To be narked that my hairdresser will only accept cash?

[Hillfarmer]

Had my hair cut and coloured at a small local salon in London i.e. not West End. At the weekend. Came to £108.00. Only taken my daughter there before for a trim so it was under £15 and must have paid cash previously.

I asked why, and they said it was ‘easier’. I said it was ‘easier’ for me to pay with a card. They said every card transaction costs them money. I said ‘even a debit card?’ and they replied with a yes.

So off I had to trot to the ATM up the road, presumably just like most of their other customers.

The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. They are obviously just avoiding tax in some way, aren’t they?

I feel like dropping them a note saying I like my haircut, but won’t be coming back unless they drop the insistence on cash.

AIBU?

P.s. I tip in cash.

They

I would need another full time member of staff to do the paperwork that goes with it

Really?! It cannot be that complicated. Single-person owner-operator businesses drive around with mobile card machines.

Yes it’s true
even the reps from the bank that come around trying to sell the machines will explain that.
Every transaction has to be checked & any mistakes or chargebacks I’ve had to take the loss

As it stands I'm inundated with business to the point of turning customers away and my bank doesn't charge for deposits of cash or cheques (was an offer with the bank back in 2011 and they've never adjusted their charges).
My customers have the option of cheque, cash or bank transfer. If this doesn't suit then I'm afraid it's tough.

2% doesn’t seem like a lot of money but on some products the profit is pennies I would have to put my prices up & then I would lose customers.

A local hairdresser I tried a while ago didn't take a card. It was a bit annoying as you assume everyone does these days if they have a shop. Can understand small shops not wanting cards for transactions say for a couple of pounds. But if it's quite a big amount like yours then it's cheeky and poor customer service.

Good for you KoolKoala07 I feel the same,
The kind of customers that come in & want to use a credit card to pay for a packet of chewing gum or a bottle of water are the kind of customers I could do without

I think it’s quite poor business sense in this day and age. The merchant charge on £100 debit transaction can be as low as 10p.

There are easy ways around this by adding a charge on to the payment or including it in the price.

Cash businesses with weak paper trails can lead to poor financial management and it’s easy to skim off a chunk of takings. Easy money laundering opportunities too not to mention risks involved in having lots of cash on the premises.

I’d avoid that hairdressers OP.

Laulau - maybe. I don't know what your business is. But don't underestimate people's laziness.

The bakery near me charges 30c for card transactions under $10, so I regularly pay $5.80 instead of $5.50 for a loaf of bread. Because I'd rather do that than go and get cash, and I'm happy to pay for the convenience.

For all those saying "it costs to take card"--do you think the cash walks itself to the bank and deposits? All approaches cost the business money, it's just that they can SEE the card fees.

Really?! It cannot be that complicated. Single-person owner-operator businesses drive around with mobile card machines.

That’s what i would have thought before I got one.... You have to demonstrate you are “PCI/DSS compliant” which basically means you need to demonstrate you networks and systems are secure. It’s far, far more than a couple of simpl forms. You could get a specialist to sort it for you, but that would be a big cost for a small business. Also, it’s not so much the transaction costs but the lease costs on top, and the fact you tie yourself in for a long period (5 years I think) which means it’s only worth it if you’r confident you’ll be remaining in business for a while.

Every fish and chip shop in my local area is cash only. It’s so annoying and they should get with the times!!

2% doesn’t seem like a lot of money but on some products the profit is pennies I would have to put my prices up & then I would lose customers.

But you’ll lose customers who don’t have the cash on them.... Cash is on the way out. Coins and notes will be an oddity in 10 years and museum pieces in 20.

coconut, fair enough - maybe I'm talking out of my arse there! I'm actually in Aus, so although the technology is presumably similar, the banking system maybe isn't so much.

My mobile dog groomer has a card machine, and she is most definitely a 'one woman in a dodgy van' outfit.

If it's not a totally new business, I always assume they are tax-dodging if they're asking for cash over about £20.

(Ooops, that came out wrong - I didn't mean to suggest that they definitely ARE tax-dodging, just that this goes through my head!)

I really think that in this day and age, businesses need to absorb electronic payments into the cost of doing business. So much these days is 'tap and go' and consumers just don't tend to carry much cash.

There is one local BBQ chicken shop near me that does the most amazing chips, but they won't take card. If I'm standing between his shop and the fish and chip shop next door that also does amazing chips, and does take cards, and I have no cash in my wallet, where am I going to shop? If I went to the BBQ chicken shop, my spend would be about $40. But he won't pay the approximately 25 cent costs on that transaction to have electronic payment options. So I go next door to the fish and chip shop who gets my $40 less the 25 cents it costs them for me to use my card. The chicken shop gets $0 of my spend, the fish and chip shop gets $39.75 of my spend. Who is better off for having electronic payments?

Who says it's 2%?

Some systems charge a percentage, others charge a flat fee with a monthly connection charge. You base your decision on which one to get on what will cost you the least amount of money over all. If you are regularly doing transactions over £40 then you would likely be better off with a per transaction fee rather than a percentage fee.

They need to do their homework.

Cash is definitely not on the way out
There was an article in the FT just last week saying how cash was coming back in fashion
There is more cash around today than there has even been

Do any mn accountants know if hair salons can claim back the cost of card machines as an allowable tax expense? I'd always assumed that self employed hairdressers could claim against their electricity, coffee, water etc

I never carry much more than £20 in cash. If you're buying a product that cost more than £100 you should of course be able to pay by card. They're definitely on the fiddle.

That would annoy me. I have to pay cash for my boys hair cuts but they cost £4 so I think that’s fair! I would expect to use card for anything above about £20.

Yes of course merchant services like card machines are a tax deductible expense.

Moving, that's what I thought.

Many hairdressers are self employed, even ones in salons. Rent a chair is big buisness. Naturally, being self employed opens up an ease of not declaring all income, all hours or both. It is highly likely that tax avoidance and or tax credit maximising is at play here.

My hairdresser charges 50p to use card. The small local shop charges 35p.