What will we do without cash?

[longwayoff]

The Guardian '300 cash machines close per month'. It seems that we will have a cashless society whether we like it or not. Thinking about it I don't use cash very often but I want the choice. I want to be able to hand over some ice cream money or give a busker some cash, etc. Bah! Save our money.

I can't ever see a fully cashless society tbh. My village has had 3 new cash machines installed within the last year.

Remember they tried to get rid of cheques some years ago and it got pulled. Cash isn't going away for a while yet, or they wouldn't be bringing in all the new plastic notes.

I am never without some cash on me because of the number of times I see in a shop or pub a sign saying "cash only, the card machine isn't working" and people haven't a clue. Was only a few weeks ago that loads of supermarkets wouldn't accept Visa cards due to a problem.

I'd imagine that a large number of those were once in banks that have closed. It's been the case in our village - 2 banks closed with 3 ATMs between them which were then also removed.

Some time later we have managed to get a standalone ATM installed.

We have lost three local bank branches recently that's 3 cash machines gone but they've put a stand alone one in.

I can't see cash ever going away either. What about if you want to buy things under £5 in a small shop for instance

In a cashless society banks and governments will have a lot more control.Banks will be able to charge negative interest rates (ie - charge you for having money with them). Raid your bank account (as Cyprus did to citizens with more than 120K during the recession) when they need to.
Every transaction will be tracked and all the personal data that this generates used and sold for multiple purposes. I know a lot of this is already happening but it will be even greater. I find it quite scary. There is a big kick back against the governments plans in Germany to introduce a cashless society there (although we are actually further along the road)

Cashless society is how the Handmaid’s Tale starts isn’t it?

I don’t think we could ever be truly cashless as physical things still have value. It’d just open up all sorts of black markets with alternate ‘currencies’. Or the hippy amongst us would revert to bartering systems between ourselves. And it’d have to be imposed worldwide, or our citizens & businesses wouldn’t be able to travel/trade with other nations. So, basically, Gilead, which I don’t think anyone truly wants.

@kikashi I wonder how many people with more than £120k in liquid assets keep more than £100 of that in physical cash as opposed to savings, stocks & shares etc.

In which case, it’s probably controlled digitally, in which case, your notion of Government seizure can be done anyway.

Frankly, the only way you can prevent the Government seizing assets if they really really want to is to bury your cash in a hole in the woods and hope they don’t find it 😂.

The likes of block chain technology has shown people will try and find a way round these things.

According to Daily Mail commenters (is that a word?) we will all be issued with microchips that are the Mark of the Beast and then Judgement Day will come.

I don't think we can do completely without cash. It's always useful to carry a few quid for the places that don't take card/phone payments and didn't the Visa network crash a few weeks ago? Anyone with just Visa cards would have been stuck.

I also worry “what next?” if cashless takes over.

I watched a documentary recently about people somewhere (maybe Sweden) who DID have microchips implanted into their hand and they used that for everything - paying for things, getting through keycard doors, for ID, etc and it absolutely terrified me. They were talking about how convenient it was! Until someone wants to mug you and Instead of nicking your handbag/wallet the criminals will cut off your hand like Jack Bauer

In our town, and a few others I've seen, banks have closed but been replaced with those 'bank vans' with ATM's in the sides and advisors inside of them.

I made a resolution during the past year to not withdraw cash unless there was a specific reason why I needed some. I usually have none in my wallet. In fact, now that I only need a card, my wallet never leaves the house anyway. Not having cash on me hasn't been a problem yet.

I have a few pound coins I keep in the car to pay for parking at DD swimming lessons. (But otherwise parking is paid for via an app.)

Yesterday I withdrew £10 for DD school summer fair, from cash machine on walking route to the school.

The last thread on this subject there were loads of people saying what about the small businesses who can't afford the overhead of cards. In return it was proved that they overhead is negligible, if you have the right provider. In the past week I've read about businesses (shops) who refuse to take cash, as it is too expensive. Apparently it costs at least £5000 a year to be allowed to deposit customer cash into a bank account, these businesses feel they can't afford that and therefore only take cards. (One was a place selling craft beer, it's so rare for a customer to only have cash that they usually give a free beer to someone who has no cards on them, rather than turn them away.)

I actively avoid 'cash only' businesses (takeaways, local coffee shop, hair salons, even the local shoe repairer). It's obviously just done to evade tax. I'm not prepared to enable that.

I used to know a London cab driver. His tax evasion was of biblical proportions, and he said he was pretty representative of the majority. It made me incandescent with rage.

And don't get me started on cheques

Die-hard cash carrier here! Obviously I use a debit card for big things like supermarket, but not for anything under £30. I have only used contactless once and wasn't happy about it, it was the 'only option' apparently. I like cash, it tells me how much I have spent - and like a poster above, you can't contactless a tip, or a homeless person, or a busker.

Our high street - with over 20 bars and restaurants - now has no machines. It means going to the nearest supermarket in advance to get cash before a night out.

I appreciate this is the grumpy old woman in me, but lots of us feel this way.

I really dislike having to use a card for a small amount like £1.20. For example, the self-service tills in Waitrose only take cards. Grrr.

I prefer to use cash for anything under £10.

Why is cash easier/better than contactless, or even typing a PIN? Do people actually only take cards out when they actually plan to use them? How does using cash enable one to better know what was spent, compared with an actual record of the amount spent, with whom.

I just don't understand why cash makes anything at all easier, if there is also a card option.

Interestingly, the Swedes (who were rapidly moving towards a cashless society) have now twigged that this is not actually a good thing, and for resilience, there does need to be cash in the system.

Given the rise of cyber warfare, cash somewhere is a good idea.

I have only used contactless once and wasn't happy about it, it was the 'only option' apparently. I don't have a contactless UK debit card by choice, so that would have been a lost sale if I couldn't do cash or debit card.

Its about choice and having choice removed by stealth and apathy both. I want to have the option to stuff money under the mattress if I want to and also to spend it when, where and how I choose unrecorded. Which makes me sound like a criminal. Which I'm not. Some people are, most of us are not and we shouldn't have our freedoms eroded in this way without consent.

I can't bloody wait for a cashless society. There is nothing more annoying than having to use cash somewhere!

I rarely use cash for shopping these days. Most of my cash is used through giving it to the DCs - endless requests for a couple of quid for muftie days, school fairs, cake stalls etc. Pocket money to take on school trips, guide camp etc.
How will children buy stuff if not with an adult?

I still use cheques a lot too - payment for extra curricular stuff - dancing, guides, scouts etc.

having no cash on you or in the house is daft. tsb? visa ? happens frequently.

expecting tech to work all the time is naive . especially patched together bank systems.

Agree entirely longwayoff, and if Sweden has suddenly woken up and seen the light about the possible consequences of no cash, then perhaps the rest of those who support a cashless society should take heed.

Imagine the Visa outage that happened in early June writ large over weeks with cyber warfare taking the systems down. Cash needed.

I live in a Scandinavian country that’s almost entirely cashless - like even the banks don’t handle cash you have to go to one or two specific branches to deposit and wait a while for the money to actually reach your account.

You can’t pay on public transport you have to go to a newsagent to buy a ticket before you get on.

If you’re splitting a dinner bill people pay separately or else transfer money between bank accounts with an app.

It’s a big strange at first but you get used to it. I still prefer to have some cash on me for in case of emergencies but there’s not a whole lot of places where it’s useful now.

Oh notawaitress that sounds horrible. Which country is it?

@longwayoff Sweden actually
Hadn’t seen the other replied talking about it before I posted.

As far as I understand the anti cashless movement has prompted some change where the powers that be don’t want the change to be so fast people can’t keep up. But generally cash isn’t used often at all.