To wonder why so many people don't carry any cash on them?

[InHibernationTilISummer]

Excluding people who are skint and the Queen, obviously.

I've had so many examples of this in the last few weeks:

• Colleague who came into the work in the bad weather. Lots of delays and problems on the bus route they normally get so wanted to get the train instead but had no money for a ticket because they had come in with their season bus pass and lunch and hadn't expected to be spending any money.
• Friend turning up for exercise class but hasn't realised that the price has gone up 50p since she last came - and she only brought the exact money she thought she would need.
• Another friend dropping older child off at sport class finds that there's a fair going on at the sports centre with stalls and activities that her younger child (who was with her) would have enjoyed. Complains that she wishes she had known about it in advance as she would have taken some money out with her.

Is this becoming more common or is it just the people I know? If you aren't skint but don't routinely carry money on you, why is that?

I've been in situations where I haven't expected to be spending any (or much) money and some problem has occurred or plans have changed for some reason (e.g. having to accompany someone to A & E or the last bus not turning up) and I would have been really stuck if I hadn't taken some spare 'emergency' cash.

Yes I have a direct debit on all my cards so they are paid off in full as Martin Lewis would say. I might look into the Amex one but as I only have a small salary as semi retired I may not earn enough, pension may not count

How power hungry are all these apps that you have on your phones? That is another major concern that I have - getting through my battery too quickly.

"Didn't get a baby sadly, but got a TV as a consolation prize"

Sorry to hear that bananafish

I can't be bothered with the lumpy aggro of a smart brick

Er what now? What does that even mean? Its a very odd luddite thing to say.

I don't do a direct debit, I pay them off in full manually - makes me more aware of what I'm spending, but I still use a mix of cash and cards anyhow - practicality reasons.

Just going to pick up my £25 CASH lottery winnings now... will give me some for the kids' allowances (fiver each) and bus fares for tomorrow/Tuesday (£1.50 each - cheapest way to pay when they only use the bus one way), as well as a few pounds for the independent local shop to pay for some milk and a paper, and also some for school raffle tickets on Wednesday.

How power hungry are all these apps that you have on your phones? That is another major concern that I have - getting through my battery too quickly.

They use no extra battery power to just exist on my phone and using the apps uses minimal battery. I also have my phone optimised so it closes any background apps that aren't being used to help with battery use.

In addition, I have an android with good battery so one charge will give me a whole days worth of phone usage. I have been using my phone since I got up at 9am and still have 71% battery and, according to my phone's device management setting, if I continue using my phone at this level I have 10hours and 25 minutes worth of battery power left. On an average day I use my phone far less than I have today so battery power is rarely an issue.

School fundraising is good example. Whose summer Fete or school disco accepts contactless? I keep working on the sweet stall where average sale is about 90p, or cakes-tea-Prosecco stalls which also only do cash. PTAs not set up to deal with card payments.

Er what now? What does that even mean

I think it goes back to the first smart phones that had huge screens and push out key pads.

getting through my battery too quickly

I charge my phone over night and don't have any problems.

I never heard of ping as payment method. I feel confident most the people I interact with don't know it or use it.

If you lose card, folk say it's easy to cancel card.
How long do you have to wait to get a new card?
The times I've had to cancel cards, It was majorly inconvenient to have to go 4-5 days without being able to pay. And that's with a husband who can get cash for me.
So then you need multiple cards? Do you keep ur cards in diverse locations so you can avoid losing them all at once?

I read this guy's book about living without money & thought he was daft, tbh.

I can't be bothered with the lumpy aggro of a smart brick

specialsubject If you think smartphones are lumpy or brick like, you clearly haven’t looked at a mobile phone at all since the 1990s.

It’s also not at all an aggro; it’s literally a double click with your thumbprint to pay via your phone. It couldn’t be simpler.

Dont get why cash is easier to piss away than card or phone. Things still cost the same.

Sure, things still cost the same. But unless you’re keeping a paper trail (and who wants to do that?), there’s no easy record of it like there is when you pay via card.

How power hungry are all these apps that you have on your phones? That is another major concern that I have - getting through my battery too quickly.

LoniceraJaponica The only heavy power app I have is Pokemon Go, which only takes up power when I use it (and as a dedicated PoGo player I always take a cable and fully charged power charger with me everywhere). So I don’t need to worry about battery either.

School fundraising is good example. Whose summer Fete or school disco accepts contactless?

Well yeah, but I don’t have children at school. So not an issue.

Always have cash on me. Usually not in my purse in case someone nicks it.

How power hungry are all these apps that you have on your phones? That is another major concern that I have - getting through my battery too quickly

I'm an iPhone user but my experience is the same as melj on Android

These apps don't use any battery when not in use, and minimal impact when they are. Certainly much less than battery hungry apps like FB or indeed MN! Or apps using location services / streaming.

If I'm out and about all day and using my phone a LOT then I'll pop it on low battery mode to turn off push notifications and any background usage, and worst case if I'm really hammering it then I have a little lipstick USB battery charger in my handbag. That'll not be from any payment apps though.

I store my card payment details in apps like Ocado, Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon, Trainline, taxi apps etc - and can switch cards so for business expenses I can use my business card. Which makes expenses super easy!

PTAs not set up to deal with card payments

A few have started to allow you to use parentpay for it. I think this will grow and grow.

Sweden tend to use Swish, which works like ping it. You just type in their mobile phone number and that pays them. It's used on all market stalls and things.

Sweden uses cash in less than 1% of all transactions. Even the homeless use Swish as do big issue sellers etc.

Or they'd add a charge like 50p for transactions under a fiver, like some small businesses do (which I happily pay

50 p extra on every small transaction, which could add up to tens or hundreds of pounds a year seems like a bonkers waste of money to me.

I've been to Spain and Denmark in the last few months and in both places, a lot of retailers charged extra for credit cards, so I paid cash as it was cheaper.

Seems they didn't get the memo about it being illegal.

Limon my money gets paid in on a Monday, I now use the cashpoint at Sainsbury's, so not a special trip, I draw out enough for 2 days, then go back every 2 days.

Doesn't EasyJet charge extra for credit cards vs debit cards? Or have they stopped?

I never heard of ping as payment method. I feel confident most the people I interact with don't know it or use it

Barclays has done many adverts on T.V about it. I've been using it for around 4 years. Great for bill splitting when eating with friends. Just ping them the value of your meal and they pay the full bill.

If you lose card, folk say it's easy to cancel card.
How long do you have to wait to get a new card

I don't tend to use a card, you don't need one with the app. It has it's own 16 digit number.

The times I've had to cancel cards, It was majorly inconvenient to have to go 4-5 days without being able to pay. And that's with a husband who can get cash for me

Just down load a banking app, all of 2 minutes and you'd be spending again.
Or certain branches will now get you a new debit card that day. 2 hours max I think it is.

So then you need multiple cards? Do you keep ur cards in diverse locations so you can avoid losing them all at once

Doesn't everyone use multiple cards to get the best deals? That is why apps make it much easier, quicker and less to carry.

I read this guy's book about living without money & thought he was daft, tbh

That isn't about living cashless, that is living off grid.

Doesn't EasyJet charge extra for credit cards vs debit cards? Or have they stopped

The law changed in the middle of January so they shouldn't be. Slyly some have just started changing a "booking fee" instead. So that it isn't a surcharge.

www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/09/new-just-eat-50p-surcharge-branded-a-rip-off-by-customers

I've been to Spain and Denmark in the last few months and in both places, a lot of retailers charged extra for credit cards

They shouldn't be as it is an EU law.

From 13 January 2018, businesses are no longer permitted to impose surcharges on consumers for paying by debit card, credit card or electronic payment services. The ban on surcharges does not apply to commercial debit or credit cards.

www.businesscompanion.info/en/quick-guides/pricing-and-payment/payment-surcharges

^I've been to Spain and Denmark in the last few months and in both places, a lot of retailers charged extra for credit cards

They shouldn't be as it is an EU law^

One of those EU laws that is generally only complied with in the UK and most other countries ignore?

A lot of places still only accept cash where I live so I won't be giving it up soon.

I can't see any way that I can avoid having a physical My Waitrose card to use in the coffee shop, the scan and pay is for shopping which I don't want to do, I prefer to go to a checkout, I hate self pay

Also the Sparks card is a physical card you have to scan at checkout and not on an App My coffee vouchers are paper which they post to me.

If they could be online I could put them in the Apple wallet but they aren't

I think ping is similar to the Lloyds pay by mobile which I have for DS in case he needs money urgently

I always carry cash, a debit card, a credit card and a phone. I'm never without any of these. I would feel quite odd/naked! I'm surprised so many of you do!

Exactly Barbara, most EU countries 'cherrypick' what they want to apply and ignore the rest.

Exactly Barbara, most EU countries 'cherrypick' what they want to apply and ignore the rest

That is the main characteristic of the UK's involvement with the EU!