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.

Last night I found out the restaurant I was in didn't take cards after I had finished eating!

If they don't tell people in advance, they're going to go out of business. If it hadn't been made clear at the outset that it was cash only (and the few places I've been recently which are make it very, very clear, in one case with a sign in letters six inches high on the door and printed at the top and bottom of every page of the menu) then I would offer my card, then my business card, and then walk out, and not come back (other than to drop the money in the following day).

They're welcome to call the police, but the second time they do it the police are going to tell them to fuck off and stop wasting their time.

*Today 18:00 blastomama

There's an atm on the corner. My sister had cash. It's not an issue.*

That'll be how they get away with it then, being near a cash point! No incentive to change.

If I had only been carrying my credit card not debit card I wouldn't have got cash out as it charges you, so I'd have had to leave without paying with a promise to settle with them when they can provide me with a very simple piece of information so I can transfer the cash straight across.

Can't imagine that'd cause an issue, people might panic about 'dining and dashing' and worry they'll call the police but you're not wanting to leave without paying, you're offering payment they're choosing not to take. And in this day and age nobody could reasonably be expected to instinctively know they needed cash for this specific place.

They've been in business over a decade and are very very popular. I doubt they are worried.

There is no good reason in my book to hold onto old, less useful, more cumbersome ways of doing things just because that's how things were always done. It's not a charity

Thta's not why. There will always be people who can't use cards or phone pay, at least for a very long time. What about them? Just tough?

X-post cuboidal! Funny how we both sussed out the exact same incoming 'but what about the police' hypothetical argument to answer straight off the bat 😂

There will always be people who can't use cards or phone pay, at least for a very long time. What about them? Just tough?

Reality is on the phone say, "yep, pretty much". Who are these people who can't use cards? How many businesses are bothered about their business? Sorry: that's the cold, hard reality. Businesses will continue to take cash for as long as it makes commercial sense. When it doesn't, they'll stop. The end.

Last night I found out the restaurant I was in didn't take cards after I had finished eating

There Trip advisor scores but be horrendous. Where was this place?

I'd have done pingit or bank transfer and would never eat there again.

I'm genuinely not being a GF here, but

There will always be people who can't use cards or phone pay, at least for a very long time

Who? Who cannot (not will not) use cards, contactless or chip and pin, or phone, and somehow manage to use cash for everything (even bills? And rent?).

As like I say, barring the odd case where someone's faculties have declined or are such that they're literally incapable of understanding how to operate a bank card (in which case I'd be worried about their holding onto large amounts of cash), I just can't think of many even fringe cases where someone is not choosing, over a number of years considering how long the technology has been around, to remain cash only.

The progress towards digital is already so well underway for a number of years that there's no stopping it. Technology should be made accessible. There should be tuition and classes to enable people to get up to speed. And to be accessible for people with all disabilities where possible.

But it's happening and there's no stopping it whether you feel there ought to be a way to stop it or not. People (who are making the decision not incapable) can either choose to cling to their security blanket of cash out of a sense of nostalgia, distrust, pig headedness etc. Or make an effort to learn something that our children are now growing up with as normal. They're only harming themselves if they choose to stick with that path, nobody else. It's not down to the rest of society to bend over backwards to account for that (look at the number of bank branches that have shut down).

People who carry cash are not against using cards and will use cards for possibly most transactions.

We just are used to being prepared for situations where cards are not accepted and are not surprised to find that not every small shop, taxi, restaurant, parking meter or takeaway is still cash only.

Are the 'will not carry cash under any circumstances' people prepared to turn around and go home if they find that they need cash to pay for parking or food and drink at the seaside or a day out in the country?

There will always be people who can't use cards

How do they survive alone in the world? We have been using them since the late 80s, a previous poster said you need one to get your pension. If you can't tap a piece of plastic against a screen I'm not sure you should be out alone.

Reality is on the phone say, "yep, pretty much". Who are these people who can't use cards? How many businesses are bothered about their business? Sorry: that's the cold, hard reality. Businesses will continue to take cash for as long as it makes commercial sense. When it doesn't, they'll stop. The end

Even without other good reasons, how about just people without bank accounts? There are 1.5 million adults in the UK without a bank account. 25 million people across Europe who would like an account but don't have one. 65% of ‘unbanked’ households have an annual household income of just under £14,500. They are also more likely to be in receipt of benefits. Half of the unbanked have been receiving benefits for more than five years and they are more likely to live in socially rented accommodation.

Don't we care about these people?

. People (who are making the decision not incapable) can either choose to cling to their security blanket of cash out of a sense of nostalgia, distrust, pig headedness etc. Or make an effort to learn something that our children are now growing up with as normal. They're only harming themselves if they choose to stick with that path, nobody else

Do you feel like this is perhaps a little offensive in the light of my above post?

i'd have done pingit or bank transfer and would never eat there again

Many small restaurants here (large UK city) wouldn't have a clue what pingit was and probably wouldn't want you to pay by bank transfer either. They would be calling the police because you had eaten in their restaurant and neglected to bring a means to pay.

i'd have done pingit or bank transfer and would never eat there again

you'd be missing out, the food is amazing!

There are people who don't like contactless cards and cut the wire going though them, not all cards are even contactless yet, my M&S one isn't.

Anyone without good motor control can not use chip and pin, but can use cash, and usually can not use phones either. Yes they can use contactless for smaller amounts. They get cash out at bank branches. This actually worries me as my family have a genetic illness that causes shaking as you get older. My mum can no longer use chip and pin, although my dad is still fine.
So I do wonder about disability rights.

Even contactless cards ask for the pin every once in a while, so you will need to know the PIN or will get turned away sooner or later. Also not everywhere accepts contactless - at least one major UK supermarket (either Asda or Sainsburys) requires a PIN for all transactions. so people cannot rely solely on contactless.

Are the 'will not carry cash under any circumstances' people prepared to turn around and go home if they find that they need cash to pay for parking or food and drink at the seaside or a day out in the country
.
I live rural, I travel a lot around the UK and Europe for business. I haven't had to turn around anywhere as I haven't found anywhere where I can't pay without cash.
I park in car parks on a daily basis. The old fashioned coin based ones still have the 4 or 5 digit code on that I can pay via mobile.

I'm not won't carry cash. I would carry cash if it benefited me. It just doesn't.

I get paid to use cards so why would I use cash?

I mentioned poorer people earlier up the thread as I'm guessing most of the cashless people on here are reasonably well off and are able to have a decent smartphone, a bank account and several credit cards and sound like they are able to eat out a lot. Some people aren't able to even access a bank account so how they will waft a card about I don't know

blastomama I assume you feel the people you refer to are the incapable, not the ones choosing not to, to whom I was referring to?

either Asda or Sainsburys

I pay contactless in both of those

They would be calling the police because you had eaten in their restaurant and neglected to bring a means to pay.

And then you'd show them your cards, the fact you have an online banking app to transfer money across (so, two means of payment) and given that it's 2018, reasonable assumed you could pay by either of these methods. And the owner would be laughed at or given a bollocking for wasting police time.

I'm really not concerned about being arrested over a cafe not taking card.

Also not everywhere accepts contactless - at least one major UK supermarket (either Asda or Sainsburys) requires a PIN for all transactions

Certainly not Sainsburys, as I paid with a Contactless card there yesterday. Their roll-out has been slow, and they have some branches which don't yet work. However, no-one is talking about Sainsbury's refusing cash next month, or even next year, are they?

Even contactless cards ask for the pin every once in a while, so you will need to know the PIN or will get turned away sooner or later.

But contactless via Apple/Android pay doesn't, relying on a fingerprint or facial recognition. And as the earliest imaginable horizon for major UK shops, as opposed to hipster coffee joints in Brockley [1], to stop accepting cash is at least ten years out, phone penetration has another ten or more years to go.

I haven't had to turn around anywhere as I haven't found anywhere where I can't pay without cash.

I've found businesses which don't take cards. But without exception there's a business within a couple of door which does, so I don't care. If they don't want my custom, who am I to criticise their business decisions?

[1] www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/19/people-dont-carry-cash-uk-firms-adapting

Storm Desmond was a classic example of how you shouldn't rely on cards and should carry some cash with you. We had no electric, no mobile signal and no landline phone (so no broadband). There were people stranded who had no money for even a taxi walking miles to get home in the dark. People couldn't buy basics such as food. It was a real eye-opener. Luckily there were loads of people providing help (inc pubs staying open all night for people to sit and stay when they couldn't travel and couldn't contact friends/family for lifts), but most of the charity wouldn't have been necessary if people had just kept some money on them instead of assuming/relying on their cards!

There are people who don't like contactless cards and cut the wire going though them

So what? If they deliberately prevent a means of payment from working, whose problem is it other than their own?

They would be calling the police because you had eaten in their restaurant and neglected to bring a means to pay.

Leaving aside the point that if the police arrived screaming around the corner on blues and twos, they would as others have pointed out not be interested, it is in reality going to take, what, ten minutes for them to arrive? If a cafe owner wants to try to physically prevent someone from leaving, then they're welcome to try, but they're going to be in for a world of legal (and possibly physical) hurt the moment they put a hand on someone.

Even without other good reasons, how about just people without bank accounts? There are 1.5 million adults in the UK without a bank account
Most of whom use a relatives account.
The Government is working on banks to offer basic accounts to everyone instead of them needing a post office account.