debanked.
I've decided to use cash now as much as is practicable, even with a visit today to a local tesco where the queue for the manned till was several deep, better than using the self service card only machines.

I am using cash more since I found that my banking App calculated my carbon footprint based on my spending via contactless and Apple Pay. B of E and WEF are all into going cashless so they will be able to track exactly what we spend our money on. It’s all about control.

It's absolutely a social media thing.

The posts I've seen recently are about preserving jobs. The self scan checkouts accept cash less & less. Large numbers if people paying in cash means they need to keep manned checkouts open.

Off topic.
9 posts in and someone uses the word Spends. The single most irritating thing on a planet that contains James Corden.

Why though?
Why do they care about you and your spending?
Ridiculous.

Definitely

Keep using cash

There’ll always be a need for cash. I use cash to pay my yoga teacher, window cleaner and for tips in restaurants. That’s just 3 off the top of my head without even thinking about it.

Not a conspiracy in my case, I just find cash easier to budget because I am physically seeing my spending.

Plus I save my spare change in a jar towards holiday.

I've noticed more and more people using checkouts again in Sainsburys, the scan-as-you-shop tills are a tumbleweed zone now and the traditional checkouts are busier again. I've gone back to them as I found to my surprise that its quicker than scanning as you go round even with queueing for a couple of minutes.

But it is true? You have obviously never owned a business and had to pay all the associated bank fees. I get charged monthly for the privilege of having a business account, then I get charged for every single transaction in or out. Then if I want a card machine I get charged for that, then every payment incurs a fee on top of the charges for my business account. If you cant see that then you are daft.

I never stopped paying with cash, even through the lockdowns. I did not see the need to use a shop that only except card payments over £5 and/or get a surcharge for using card. Especially is I just needed milk.

I try to use cash where I can simply because I don’t want to live in a cashless society. I do think that’s where we’re heading though. Apart from the obvious children and the homeless issues I think it will be a soulless more dangerous place to live if there’s no cash.

I started doing cash recently. Didn't even know it was a thing. Before this i didn't even carry a purse, just a phone. I'm just finding tech is just becoming more and more intrusive in our lives and want to reverse this trend. I've noticed something else using cash - I've forgotten how to add! The simple act of counting money to hand over actually a quick mental exercise. Use it or loose it as they say

Yes people are switching back to cash- there is a whole campaign to keep cash- so incredibly important!!!!

We did a big holiday this year covering Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark. I was convinced it would all be card only but several places preferred cash (we did take some but not much)

It's absolutely about control. Just like 'open banking' is.
Why do companies who lend us money need to know what we spend every penny on?
It really scares me how quickly people are willing to drift into a society where the government (and every single financial institution) can access details about every penny we spend our own money on, where Amazon can have an Alexa listening into peoples bedrooms and private conversations, just so we don't have to press a few buttons to place an order or find a song, where our every movement is tracked by our phones or our cars for cheaper insurance, where our GP's are selling our very private health records......Does privacy really not count to so many of you any longer??
For the record, I pay tax on every penny I earn, I'm not into any weird shit and I have no health concerns, I just want my private life to be just that!