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!

And of course, if you have cash in your purse and it gets stolen, you lose the money too. So not much difference one way or another - at least there's a chance of the pickpocket being caught when using a card but no chance at all if they spend your cash!

I used to be someone who felt budgeting with cash was easier but I’m now in a position where I receive my income quarterly and no longer want cash. So I have a basic savings account and I put all the money in there once I have a paid bills etc and move a certain amount to my current account each week which basically does the same job.

I feel for older people ,however there has been a move towards cashless Society for quite a while now.I for one prefer it!(This is someone who a few months ago used cash for every shop)! I have been "caught" quite a few times in the past, by being given the wrong change and suspect Im not the only one! Ditto Car parks in our Town have been card only for a good while, and saves hunting for change .Can your parents do phone banking? This is good for me as I prefer not to do online banking .You can check balances ,mini statements or talk to an advisor as well.I think as PP said above cashpoints are much easier than getting money over the counter ,no queues and from your DPs viewpoint as well less risk of infection /wearing a mask and so on.

Ditto Car parks in our Town have been card only for a good while, and saves hunting for change

The thing about this really annoys me because it's always more expensive to pay by phone when, in reality, surely it saves money by not having someone to empty the machine/refill the stickers etc.
... Although none of the machines in our town ever give/gave change but had "overpayment accepted" ....like they were doing you a favour to accept a quid when it cost 70p to park for half an hour.

I'm coming to the conclusion that car parking is a rip off whatever method you pay for it!!

The thing about this really annoys me because it's always more expensive to pay by phone when, in reality, surely it saves money by not having someone to empty the machine/refill the stickers etc.

That's usually for local council pay machines for on street and council car parks. Private car parks (NCP, supermarkets, shopping centres, etc) usually don't charge for card payment and they're usually pay on exit so you don't end up over-paying if you're not as long as you expect. If you avoid council car parks, then you won't have to pay the local council's extra charges.

@squeekums

*you’ve been given a fake note and don’t realise, so try to spend it*

exactly
I was a carnie, one show about 10 different stall holders got stung with fake 50s, they didnt notice as it was night and busy. Only noticed counting up at the end of the day, some stalls lost a few hundred dollars.
The next day i was visably making sure every note was real before i accepted it as payment, i got some dirty ass looks for not trusting people

Do you mean pounds ?

@Carpetdweller
Nah, Aussie dollar. Pound value would be decent. But essentially many were left very out of pocket as they handed back change for $50 for a $2 drink. That's $48 loss, no way of getting it back, several times over.

Checking for fake notes is just another nuisance . Someone brings in 1000s in notes we have to count it then check everyone for fake notes using a uv light. Why would anyone take the risk of bringing thousands of pounds out on the street, they ask us to take the risk of taking it to the bank. We ended up stopping large payments of cash, but Ford Gates banned cash altogether. I very much doubt they lost much business.
Also works the other way. Once bought a £200 computer for business many years ago and they wanted cash. They took the money then contacted us saying the bank had told them there were 2 fake notes when they tried to pay it in. As the money had come straight from the bank that morning we knew they were not fake, so asked them to prove it, funnily enough we never heard from them.

(Can't see how a cash payment could go wrong really!)
@Carpetdweller said by someone who has never tried to use a Scottish bank note south of the border!

Is there documented evidence that people have become ill from handling cash

I doubt it but it makes retail staff feel better, fine. I've only used cash once since the beginning of lockdown and asked first - the shop assistant was fine about it.

As for cheques I have now discovered "paying them in by app" which makes life so much easier when my bank is only open for 4 hours a day because of covid! It does make you wonder what will happen to the staff if nobody goes to branches, but maybe some of them have the ability to retrain and work for fintech companies instead.

It's also weird how suspicious people are of £50 notes in the UK but you can use a large denomination euro note without anyone batting an eyelid. Are euro notes less easy to forge?

@Coronabegone

Out of interest, how do you people who say you never carry cash manage if you want to use a trolley at the supermarket? Some supermarkets - Sainsbury, Aldi at least - require you to put a pound coin in to release the trolley. Do you just shun supermarkets that require this?

No, I use one of the many trolley tokens that the charities sell, or an "old" pound coin!

Do you really seriously not know that you don't need to have a continue stream of cash to provide for a trolley and have to "shun" those supermarkets!!

Fucking beam me up!!!

No need to be rude. No I didn't know about the supermarket trolley tokens. Thanks for enlightening me and chill!

My bank, which I’ve used since 1987, has never had branches. Even pre Internet it functioned better than any other bank I’ve ever used. Its plethora of customer service awards speak for themselves.

You mean first direct which is part of HSBC which has branches?

Yes, that’s the one. Regardless of who owns it, it doesn’t have a bricks and mortar presence and never has.

MotherMorph Ours actually take a card payment into the machine itself IfYSWIM .Not a phone app or anything like that.The payment is the same by card as it was by cash .Expensive though, we are along South Coast and it costs upwards of around £10.00 for a day at the beach!

Alsohuman

That’s because it’s HSBCs online banking arm. You can use any branch to pay in cheques and draw money.

I agree they are brilliant especially with fraud spotting! They are quick to stop payments and call if any issues.

They’ve done this a few times when I’ve been away and they check as it’s not a usual place I spend money.

Can’t fault them

So are Barclays.

Am aghast at someone not being aware of trolley tokens.

@cologne4711

Is there documented evidence that people have become ill from handling cash

I doubt it but it makes retail staff feel better, fine. I've only used cash once since the beginning of lockdown and asked first - the shop assistant was fine about it.

As for cheques I have now discovered "paying them in by app" which makes life so much easier when my bank is only open for 4 hours a day because of covid! It does make you wonder what will happen to the staff if nobody goes to branches, but maybe some of them have the ability to retrain and work for fintech companies instead.

My mum works in a bank and she’s basically waiting to be made redundant so she has an excuse to retire early, it’s expensive to fully staff a branch when most transactions can be done in the automated machines.

@lilgreen

Am aghast at someone not being aware of trolley tokens.

Never heard of them either. You go to a separate shop to buy this token?

www.amazon.co.uk/slp/trolley-tokens/cbuy8bmht9su4zn?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Trolley tokens have been around for years. I found one in a bag of my mums things and she died 10 years ago! (And they were by no means a new/unusual thing then)

My mum just point blank refuses to use online banking as she doesn't trust it.

My brother works for a company as those men that collect and deliver cash to shops/cash points. He's been furloughed since the start and they have been warned there will be redundancies as they don't see us ever getting back to using the same level as cash as we were.

it’s expensive to fully staff a branch when most transactions can be done in the automated machines.

I notice the word most
I do most of my banking online and only went to the bank (for personal banking) in lockdown to pay cash in so I didnt have spend it in shops. I have the app to pay in cheques etc.
However I do need to pay business cheques into the bank because there is a limit on app. Every single time I'm in the bank there is someone speaking with a cashier for hours presumably about something they can't do online. I paid a cheque into the machine at the bank, it couldnt read the writing so the assistant showed me how to override it. Now I know I will be able to do it next time but it wsnt obvious to me how to do the first time.
Will we have the scenario that there are only about 10 branches of a bank in the uk and it's tough luck if your nearest one is 40 miles away?