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 ?

I run a small business and honestly, cash is a PITA as I can't use it to pay my suppliers (all online) or for my own personal spending as that's all online or via direct debit too.

All it means is I have to go to the post office once a week and waste ages standing in a queue so I can pay it in and use it. Our nearest bank is a 40 minute drive away so that's not an option either.

I'm a sole trader though and don't take card payments either. 99% of people pay by bank transfer luckily!

A lot of people stopped using cash during the pandemic because they said covid could spread through it. Now things are back to normal that probably contributes to people going back to cash.
I mainly use cash because I find it easier to track what I am spending, it’s too easy to tap your card a few too many times.

I am definitely not a conspiracy theorist but I too believe a cashless society is deeply worrying. I don't want everything I spend tracked. I don't want to rely on an electronic banking system that can be history
Also it feels like real money, and I spend it more carefully.

Cannot abide QR nonsense. I just feign ignorance and ask for a menu, I say I don't know how to use it... which technically isn't a lie as I never have. No way and I downloading an app just to eat in your cafe. One of the reasons why we need to bring cash back to stop this BS!!

You do know cash costs more than card to mist businesses right? Cash is hard to track too so def worse for budgeting.

After covid lockdowns i had got into the habit of using card and for about a year didnt have any cash in my purse. Ive started using cash more lately since i needed a pound for the tooth fairy.

Locally it was mostly cashless however small businesses are reinstating cash and ditching their card readers.

There's been a huge uptick in people complaining about the service / food / item after eating and purchasing - and people seeking refunds via the bank.

It was covered in our local news recently.

Lots of fraud and loopholes etc.

Only if you need to bank it , if it's used for paying bills and staff it costs nothing to the business .

Budgeting is easier with cash i find , you see it as real money not numbers on a screen

I bought from a physical Amazon Fresh shop last week. Creepiest thing: you just tap to go in with the app, choose your items and go. No further tapping at any other point, but somehow (CCTV) it can work out exactly what you went out the door with. There were just 2 staff visible in the whole shop: one at the entry barrier to explain the process, and one towards the back of the shop standing at a kind of lectern.

Though I have heard of small businesses not wanting the hassle of cashing up a till, and getting the money safely transferred to a bank( if you can find one!) also less likelihood of small shops and businesses being targeted by thieves looking for cash.

Totally agree.

Yes ive switched back to cash mainly, i spend less.
Our local shops prefer it too, as they get charged for card payments.

Me too

In my local market town it is cheaper for the local businesses to accept card payments as it is a 15 mile round trip to the nearest bank, so they also need to consider fuel and parking costs to take cash to the bank.

I nearly got caught out when paying to park recently because the machine only took cash - no card payments or paying online, so it is a good job that I always keep some £1 coins in the car. Also, the pay and display machines in the Peak District accept cash or online payments, except that you can't get a signal in many places, so cash it is. I have no idea why they don't use card payments.

What exactly would be wrong with a cashless society?

I'm in my 7th decade and I cba with cash.

Would you rather go back to bartering???

I find cash a real pain in the arse and it actually makes me spend more, not less (once the money has gone from my bank account I see it as fair game to be spent!). However I make a conscious effort to use cash when buying from small local businesses as I know many prefer it to avoid paying the card payment fee.

For every person who says it's too easy to tap tap tap, there's probably another who says that they prefer card, because they have a list of transactions instead of taking out a note, breaking it, and the rest evaporating so they've spent £20 on little bits of they don't know what.

But in reality, this is not the issue, as the decision, and where you need to be mindful, is when you decide to make the purchase, not when you're paying for it.

If you think 'do I really need this coffee, can I wait until I get home, use something I already have' etc etc, then how you actually pay for it is irrelevant to the amount you spend.

But as well as the 'the banks are stealing all our money' conspiracy, there was also a revival of envelope budgeting via a TikTok craze because it allows you to buy pretty envelopes and make a nice video counting notes in each one for rent, electricity, food etc.

Except that when the business owner goes to bank it, the bank then takes a cut. The majority of business bank accounts charge for banking cash, so it's not long before that £20 is worth less than that to someone.

I used to run a retail business, and cash was better for me than card, because the banking fees were lower than the transaction fees. But txn fees have come down a LOT since I sold the business, and I'd much rather take card than cash if I was running a business now. The money goes straight into your account, there's no room for error, no security risk, no worries about storing cash, and people do tend to spend a bit more if they're paying by card.
To bank cash I had to make sure someone else could cover the shop, and then walk through town with 00s of pounds in my bag (granted, no-one would know that, but you still feel vulnerable), queue at the bank, pay it in, and be charged for the privilege. So all quite a faff.

If I had a business now, I'd still accept cash, to be inclusive, as I fully understand card isn't for everyone, but I'd actively encourage card payment where possible.

I’m making a concerted effort to use more cash. We regularly use a couple of car parks and a fairground by the beach and their machines are always buggering about so it’s impossible to pay for parking by card, the rides and 2p machines (beloved by my favourite tiny relative) are all cash. I prefer tipping in cash rather than by card. I like to be able to buy a Big Issue or put some change in a charity box. Also, we used to regularly empty our change into a big savings tin throughout the year and we’d have enough to make a substantial dent in the Christmas food and drink shopping by December; that’s suffered in the last couple of years.

And also out of a bit of sheer bloodymindedness. I don’t like this air of ‘we’ve decided cash is outdated so we don’t want you to use it anymore’. I don’t like being totally reliant on technology.

Yeah I’ve seen a few local businesses with signs up saying please pay cash because the card machines take a fee…

so now I go to these businesses less because I feel bad paying by card, and I’m not going to go traipsing around trying to withdraw cash (it’s an errand in itself), so that I can buy a coffee 😄

This is exactly why I am using cash more. I take out my weekly budget on Monday and try and get through the week.

Yes I’ve done this before too. Deliberately gone to another coffee shop because they had a sign outside saying they prefer cash and I didn’t have any on me!

Seems that way.

The paranoia is utterly bizarre. Electronic card transactions have been around since the 80's. It's hardly some new fangled concept designed to defraud folk used to hoarding piles of cash in shoeboxes and under their mattresses.

There's nothing preventing businesses who wish to continue to accept cash to do so, it's just high time the few holdovers who insist on it as the only acceptable means of payment moved into the 21st century.

Sometimes stragglers need kicked from behind, and if it takes banks withdrawing all cash to do that because there are perfectly viable, more secure alternatives available to everyone, then that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

I can imagine most of the same folk still decry the death of the personal cheque book. Another totally moribund relic that hung around for far too long for no good reason.

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 ?

No.

And I wouldn't take any notice of what one person says, any more than I would take any notice of what the Daily Express or GB News says.

I always try to have some cash with me ever since the Sunday of Doom I spent in Brussels when all the cash machines and shops refused to accept my UK cards as there was some issue with the connections somewhere. I had five euros in cash to last all day until I could get on to Eurostar that evening. I had so many plans , all of which involved spending money. The only comfort was that it wasn’t raining!