To ask if going cashless is a good thing.

[smittenkittten]

Most people I know don’t want to go cashless, but it seems to be inevitable that we are heading that way. Personally I hate the idea. There’s so many occasions when cash is needed, too many to mention, but it’s the little things mainly. Treating the grandkids, summer fetes, bring and buy sales, car boots......all the things where you usually use cash..
Will it just be digits in a bank account? What if you lose your phone? ...What do people think of it all?

Tyranny is only ever an election away.

Is it in The Handmaid's Tale novel where one of the first measures the new government makes is to suspend women's bank accounts and mandate that their wages go into their husbands/nearest male relatives bank account instead? Swiftly followed by making it so they can't work anyway. I think they kept that in the TV show too, June goes to use her bank card for something and it's been suspended because women aren't allowed money any more.

@Pedalpushers

I cannot remember the last time I wasn't able to pay for something by card.

I went on holiday to north Norfolk a couple of weeks ago and loads of small independent shops had signs in the window saying cash only. There are bank charges for card usage, it will put many small businesses out of business unless they hike up their prices.

I think it removes our privacy if every single transaction is recorded at the bank.

@sst1234, change can be suggested, but we don't have to accept it.

@Bythemillpond, so everyone would need two bank accounts and internet banking?

We'd need banks to be able to give us a card the same day. Which is doable. Would this mean the end of gift vouchers? I suppose so.

I am not a dinosaur I have contactless and pay on my phone, but I love the anonymity of cash. I would never want to give that up, it's not about being a luddite.

What about the poor old waitress who depends heavily on tips. She just won't get them.

Too easy for an abusive partner to trace. I’d keep cash for that reason alone

@sst1234

On balance it’s a good thing. There are always outliers where it would be good to have cash but if the choice is between cash and digital, then digital wins. Anything that makes life easier, as digital payment does is the way forward. Change happens, we need to get with it.

Change isn’t always a good thing. We don’t have to just ‘get with it’ if it makes life worse.

I love cash and my life would be poorer without it.

It suits me, I hate getting cash out, hate carrying change around. The Contactless £45 limit is a dream. I pay for parking using Apps, and the recent being able to order and pay in a restaurant using an app is brilliant.
Even my 80 year old parents love being cashless.

There's always going to be some people that want to use cash though.

Further to @sst1234 comment that "Tyranny is only ever an election away" what would stop the government controlling what people spend their money on? Oh not everyone of course, but just the public enemy of the day so that people will go along with it and won't object until they find themselves on the wrong end of the policy by which point its too late. Those benefit scroungers? Let's put blocks on their bank cards so that that they can't be used for transactions that include anything the government (and the court of public opinion) deems to be unnecessary, luxury, or unsuitable. Unwell people or people with long term illnesses and/or disabilities? Let's "protect the NHS" by blocking their cards from purchasing anything unhealthy. Those under 25s with their club scenes and partying? Let's restrict their cards so they can't buy excessive amounts of alcohol.

@KrisAkabusi

I think it could potentially be harmful to vulnerable groups such as elderly people

I would see it as the opposite. Many elderly people are targeted by burglars because of the higher likelihood that they will have cash. Without it, they are less likely to be a target.

An even greater number of elderly people have physical problems such as declining memory, poor eyesight and arthritic fingers which make it more difficult to remember and enter strings of numbers. My father could never manage a transaction on the internet, not because he didn't know how to do it, but because he regularly was timed out of secure sites before he had finished his data entry.

And as others have said, there are people, such as women fleeing domestic abuse, who quite legitimately need to be able to buy things without leaving a trail.

We lost our debit card last week. We were fucked. We don't have credit cards & all bank transfers to other family members to get cash out for us needed the card details for security reasons. All online shopping was attached to the card. No bank branches anymore near us.

@HaveANiceFuckingDay

I know places that won’t accept card unless you spend a tenner , so unless every company complied this won’t work .

a few of our local shops are the same need to spend £10 to use your card.

I prefer cash more than using a card.

The pay network went down in my area recently, so it was cash only at asda for 24hours....how would you prevent that in a cashless society?

Business's have to pay a fee for every card transaction, for small business those costs can be alot of their profits! Especially people spending under £5 on card.

Car boot sales/markets

I can a key electic meter, you can only top up with cash (don't understand why?)

Alot of people on small income find it alot easier to budget when the cash is directly in front of them.

I don't understand why we have to go cashless? What benefits are there?

I can a key electic meter, you can only top up with cash (don't understand why?)

I top mine up using my bank card. It doesn't accept credit cards, but debit is fine.

I haven't used cash in years. Definetly needs to be some kind of support or help for some vunerablebmemebers of society to access stuff as life goes more cashless though.

@trappedsincesundaymorn

I can a key electic meter, you can only top up with cash (don't understand why?)

I top mine up using my bank card. It doesn't accept credit cards, but debit is fine.

That's interesting, every shop near me make sure you have cash before putting it through!

I am in my early 50s and I still would prefer to use cash, especially for small items like a pint of milk or newspaper at the corner shop. How would no cash work for things like children's pocket money etc? It is so much easier to budget and keep track of spending with cash. My DD uses mobile pay, and seems to think this means she has a bottomless pit of money. When I was a student I had a set amount in my purse and could easily keep tabs on my spending.

@Bythemillpond

What if you had a credit card problem and had it shut off due to fraud or theft

Then I would use another card. I haven’t used cash for decades. If I am going somewhere that I need cash which is very very rarely I draw some money out but I can go years without.

Don't you hear the problem- not everyone is in the position to just' have another card' to use !

Kids love to get cash in their birthday cards. It can often be a good starting point in getting them to save. Digits in a bank won't be the same.

The card machine at my corner shop stopped working the other day. They did fix it, I can't say exactly how long it took them to fix it. But machines do stop working. I wouldn't like to overly rely on machines.

Not to mention, cash is better for me when I need to save money. I find savings harder when I pay exclusively by card.

I only have one bank card. Does this mean I would need to open more bank accounts? Especially, since I just remember once my bank card was stopped by the fraud department. I had used it to pay for something of low value. I tend went to the petrol station and filled up my car. It didn't work, I didn't have my phone but luckily my brother was in my car and I used his card. I went home and called my bank and they unblocked my card. Since then I have emergency cash either on me or in my car. Not a lot but enough to pay for petrol.

I would hate everything to be cashless, I think cash is really useful for some people when budgeting, it is so easy to spend on a card without really thinking of the money because you can’t physically see it. Also as pp have said various vulnerable groups would be disadvantaged.
Currently things seem to work well, those who want to use cash can, those who don’t can be cashless.

I give DD cash to go to local shop for bread, milk etc
Local ice cream van is cash only
Sometimes need to send a cash payment for school trips or to buy bits of uniform
School fairs the 50p games etc
Tooth fairy
Kids pocket money

We use cash loads.

I agree. I sell and buy things for toddler DD online on gumtree etc (sell toys that she’s grown out of but are in good condition, buy an older age toy, that sort of thing). I always use cash for this, but it’s hard to find the right amounts when shops won’t take cash so I never have any change. But I don’t want to stop because I see no reason to throw these things away when they’re perfectly functional, and no need to buy things new when you can get fine things second hand.