To think that we are being forced into a cashless society?

[rockingthelook]

My parents really don't like to use debit cards, especially the contactless ones, however , due to C19 this seems to be the way forward? They like to take their money from the bank and use the cash rather than cards, really don't want to bank or pay for anything online because they don't trust it, but everything seems to be geared towards contactless. They had a walk today and wanted to buy a cup of tea from a takeaway cafe and couldn't, not only because the place wouldn't take cash, but the cards had to be contactless, and their cards aren't (they asked not to have this feature as frightened of them being stolen and used) It seems to be that the banks etc are using the C19 situation to force things through, my mum was even told by the cashier in the bank the other day to use the cash machine in the bank rather than get the cash over the counter because of the 'risks', fgs it's THEIR money, can't believe Age Concern/UK aren't all over this!

I quite agree, a cashless society has a huge impact on us all, make a point of using cash wherever you can.

I was thinking this the other day, it's very common in Norway to not use cash but other countries like Germany use much more cash, I wonder if Germany is using more cards now. I still have £50 in my purse from March, that's unheard of.

Yes. I think it's awful. I don't want my privacy eroded any more than it already is. Use cash whenever possible if you don't want this.

I agree OP. I'm now making a point of using cash for small stuff. I took £100 out in March and shall use it.

Yes and it’s great, for budgeting because you have an electronic record of all spending, hygienic, minimises tax avoidance and money laundering, the list goes on.
Change happens, people who physically can, need to get used to it.

This is what the government want, they can track every purchase, every transaction, know exactly what your money is being spent on, probably sell that information to companies who can then target you with their marketing campaigns. It is also a way of cracking down on tax avoidance...... but i hate it. I don't like the thought that someone knows exactly what I am buying and when..... it's bad enough the amount of cctv cameras in this country, too much like Big Brother

This is what the government want, they can track every purchase, every transaction, know exactly what your money is being spent on, probably sell that information to companies who can then target you with their marketing campaigns. It is also a way of cracking down on tax avoidance...... but i hate it. I don't like the thought that someone knows exactly what I am buying and when..... it's bad enough the amount of cctv cameras in this country, too much like Big Brother

To be clear I don't hate tax avoidance (badly put together sentence above)

I think you’re right OP - I think that this pandemic will change several things irrevocably, the attitude to cash being one of them. Also technology - I think that people who are offline are going to be left behind even more so than before.

Interesting replies, on every other thread I've read on the cashless society all posters say they never use cash and can't understand why anyone else does.

Pre lockdown I used cash a lot, it suits me to run my finances that way, obviously I've had to change but I hope it comes back.

I do think it's time to lose the cash and go totally card BUT there needs to be more security for older and vulnerable people. My mum doesn't trust it, she is always drawing out cash and I'm always trying to persuade her to use her card! But then it took me 20 years to get her on to teabags from loose tea so I have a job 🙈

Ok I understand but I work in retail and hate cash. It’s dirty we don’t know where it’s been and my hands are red raw from having to use sanitizer after every cash transaction. If people want to use chip and pin it doesn’t bother me.

Put it this way if I offered you something and you didn’t know me and there was a chance it had Covid on it would you touch it?

I literally had a lady cough into her purse then give me money yesterday. People are not being safe they are touching there faces, putting notes in there mouths, passing money over that’s been in the same hand as there hanky. It’s horrible and unfair on those that have to serve them.

Meanwhile I'm putting cash into the bank, not taking it out! My parents pay cash for the shopping I get them but I don't like to use cash at the moment so I pay by card and pay the cash into the bank.

When I am being careful I always use cash, cards never feel like real money and it’s too easy. Always think twice when I have to hand over cash. Those wishing to do any tax avoidance will always find a way.

Cashless society can't come quickly enough for me. Things were moving rapidly pre-Covid, public transport finally taking contactless payment etc, but if anything the pandemic has just emphasised what a needless annoyance cash is these days.

People who are concerned about 'tracking' really need to take the tinfoil hat off. If you have a mobile phone, i.e. 95% of adults in the UK, the govt (despite their being no realistic reason to ever want to) can find out where you are at the drop of a hat anyway, and if you use the internet then most of the popular social media sites are riddled with targeted advertising, tracking cookies, data mining etc anyway.

Baseless paranoia is no reason to deny progress than benefits far more people that it puts out.

So much cleaner. It’s time to change. I’m much happier doing contactless. I’ve done it for yonks on tfl and it’s about time we all used it. Everyone knows who you are and where you are anyway! None of us retain privacy. Going contactless doesn’t bother me at all.

Pre Covid I used a mixture of cash & card but very rarely did contactless. I was in a queue at a greengrocers yesterday and the bloke on the till announced that the card machine had conked out so they were only taking cash. Everybody in the queue -me included- had no money on them and left!

I've probably used cash for ... ? 75% of my recent in person transactions. Not been a problem. I think your parents just got unlucky with that cafe, OP.

Tax avoidance is legal - one example is an ISA. Tax evasion is the illegal version.
The trouble is the government never goes after the real bad guys.

@Thunderpunt

This is what the government want, they can track every purchase, every transaction, know exactly what your money is being spent on, probably sell that information to companies who can then target you with their marketing campaigns. It is also a way of cracking down on tax avoidance...... but i hate it. I don't like the thought that someone knows exactly what I am buying and when..... it's bad enough the amount of cctv cameras in this country, too much like Big Brother

Totally agree, the government will be rubbing their hands in glee, fabulous outcome for them.

Funnily enough, I've just started using cash again over about the last week.

Why are people so obsessed with the government knowing what their money goes on? Today I bought a chocolate brownie and a pair of shoes. Is anyone interested?!

I rarely used cash before and never do now. I’ve got a fiver in my purse from pre lockdown.

Oh I see, I might receive marketing materials for brownies and shoes (didn’t read previous post correctly). I’m actually ok with that.

I feel really sorry for elderly people who are struggling with this, but I also think it's a really good example of why you should at least try and keep up a bit with technology. ATMs have been around for decades so I agree that there's no need to let people go to the counter just to get reasonably small amounts of cash, and it's been very clear that online banking and cards was becoming more and more the default for a good while. When your parents actively asked the bank to take away their contactless option perhaps the bank should have been clearer about the fact that this would be increasingly inconvenient for them. It was quite a deliberate choice they made, though.

Cash is so much easier to budget with. You take out the money and spend it, it's gone but with a card it's much easier to overspend. Not all cards are contractors eirther. If you only quality for a basic bank account the contactless feature is not available and there are a lot of people who cannot have it due to this.