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.

I'm rarely have less than £50 to hand. I lived in a village with little local shops and only some of the buses started going contactless, fairly recently, but even that couldn't be relied on as it seemed to be linked to the bus WiFi, which didn't always work in the village. I've recently moved into our small city but still do a lot of shopping with independent small traders and prefer to pay them by cash, even if they are set up to take card payments, as it costs them less.

There was a day before Christmas when there was a network problem in the city that meant that no one was able to take card payments. Was glad I'd just been to the bank.

Besides, if I do use my card for lots of small things, it always ends up being flagged up and I have to faff around by text or on the phone before I can use it again.

And reading about apps that simply require a double click with your thumbprint, I guess I'll not be an adopter as I don't have readable fingerprints. They've worn smooth!

Myname Au contraire, I think the UK gold plates the directives to the nth degree.

And reading about apps that simply require a double click with your thumbprint, I guess I'll not be an adopter as I don't have readable fingerprints. They've worn smooth!

Wow! Sideline as a cat burglar?!

You don't have to use touch ID, you can still just enter a password for apps that use biometrics - it's just a timesaving option. They only require a fingerprint if you elect to use that feature

Touch ID might still work as it would read your own pattern - or lack of - and match them. It might well recognise a swirl - less fingerprint as yours once you've set them up.

I always have cash. There are still those machines kids like to ride on, bus fares, giving money to a busker, buying a Big Issue, etc.

I've managed to get a print scanned on my phone but it's failed after a few days. I guess the amount of smoothness varies with what I've been doing. My thumbs were more successful until one of my random splits occurred.

My laptop has never managed to scan them.

*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*

If I lose my card I just use my app to request cash from the nearest cash point. It gives me a code, I go input it, cash comes out! And voila. Cash.

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

That happens maybe once per month, if that. I tend to stay away from shops that don't take card for small amounts as I don't use cash. So 50p twelve times a year... £6. Happy to pay the cost of a couple of coffees compared to the rigmarole of 'carrying cash' about my person! Certainly if you consider how much time it'd take to go out of my way to keep cash on me, I'd say £6 is better than wasting time I could be using more wisely.

It seems like a lot of PP who still use cash often do so out of a sense of anxiety, I see people saying they just don't feel right or can't relax or feel naked without cash on them, which is interesting. Maybe just one of those things where you get stuck in your ways and then keep doing it how you always did, until/unless it starts to become a problem. Nothing wrong with that, though as we continue to move towards a cashless society even further I suspect it'll be a bit jarring for those who are forced to go cashless rather than deciding to do so of their own volition.

It's not surprising it causes anxiety, given that money is such a fraught topic in lots of our lives. It seems so odd to me that having cash on you would feel any different to having your card with access to all of your own money, but I reckon some of the issue is sentimentality, not wanting to let go of cash, fond memories of learning to count with it and getting pocket money and whatnot.

To PP who say they don't like the self checkout, I'm curious: why is that?

Limon Back in the 90s, Lloyds wanted to stop customers paying their utility bills over the counter, and to put their cheques and counterfeits in an envelope, and deposit it at the bank for processing later. I had an argument with a cashier as (a) I wanted a receipt....I used to spend hours tracking down lost payments for work, and (b) she couldn't see th st the end aim was to make staff redundant.

I don't use self service check outs as I want people to be employed; I also resent adding to the profits of the company by doing unpaid work for them like self scanning.

No not anxiety. I get cash when I go to the supermarket once a week. Very easy.
Self checkouts are a bloody pain. If you are buying alcohol it always takes way longer for someone to authorise the payment than just going to a normal checkout. I use self checkouts for very small purchases only.

I can't see any way that I can avoid having a physical ... card

@Lightasthebreeze download the Stocard app and you will - it already has the m&s and Waitrose cards pre-installed (amongst hundreds of others) and all you have to do is scan your card with your phone camera and it will store your personal card information in the app. Then, when you go to M&S you just open the Stocard app, click the M&S logo and it will either show a barcode or QR code that they scan at the checkout just like an item barcode and it registers your card usage.

It is far easier than carrying a purse full of storecards

And it means that everyone who never uses cash never buys from a Big Issue seller or gives money to buskers. Pretty sad really.

And collections at work, everyone does these by cash.

FFS who wants a load of storecards pre loaded on an easily stolen phone. How is that more secure than carrying cash?

And it means that everyone who never uses cash never buys from a Big Issue seller or gives money to buskers. Pretty sad really.

And collections at work, everyone does these by cash.

I give a regular monthly donation to Shelter and a local homeless charity rather than giving at random on the street - which is the advice most charities give.

At my work (and among my friends) everyone does bank transfers for money we owe each other for collective presents or whatever.

I also get my shopping delivered, so can't get cash out then!

The advice is not to give to beggars, not to buy a Big Issue. And buskers are not charity cases.

not to not buy a Big Issue

I don't use self service check outs as I want people to be employed

I work in a supermarket and people always use this as an argument against self scans but people don't lose their jobs when the self scan machines are implemented, it just frees up front end staff to do other jobs.

So in the space where there used to be 4 checkouts using 4 checkout operators there are now 10 self scan machines. The machines still need a human supervisor so we have 2 staff manning the machines and the other 2 checkout staff are then either using other tills (very rare a whole bank of tills are all in use except at times like Christmas, so if it's busy they will just jump on another closed checkout) or are free to do other duties - returning left items to the shop floor or collecting items customers have forgotten, collecting hangers and security tags, covering breaks etc.

Stores that have went to mainly self scan have noticeably less staff.

I see scaryteacher, it's more of a moral stance that you feel it's keeping staff in a job. I also get what you mean re doing unpaid work for them, though personally I feel like we do that in a lot of ways across our lives anyway so it's not a big deal. We don't expect someone to come out and fill our car at the petrol station like some places do (America for one)!

Personally the only thing that pits me off the self checkout is how bloody broken they ALWAYS are, unexpected item in the bagging area type stuff. If they could just fix that that'd be brilliant. It does take ages getting a staff member over to fix it! But on the whole I do prefer self checkout as I can just continue listening to my music uninterrupted and get on with it rather than having to stop and make small talk.

Crunchymint, that's a hell of an assumption you make there about people who don't use cash not helping homeless people. FYI, when I leave a shop and see someone begging I always ask what they'd like, go back in the shop and buy it for them along with extras. And if it's someone who says they're not hungry for food but needs cash and I can afford it I will go to a cashpoint and get a tenner or twenty out and give them that. They're often near cash points for obvious reasons so it's no bother when there's an immediate need.

And I won't go to ASDA as they are pushing everyone to self scan by ensuring not enough cashiers are on, so long queues. If I have a lot of shopping it takes way longer for me to self scan than to use a cashier. So I go to ALDI or LIDL.

Melj Much quicker to have people on the checkout imo. You've never seen the pickle my Mum can get into on the self scan. Takes ages to sort, much quicker to use the normal checkouts. Important for the elderly to get some human interaction as well.

The advice is not to give to beggars, not to buy a Big Issue. And buskers are not charity cases.

That's far from universal agreed upon advice, crunchy. It's a viewpoint. Many others disagree and say give money if you want to.

No Big Issue is legitimate and not beggars, you are wrong if you are giving people that impression. It is a self help model. And important for self respect.

I scan my shopping at Carrefour, but those checkouts are staffed by people who might check your trolley. The best is Colryut and OK (I live abroad), as they pack your bags for you in your trolley. It's well packed and very quick too.

Melj. Thanks, I will try that app as it will be useful to have them together than scattered round my purse

I don't use self scans because they always fuck up. I'm there to purchase goods, not DIY it and deal with their fucking machines they set too sensitively.