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!

It does seem great for tracking. I think I remember a women's aid tip saying always use cash or buy something that you can get refunded so you can reduce financial abuse.
These times make so many people vulnerable.

I think it's ridiculous having to pay for something which costs a very small amount by card, and I try not to do so. I don't use much cash but I want to keep track of how much is in my account, and hate having dozens of transactions to try and sort out. Yesterday a city in my country lost electricity for some time, and this has also happened in my town (snow falls, accidents etc) and suddenly no-one can make any purchases!

effectively cashless society means everything you do depends on a computer saying yes. What happens when the computer says no

This happened to me, after I closed an account. Someone at the bank pressed the wrong button and I couldn't use my card to pay for groceries and had to go all the way back home to get another method of payment.

I’m not into the whole state controlling all currency business. It’s open to abuse. But please don’t make this an age thing. Not everyone over seventy is some kind of stereotype of an old biddy who is afraid of contactless or internet banking ffs. The older generation today by and large have had a fair amount of contact with technology in their lives and don’t need to be painted as ignorant and fearful. Doing so is blatantly ageist.

@StarUtopia why would a cashless society mean you couldn't do an additional job? Surely if you do paid work then you can get your earnings paid into your bank account directly. Same with children having a summer job.

I think the only place i use cash now when dd needs a gold coin for school, uniform free day payment or cash in hand tradies
Can even use tap n pay at markets now as most stall holders have the phone attachment to accept card payments
I hate carrying cash. I havent been inside a bank since mid last year, no need, do it all online

To be honest, people like your parents shouldn’t have got to this stage being frightened of contactless; there’s no reason for their fear and they can budget better on card.

Contactless has been around years now; there really is no excuse not to have it and all banks are happy to show how they work.

A cashless society is a good thing in general, but using cash during the middle of a pandemic is selfish and people like your parents shouldn’t just carry on using it because it’s comfortable for them and they’re “scared” to change.

How will people pay for drugs?
There many peer to peer money apps that would allow you to send cash and say it was for lunch bought last week or paying back a loan. Even PayPal allows me to enter a reason or message with payment. It's just a money transfer, there no actual proof it was for drugs unless you attach a pic going look what I bought

Dealers are very adaptable

Even if you run a small business you can buy a card reader for about £70 for customers to pay by card, otherwise there is bank transfer.

Added to which, not using cash actually makes people less vulnerable. How often do we read of someone who has died and it turns out they have a few grand stuffed away under the bed, in cash.

How often do we hear about someone being robbed and all their cash stolen.

If you lose your wallet or are mugged for it and you have cash in it that cash is gone. There’s no way to get it back. In fact if there’s no cash then muggers can’t target anyone for that purpose, and a bank card can be cancelled in seconds.

In fact in a digital society stealing someone’s wallet serves no purpose what so ever as cards and mobile phones can all be rendered useless within seconds.

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 live in the Netherlands where I can live almost cashless. I pay for all these things with my card. Parking? Card. Raffle tickets? Oh look, someone who hooked up one of those little machines to their phone so I can pay by card. Facepainting? Again, machine hooked up to phone, so can pay by card. I only get cash once a year to give to the church if they come around, but last time they also had a paypal thingy set up so I might stop that altogether.

As for budgetting, you can learn how to do that just as easily digitally.

I didn't see one reason on this thread why we need to keep cash. Even illegal activities can be paid for by bitcoin. Although having no internet signal now is a problem, but once projects like starlink are set up there will be world wide internet available.

To me it sounds like some older people are actively not trying to go with change, but life is change. They've had so many years they actively pushed all changes in banking away instead of slowly getting used to it, now all of a sudden it's a bit much and seems daunting because they have to get used to different things at once. If my little nephew can learn it, why on earth can't someone else take some time and learn it too. People need to be a bit flexible sometimes. They weren't old 30 odd years ago.

I wonder if people will have burner cards like burner phones - cash pre-paid cards which can be added to or used to pay but can’t be traced to a particular person as long as they don’t pay for an address-linked service with it.

Someone upthread said it would be the poor who would suffer from a cashless society and I think she’s right. People will be much less likely to give money to beggars if they have to reveal card details, for example. The cash economy on the small scale is nothing compared to the huge amounts of corporate tax which is avoided without the use of cash. But removing it would have an impact, for example on women in abusive relationships struggling to manage to feed their children, perhaps with help from her own family.

I started using cash more just recently. Even if there's a sign saying 'cash only' it's worth asking.

I can't help thinking ashless in a village or school fate would be a great solution for those running stalls.

Constantly trying to ensure you've change is a real headache. No more situations of someone paying for a 50p item with a £20 note and depleting the change so that there's not enough for the following person paying with another £20 note for their £1.20.

It would also be easier working out how much you've taken at the end of the day.

It is cleaner, safer and most people prefer it but we aren’t yet ready to be totally cashless.

I havent used cash since March. I much prefer it. I think its really important to keep up with technology.

The banks software isn't really good enough to go totally cashless just look at when TSB went down and people couldn't use their cards for days on end, anyone not using cash needs to have at least two accounts at completely different banks as a minimum.

I’m inclined to agree with you but when I worked in retail I literally had a woman fish a tenner out her bra and give it to me.
That’s not on and I wish I had the courage to refuse it but instead I just gave her the most horrified disgusted look and ran off immediately to wash my hands.
Cash is just dirty tbh most people are fucking filthy.

In France the tax authority can requisition your bank records without a judicial warrant. As well as your phone records, utility bills, airline tickets and a bunch of other stuff. I wouldn’t advise sleepwalking into a cashless society.

Some supermarkets here in France have installed machines at the supermarkets tills to handle cash. Seems like a good solution to me.

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

Did none of you watch/read the handmaids tale?

@ActuallyItsEugene

Just to add, I'm very careful with my privacy too.

Have no social media under my real name/contact info, all location services on my phone turned off, use DuckDuckGo as a browser, accept the bare minimum when it comes to cookies/advertising...

Now more than ever it's so easy for anyone to create a whole profile on us. What we buy, look up, search, where we go, what we do, how often we do it.. and it just doesn't sit right with me.

I know, I’m the same. I check for crop circles in my back garden every morning. You just never know....

The dangers of a cashless society were actually discussed in Parliament recently, so it's not something government wants - it was the banks that were pushing for it, government stopped them.

@moomoogalicious

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

Did none of you watch/read the handmaids tale?

Ive watched something and now I think the world is going to become like that because I cant tell the difference between real life and fiction

Have you watched SpongeBob? I'm not looking forward to fish speaking

I agree. I'm noticing it more and more and don't like it.

Meh 🤷🏻‍♀️