Is it ridiculous in this modern age to be a business that only takes cash?

[PingpongDingDong]

We sometimes visit a cafe in our city that takes cash only. While you're sitting there you see people realising this and one of them having to take a hike to tie closest cashpoint to pay. While we were in holiday we visited a couple of places like this and it made me wonder why they do this. Are bank charges so high? It seems archaic to me.

it does stink of Tax evasion, I wonder if they have thought of using Paypal if they don't want to pay for bank charges.

Many parking machines don't take cards

Going the other way, I'm a massive fan of services like RingGo (who manage the Warwick Parkway station car park). You can pay with a phone call. Last time I visited, MrsLH made the call, and we were paid up before I'd parked.

I'd always take cash to a cafe, tbh, especially if it's table service so I have a tip ready too and their profit margins are widely known to be very low so I think YAB a little U.

I tend to pay cash in small shops as well but in large stores - Tesco, Asda etc - I only use my card and, as I almost always go self service anyway, I'll happily pay for goods even under £1 on the debit card.

Of course, there's always Bit/Litecoin ?

despondently
I wonder if they have thought of using Paypal if they don't want to pay for bank charges
Because Paypal take 3% same as all other card issuers
AND
you pay when you transfer it into your bank account.

I simply don't use businesses that only take cash. I don't like to carry cash or think ahead about how much I need so I just use somewhere that takes cards.

This approach is quite sensible actually - the business won't have to pay card transaction fees and they can use the cash to buy supplies at the cash & carry or wherever so they will minimise their banking costs. All receipts will go through the till, and all payments & wages will have bills/receipts/payslips - the remainder is banked.

It isn't tax evasion, it's bank charge minimisation!

Cash is legal tender. I opened my purse and checked. It doesn't smell like tax evasion. I do take card payment for as little as a pound because people expect me to take card payment for a little as a pound. It costs me to do so. But every penny is logged and declared to the IR. I find it fucking insulting that I'm essentially being accused of tax evasion for taking legitamate transactions with legal tender.

I am constantly amazed by the MN assertion that cash = tax dodgers.

I work in an accounts practice; we do take card but many of our clients pay by cash/cheque. I can absolutely say with some degree of certainty that they are not evading tax in any way.

As well as the costs involved, many rural areas still do not have decent broadband (the whole of the North Yorks moors area for instance) so card payments simply do not work unless you have a dedicated (business) telephone line! Just not worth it for profits of less than a coupe of grand per month imo.

I simply don't use businesses that only take cash
Where do you park?
Which bus company do you use? (assuming you live outside London)

I can see the advantage of using cards for everything. It is a pain to have to find change for buses or parking or taxis etc.

But it just makes me uncomfortable that 'big business' is skimming a tiny bit off each transaction at the expense of the little guy and it puts up costs for everyone.

Banks, Mastercard, Visa and Paypal make billions of pounds off the payments industry at the expense of everyone.

And online and card payments aren’t crime free either. Cards get skimmed or cloned both online and offline. Online payments systems get hacked. I’d like to know how the amounts compare to wages snatches of yesteryear for example.

I simply don't use businesses that only take cash

Where do you park?
It's possible to park on-street in Birmingham cashless (for example). Also the QE2 hospital car park takes cards.

Which bus company do you use? (assuming you live outside London)
Our buses (TravelWM) use contactless (apparently).

Ah, so you live in a big city.
If you go out to a National Park in the countryside, do you expect the parking meters to take cards?

I'm surprised it's not a more competitive market TBH - I know there are risks involved for the companies like this but I do suspect that it's not that competitive a market.

So far the banks have been able to block most initiatives, mainly by using the excuse they're "banks". Mobile phone providers (Vodafone et al) and tech companies (Apple, Google) are all greedily eyeing the market, but are constrained by the fact they aren't banks. (and therefore lack the good regulation "banks" have to ensure nothing bad happens[1]). This why despite most modern phones being capable of NFC (contactless) payments, we've had to wait for ApplePay - Apple had to talk to the banks.

I suspect the banks are a tad too complacent here, Apple or Google could buy any international bank of their choice, and have money left over to pay their bonuses. The fact they haven't (yet) suggests they don'[t necessarily see banks as that essential to their strategy.

[1]Yeah, right.

i think there are many reasons shops etc dont take cards

as said

charges for the shop owner,not really worth it if there turnover is small

i have noticed many nail bars in my town only take cash,and considering many treatments are £15 + they really do need to take cards

one big one though was our local independent pub,cash only and the landlord was dipping into the till and not declaring all transactions,also paying cash in hand to bar staff

and yes it was true as my good friend used to do casual work for him and he was pretty blatant

and no i didnt tell the tax man

he did eventually get caught,not for the tax but he was showing sky sports but not paying sky the commercial rate,just got a sparky to rig it up from his flat to the pub downstairs,it all came of his domestic charge from his flat

I'm surprised it's not a more competitive market TBH
The money laundering regulations to set up as a new card provider or provider of credit are so utterly insane now that only those with significant resources can do it : ie big banks.

Its a closed shop in Union parlance, not a competitive market at all

Ah well, there we go: 1 example to prove the tax fiddle theory is absolutely true!

Lurkio will be happy vindicated

Izettle charge 1.5-2.75 on a sliding scale depending how much you sell. You buy the device and set up an account. Banks are not involved other than you need an account. The money is moved to your account without extra charge.

There are parking meters that take cards? Not round here there aren't. Very few shops take contactless either. Haven't seen a no-card shop or cafe for a while, but notices saying sorry, no cards today, machine broken, or min £5 on cards are very common. I never pay for anything less than £5 on a card, partly because of thevosts to the businesses, partly because it's just habit to carry some cash and partly because I keep mental track of my spending better that way.

I simply don't use businesses that only take cash

I'm reminded of Ed Balls.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11420493/Ed-Balls-the-kind-of-man-who-would-demand-a-receipt-from-a-busker.html

I don't take card payments when I'm out at markets etc (food trader)....I'm usually in a gazebo or marquee at food festivals or farmers markets. The chances of having a decent mobile signal to even be able to take phone calls etc, never mind a phone signal and 3G/4G to be able to use an izettle or paypal machine are rare. So when I'm out and about, I'm cash only. My online shop uses paypal though.