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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

963 replies

InHibernationTilISummer · 03/03/2018 23:27

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.

OP posts:
Blackteadrinker77 · 08/03/2018 21:32

I always think people who don’t carry cash seem tight - they never give to charity collections or homeless in the street, office collections, tea kitty, tips etc etc How hard is it to carry a tenner and a few coins

None of that is true. You can do all of that without cash.

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 08/03/2018 21:37

They do not work on mobile signal.

A surprising number of merchant terminals do. If you want to be able to accept (for example) pre-pay contactless, then you need to do so online. What you do when you don't have a signal is a risk management issue, something which the quasi-public sector is bad at.

How do you think you can pay on an aeroplane which has no internet?

Sometimes it uses ACARS. There's been some research work on this [1] and although the paper I cite doesn't mention it, the authors (to use that old favourite "private communication") are saying that there's a lot of ACARS being used to do credit card transactions. The rest of the time they do it offline, but there are some quite substantial limitations on what they will and won't accept, and for how much, because their floor limits for offline payments are quite low.

[1] fc17.ifca.ai/preproceedings/paper_17.pdf

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 21:42

blackteadrinker You are very lucky that you have never lost a phone or had it stolen. Half a million British people had their phone stolen last year.
I understand why big business wants a cashless society. I do not accept the idea that this means our money is more secure. Every piece of technology I have seen for the last 40 years promises greater security and/or durability than the traditional method it replaces. It is rarely true.

Also a little bit irritated at constantly being told we should be using apps that have existed for a number of months and that most people do not even know exist.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 21:47

Anyway to do all of this I have to upgrade my mobile. At the moment I have a very very cheap package that gives me what I want. But it has run out of memory for apps. So that would mean paying more out every single month just so I don't have to use cash.

Blackteadrinker77 · 08/03/2018 21:50

A surprising number of merchant terminals do

Mobile signal? Or did you think I said internet connection?

Thanks for the ACARS PDF. I'll download later and read. I'm on a secure VPN atm and it won't allow downloads that aren't recognised. Been years since I read about it, sure it's a lot better now. It was telex format at the time iirc.

LimonViola · 08/03/2018 22:00

i always think people who don’t carry cash seem tight - they never give to charity collections or homeless in the street, office collections, tea kitty, tips etc etc How hard is it to carry a tenner and a few coins?!

Huh. Guess you either didn't bother reading the thread or wilfully disregarded my posts stating clearly how I still give to homeless people.

Blackteadrinker77 · 08/03/2018 22:01

Also a little bit irritated at constantly being told we should be using apps

You don't have to do anything. I just live my life by finding easier quicker ways to do things.

If I am spending time doing xyz I google how can I do xyz quicker? I work very hard and want my free time with my family or procrastinating on MN Grin

I don't want to be hoovering, food shopping, clothes shopping, standing in queues, counting cash, checking bank statements, going to a cash point etc

Anyway to do all of this I have to upgrade my mobile

You can just buy a memory card for £5 on Ebay to boost your phones memory.

Thedogsmells · 08/03/2018 22:02

I never take a wallet out. Have my debit card in slot on back of my phone. I sometimes have cash for parking in the car, but even then normally pay by app.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:03

I wouldn't even know how to use that or check what I was buying was compatible.
I have been to the cashpoint today and got cash for the week. No queue, took me a few minutes. I don't need much, but I do need some. And checked my monthly bank statement. Because I only have 12 transactions on it, it is quick to check.

SkaterGrrrrl · 08/03/2018 22:07

Never carry cash. London buses take debit cards, as do almost every shop and pub.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:07

And 11% of the poorest have no bank account if you include post office accounts.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:09

Buses outside London don't take debit cards. Most of us still live outside of London. Although I use debit cards on London transport.

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 08/03/2018 22:12

Mobile signal? Or did you think I said internet connection?

Mobile signal. There are plenty of older merchant terminals which have a GSM phone built in, which can't use other Internet connections. Whether they will work offline is a risk management decision for the individual merchant: the terminals support it, but the merchant may not be willing to take the risk. It is obviously possible to upgrade them, but they undeniably exist.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:12

But once the technology becomes easier for everyone to use AND everyone has a bank account that is fully functional, then fine if little cash is used. But I think it is a long way away.

Blackteadrinker77 · 08/03/2018 22:14

I wouldn't even know how to use that or check what I was buying was compatible
I have been to the cashpoint today and got cash for the week. No queue, took me a few minutes. I don't need much, but I do need some. And checked my monthly bank statement. Because I only have 12 transactions on it, it is quick to check

If you wanted one I'd gladly help. Just PM me. It just goes in the side of your phone.

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 08/03/2018 22:15

If the UK is cashless in ten years I'll eat all my debit cards and my phone as well!

In the last six months, I've bought petrol in a petrol station which doesn't accept cash, stayed in two hotels which don't accept cash and parked my car in carparks that don't accept cash. Will the UK be cashless in ten years' time? No. Will it become progressively more difficult for those operating only in cash, for transactions above subsistence? Yes.

Blackteadrinker77 · 08/03/2018 22:16

Buses outside London don't take debit cards

I'm rural Durham and they all take contactless.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:17

Okay thanks

Blackteadrinker77 · 08/03/2018 22:17

Mobile signal. There are plenty of older merchant terminals which have a GSM phone built in,

Wow I had no idea, that seems crazily out dated.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:18

blacktea that surprises me. I am in a City and they don't take contactless. And that would be easier for me if they did. They do have free wifi on the buses though.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:18

Well village outskirts of a city

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 08/03/2018 22:18

Buses outside London don't take debit cards

Rolling out in the Midlands at the moment.

LimonViola · 08/03/2018 22:18

Buses in other places do take contactless, you obviously haven't done any research. My most recent city changed all buses to it last year. Nobody is pretending it's universal yet but to claim it's London only is plain wrong.

crunchymint · 08/03/2018 22:20

Okay I am wrong about buses and contactless. The City near to me does not take them. Cash only or pre bought card.

LoniceraJaponica · 08/03/2018 22:23

We all know that London transport is cash free. However, not all of us live in London Hmm

Our local station installed a card only ticket dispenser only last month, and our local buses have only installed contactless machines in the last year. However, the school buses don't offer this service, the queue for the ticket machine at the station is often too long for people to buy tickets before the train arrives (and anyone who doesn't use the service frequently spends ages working out how to use the machine), so the train still has a conductor selling tickets. People can use a card or cash for this, and I often see people paying by cash.

The pay and display machines in our local Morrisons only accept £1 coins, but this comes off your shopping bill.

I do use contactless a lot, but it isn't always available.