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!

As a small business owner, we prefer customers to pay cash for small purchases. The charges that the card machine operators apply would mean that we're actually loosing money if a customer isn't spending a certain amount per purchase. If a customer wants to pay by card I'll always ask if contactless is ok for them. Contactless isn't always an option if someone has a basic bank account with no overdraft/credit facility. It's not a big deal to disinfect a card machine periodically and so far we've had no customers want to lick it...

@sst1234 hmmm shall we look at China trialling a social points system where they can stop you buying train tickets, flight tickets etc. Becaise you dont have enough points like that journalist who wrife a piece disagreeing with the government and with no knowledge found he did not have enough points to do those things. All because they can control your money and you. Coming to all countries in the not so far future

I can't wait for no more cash. I never seem to know where it goes lol. No more tax dodgers too, well it will be easier to trace.

@KathySelden

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.

Are you not allowed to wear gloves?

I don't like it much. I always like to have a few quid in case I want to buy a 'Big Issue' or just give a guy a few quid to dry his sleeping bag or buy a pasty. I know a lot of BI sellers are buying handheld card machines and I wish them luck, but I'd be interested to know if wielding one of those affects sales. I cashed in a forty quid lottery ticket and the ratchet-faced woman in WHSmith wouldn't open the till, and put it in my card. Didn't clear for two days which was a bit annoying. I can see the sense of a cashless society, although it'll no doubt annoy my plumber, from whom I've never had an invoice for the cash I pay him, but who does have a nice line in slagging benefit scroungers and burdens on the NHS.

Just like how people head in the sand over them wabting to chip us oh wait they are already trialling that in Europe with one company where your chipped with certain security access to whatever floors your allowed onto ....it doesn't track your location out side the uilsong but you know Nd we all know that's open to abuse

@StarUtopia

A cashless society means no cash. Zero. It doesn’t mean mostly cashless and you can still use a ‘wee bit of cash here & there’. Cashless means fully digital, fully traceable, fully controlled. I think those who support a cashless society aren’t fully aware of what they are asking for. A cashless society means: * If you are struggling with your mortgage on a particular month, you can’t do an odd job to get you through. * Your child can’t go & help the local farmer to earn a bit of summer cash. * No more cash slipped into the hands of a child as a good luck charm or from their grandparent when going on holidays. * No more money in birthday cards. * No more piggy banks for your child to collect pocket money & to learn about the value of earning. * No more cash for a rainy day fund or for that something special you have been putting £20 a week away for. * No more selling bits & pieces from your home that you no longer want/need for a bit of cash in return...bye bye Facebook marketplace for the odd new bits to cheer the kids up * No more cash gifts from relatives or loved ones.

What a cashless society does guarantee:

• Banks have full control of every single penny you own.
• Every transaction you make is recorded.
• All your movements & actions are traceable.
• Access to your money can be blocked at the click of a button when/if banks need ‘clarification’ from you which will take about 3 weeks, a thousand questions answered & five thousand passwords.
• You will have no choice but to declare & be taxed on every pound in your possession.
• The government can decide what you can & cannot purchase.
• If your transactions are deemed in any way questionable, by those who create the questions, your money will be frozen, ‘for your own good’. If you are a customer, pay with cash. If you are a shop owner, remove those ridiculous signs that ask people to pay by card. Cash is a legal tender, it is our right to pay with cash. Banks are making it increasingly difficult to lodge cash & that has nothing to do with a virus, nor has this ‘dirty money’ trend. Please open your eyes. Please stop believing everything you are being told. Almost every single topic in today’s world is tainted with corruption & hidden agendas. Please stop telling me & others like me that we are what’s wrong with the world when you hail the most corrupt members of society as your heroes. Politics & greed is what is wrong with the world; not those who are trying to alert you to the reality in which you are blindly floating along whilst being immobilised by irrational fear. Fear created to keep you doing & believing in exactly what you are complacently doing. Pay with cash & please say no to a cashless society while you still have the choice.

This tripe is floating around Facebook and every point can be answered.

I don't think I've touched cash in at least 2 years. It's dirty and inconvenient. Most of my purchases are made online or using contactless on my phone/watch, it means i don't have to lug around a purse full of change or worry about dropping things. Instead of counting out money and waiting for change I can just tap and go.

For small businesses card machines are really cheap to set up and run, the money goes straight into the account and it means they don't have to worry about handling cash - so no counterfeit currency and if they don't carry cash it can't be stolen.

I never use cash and hate how dirty money is. You don’t know where it has been and who had touched it. When I worked in a cash office my hands were minging handling cash.

Today I bought tinfoil....wow bet the government were all over that transaction but I’m willing to lend some out to make hats!

Vanillandhoney when your paying in cash to a business account you will be charged, all faster payments should be free

I used a contactless card in Next and after I'd tapped it the screen on the unit was wiped down with sanitizer, seemed a bit ott.

I do couple boot sales every year to sell bits from my home and clothing etc children have grown out of.
How could boot sales happen without cash? Unless everyone had an Apple Watch and paid using that

[quote cyclingmad]@sst1234 hmmm shall we look at China trialling a social points system where they can stop you buying train tickets, flight tickets etc. Becaise you dont have enough points like that journalist who wrife a piece disagreeing with the government and with no knowledge found he did not have enough points to do those things. All because they can control your money and you. Coming to all countries in the not so far future[/quote]
No, let’s not look at China. Because there is no comparison. There’s lots of other policies where western governments could follow China and limit our freedoms, but they don’t. Why would tender be any different?
Change happens, get with or get left behind, the rest of society never stops because of inflexibility of old people or wild conspiracies from others.

@seonaseona

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.

Why do you care though? Cashless is much better than cash

You're already being monitored to the extent that any government could possibly find useful. Paying for a Snickers by contactless rather than loose change isn't going to herald the arrival of a Police State ffs

The government will see this as a great opportunity.

A way of making things really difficult for a lot of the 'underground economy'.

Thing is that a lot of people don't have even a basic bank account
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/22/britons-without-bank-account-pay-poverty-premium

And those people are already penalised for it.

Other considerations like rough sleepers, other people with chaotic lives, etc etc

So basically we have two types of people opposed to change. Those that just don’t like technology and those that have some weird ideas about what govt will do with that information. I take it you own a phone, if tracking worries you so much, you really should consider giving up you mobile phone.

I mostly have supermarket deliveries and shop online but if I do go to, eg, the fish and chip shop or the Co-op, I always use cash and shall continue using it. I am fully capable of understanding and using online banking but have no interest in doing so.

I never ever use cash or card, I just use my Apple Watch but I always have a bit of cash in the car and my bag for just in case. We won’t be a cashless society for a long long time, if ever. There are too many small transactions that people prefer to use cash for and there would be uproar if the government ever tried to get rid of it completely. I believe banks tried to get rid of cheques a few years ago because bank transfers are so much quicker and more secure but too many people complained, they like cheques.

I don't mind a cashless society. I do worry that notes and coins will increasingly become an alien concept to young children and they will struggle to work out how to add & subtract monetary amounts. Handing over £x to the shopkeeper and receiving £x back is educational and useful but of course this has all been replaced by the tap of a debit card.

@Kissmycousinkate

You also have the time sink of counting cash, bagging it, keeping it safe, transporting it to be banked etc

Seems like a false economy to refuse payment by card because of a small charge, but be happy to waste your time with cash.

For those who are dismissing cash - how would you manage community events? At our village fete cash is used in the following ways - prizes for sports events including children's sports, buying raffle tickets, paying to enter, paying for parking, paying for face painting, taking part in tombola, coconut shy etc.

I've also put cash in an honesty box recently to buy eggs from a local farm. I think there are probably a lot of small transactions we use cash for which would become really inconvenient without it.

I don't want a cashless society. However it is very annoying when older people withdraw cash over the counter rather than using the cash machine. Or rather than get a mini statement from the machine will get the cashier to go through all their recent transactions and check the balance of their various accounts. They clog up the queues for things that basic things that are easy to do.

I don’t use cash but do find doing a new bank transfer to someone a right pita now with all the checks, it will only get worse. Also all the 6 figure codes that have to be entered for various log ins and transactions because of all the scammers. Also needing to have at least 2 current accounts and several credit cards in case one doesn’t work as often happens when the online banking goes down, you can’t just rely on one bank card if it’s all cashless.

I am sort of forced to use cash occasionally because I regularly loan money to my cash strapped friends and family who do not have Internet banking and always pay me back in cash. I always apologise if I pay cash directly to a till operator but I will try and use self-service in these circumstances.