That a Vodafone shop wouldn’t accept cash in payment and it pissed me off?

[Inappropriatefemale]

So as the thread suggests then AIBU because a branch of Vodafone wouldn’t accept cash and it pissed me off?

I went into a Vodafone store around 4 weeks ago to buy a £20 memory card and I was aghast when the sales advisor told me that they didn’t accept cash because it was ‘a hassle’ and that paying by card was easier for the shop, it wasn’t the end of the day or anything like this where they had counted all their profits for the day.

I didn’t have my debit card with me that day so I went elsewhere to buy it but I was really pissed off, what if I was purchasing a brand new iPhone 8, or whatever the latest one is, at over £700 then would they have been happy for me to walk out their shop and spend that money elsewhere.

I have always suspected that actual cash will be done away with one day but not for a good few years at least and not in a Vodafone shop.

I didn’t look into this, I was just pissed off and wondered if any of you ladies/gents had experienced this and if so where, when and for how much?

Well it used to be the case, and still may be, that it costs a small shop 20 to 40 pence to accept a debit card transaction, which is why they often won't accept a card for under £5-10.

IZettle, which is very commonly used by small businesses, charges a flat 1.75% fee on card payments. As a small business owner I certainly know I would lose more than 1.75% of my sales if I didn't accept cards, even though the average transaction is only about £5

Saw a homeless person earlier who had a sign saying they accept card too, sure enough they actually had a card reader.

I would wonder why such an enterprising person was homeless and would doubt their being homeless.

IZettle, which is very commonly used by small businesses, charges a flat 1.75% fee on card payments. As a small business owner I certainly know I would lose more than 1.75% of my sales if I didn't accept cards, even though the average transaction is only about £5
It's also a lot safer to not keep a lot of cash on the premises, I assume.

If we all refused to pay by card then they’d have to change their policy. A cashless society means our every move will be monitored.

Your every move is monitored anyway!

If we all refused to pay by card then they’d have to change their policy. A cashless society means our every move will be monitored.

As someone (me) upthread noted, "cashless" isn't a synonym for "card only". We managed before cash with barter. The only reason we moved to cash was it was more flexible than barter. After all, you try paying for a pint with a pork chop.

I'm not suggesting a return to barter. Although if we are going to be blown back to the stone age by world events, there's no harm in a brief contemplation.

I imagine that soon everyone will have their own chip so that if someone is owe you money etc then they can pay you with their card, god know how it will work, a pp said a chip in the finger, imagine that! All our info would come up when it was scanned!!

I imagine that soon everyone will have their own chip

Mike Leigh was there in 1993 Bit long, but worth it. I've set it to start at the good bit

May have already been said but I think there is one element that mobile phone shops could do this for traceability. Already too many criminals using cash for mobiles and SIM’s for nefarious purposes

Two pubs near me are cashless.
It keeps their insurance down.

I never use cash. For some reason I’ve got about £40 in my purse at the moment, I’m going to pay it in to the bank tomorrow.

Menora that’s the polices job to worry about that not Vodafone, if they’re getting the cash for various sims and phones then I doubt they care why.

The closest lunch/snacks place to my office is cashless! Annoying for the catering assistants who go out to buy refreshments and reply on the old fashioned petty cash system!

It’s only a theory - but not unusual that a large corp wouldn’t want to be involved with crime or money laundering so may choose to go cashless for multiple reasons. It’s also vodaphones problem when they have to disclose info to the police/courts when requested!

It's also in a touristy area of central and a lot of tourists are turned away as they want to use the pound currency they have bought to pay!

Meant to say Central London - itsu, a nightmare for tourists!

Sims can be purchased anywhere though, I have never gotten a SIM card from a mobile shop, I’ve bought one out the newsagent usually if I have ever needed one.

Menora they wouldn’t be involved though, they have zero control over what people do with sims and phones and the police would know this.

Years ago a sign in the local take-away said "Plastic tells more to the VATMAN than cash ever can!"

How times have changed

@inappropriatefemale

So what happens when the cash machines go down? It's not like that never happens is it?

I like using cash so would not use a shop that refuses to take it.

Well if all the cash machines go down then people will pay by card, surely.

If the cash machines go down, it usually means the whole banking system is down, so no card payments either.

There was an example recently of a young woman who got stranded at a train station because her phone battery died and she had no other way of making payment. No cash or cards etc.

Phone boxes are being replaced by charging points which you can also use to make WiFi calls.

I just got back from Amsterdam, went armed with my wads of euros and got the shock of my life that a lot of places expected me to pay by card

I got charged by my bank every single time i was forced to use it because i was abroad, it really shocked me

I also was in a shop that did accept cash, but wouldn't accept any cents less than 50c That was embarrassing when my DP tried to give them 1's and 2's at the til!

You can get prepaid cards for use abroad
All it takes a 10 seconds on google.

And all it takes is 10 seconds on google to find out places that are mostly cashless.

This thread is just a bit of a “I don’t like change” things change. Get with it. Or sit in your living room complaining about how much better it was in olden times. The Luddites didn’t win.

End of.

I know a business who had their shop robbed at gunpoint twice when they decided to switch to cashless. This means their staff don’t have to stay late cashing up, it’s well known that there’s no cash so they have next to no chance of another armed robbery. YABU it’s 2020.