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Original poster

To ask if going cashless is a good thing.

322 replies

smittenkittten · 14/08/2021 15:34

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?

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 17:00

@icedcoffees

Chippy not only takes cards but you can order and pay online before you go.

None of our local takeaways have online ordering, lol. We don't have Uber-eats or anything like that here either.

One takeaway allows you to ring and pay over the phone, but all the others are pay in person - most do take card now but there are still a couple that require you to pay cash.

There's loads of little places with honesty boxes selling eggs etc at the side of the road, but I just don't use them.

Obviously that's your choice but I think it would be such a shame if those things ceased to exist. I love supporting local farms and businesses - and many are in areas where there's no phone signal for miles, let alone wireless internet.

No uber eats here either sadly, or Deliveroo or anything like that.

As for the honesty box places, they must have the custom or they wouldn't bother, they just don't get mine. They have been going forever and I often see a car pull over blocking the road in order to buy something.

SionnachRua · 14/08/2021 17:03

I think it'll be like the whole getting rid of cheques thing. A few years ago we were told that cheques were obsolete, then suddenly they weren't.

I don't know anyone in my age group who uses cheques, perhaps they're dying out or less common in some countries? I wouldn't even know how to fill one out tbh (I'd figure it out I'm sure but have never needed to).

Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 17:04

Remember when M&S would print your cheque for you? Grin The height of sophistication , that.
I've not written a cheque for years and most places no longer accept them.

P91a · 14/08/2021 17:04

@trappedsincesundaymorn

I can understand those living in towns and cities being ok with cashless, but if you live somewhere like I do that has poor signal areas then cash is the only option sometimes. The area where the pub, hairdresser and butchers are located is bad and you can be waiting a long time for the transaction to go through. At weekends they do ask that people pay cash rather than card.
I live rural but fairly good mobile signal, no banks or atms though! the way to get cash out is from the back of an banking van that comes around midweek for about 20mins, totally useless if your at work! Cities it can be a lot easier just from the sheer amount of atms available. Everywhere takes card and I pay for my honesty box eggs and jam off my neighbour via bank transfer
Thesearmsofmine · 14/08/2021 17:05

The only person I know who uses cheques is my mum. She gives her window cleaner a cheque.

SimonJT · 14/08/2021 17:08

I genuinely don’t remember the last time I used cash, my partner doesn’t use cash at all as due to a disability handling change is too difficult and he would just drop it everywhere.

More and more places take card payments without a lower payment limit, but I imagine it will be a long time before cash is phased out in the UK, especially as cash is easier for many tourists.

TheViewFromTheCheapSeats · 14/08/2021 17:11

I get paid in cash, I use cash for most things. The pandemic has been a nightmare at times, even the post office closed for ages and I couldn’t bank cash at all.
Whilst others may not want to, why should I not be able to live as I wish and use cash?
I do actually pay my tax if anyone wants to bring that up, it’s just for various reasons this lifestyle works for me. Should it actually be compulsory I’m trackable in every habit I have? Should I be edged is way from shop transactions to online?

CarlaH · 14/08/2021 17:12

Still waiting to hear what will happen in the event of a power outage or loss of internet service.

Clocktopus · 14/08/2021 17:14

Lots of people still get paid in cash, it's fairly common around her for smaller employers. You get a little envelope on pay day, usually brown, with your tax and NI already deducted. On the front is written your total pay and the deductions.

Antsinyourpanta · 14/08/2021 17:14

DD regularly goes to boot fairs - I'm pretty sure I've never seen anyone with a card reader there (and even the new card readers there is a small transaction fee) the ice cream man OTOH has had a card reader for years.
I've noticed with a lot of carparks if you pay by phone its 20p more than the advertised rate (one was hospital carpark) 20p isnt a fortune but if you're using it regularly it could soon add up.

SimonJT · 14/08/2021 17:16

@CarlaH

Still waiting to hear what will happen in the event of a power outage or loss of internet service.
We had this a few weeks ago in a clothes shop, they used one of those slide things with paper that transfers. So your card went between two bits of paper, then in a machine that slid over the top to make an imprint of the card and produced a slip that had an amount box that you signed, a bit like a cheque with an imprint of your card.
EastWestWhosBest · 14/08/2021 17:18

@CarlaH

Power failures or systems going down result in shops having to take cash surely.
There was a power cut in a row of shops near me the other day. The shops shut as they couldn’t operate the tills. Paying cash isn’t any good if you can’t scan the items.

As it is I’ve not used cash for years. That doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone but I certainly don’t use it and neither do my friends.

Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 17:18

I don't mind paying a bit more for parking by using the App. It means that if I'm about to go over the time I've put in I can extend the parking without going back to the car, I get a reminder text ten minutes before expiry.

Lockdownbear · 14/08/2021 17:19

How would no cash work for things like children's pocket money etc?

Hyperjar have introduced a free pre-pay kids card.

I think they'll always be cash for certain things but the majority of transactions will be electronic. And that'd the world our kids will grow up in.

Fizbosshoes · 14/08/2021 17:21

My elderly relative doesn't use the internet. He was sheilding at the beginning of the pandemic and used to give friends cash to do his shopping. After a period of time (I have no idea how much cash he started with) he ran out and had to pay them by cheque. If it was me doing the shopping I'd much rather have cash than have to bank a cheque (I usually use my banking app but it doesn't work every time) if those were the 2 options

icedcoffees · 14/08/2021 17:22

There was a power cut in a row of shops near me the other day. The shops shut as they couldn’t operate the tills. Paying cash isn’t any good if you can’t scan the items.

Depending on the shop, some can still operate in the event of a powercut.

I used to work in retail management - we had to learn to do manual receipts (including taking manual card payments with a very old manual scanner), and we would be able to sell things by writing down the item and code, taking cash (and giving change) and we would put the transaction through the till afterwards.

Yes, it was long and complicated but it was worth learning and it came in very useful occasionally!

Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 17:22

@Lockdownbear

How would no cash work for things like children's pocket money etc?

Hyperjar have introduced a free pre-pay kids card.

I think they'll always be cash for certain things but the majority of transactions will be electronic. And that'd the world our kids will grow up in.

Yes also, GoHenry card is from the age of 6 IIRC.
pigsDOfly · 14/08/2021 17:23

I've not written a cheque for years and most places no longer accept them.

Me neither but they are still being used.

I'm in the process of moving house and in a letter from the solicitor dealing with my house purchase cheques were mentioned as one of the methods of paying for ongoing expenses.

I had to pay a cheque into my account a while back from HMRC for a tax rebate. Didn't ask for it to be paid by cheque they just wrote to me saying I'd requested it; rather odd really, as I most definitely hadn't.

Clearly, there's still a call for them.

CourgetteGlutTony · 14/08/2021 17:24

It would make funding crime far more difficult, also prostitution etc., drug purchase and many other things

I bought drugs in the Netherlands using my debit card - brilliantly simple transaction

Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 17:24

I can never understand why DVLA send cheques instead of using bank transfers when you get a refund on road licence, I'm just glad I can pay it in on my phone and not have to go to the bank to pay it in.

mogsrus · 14/08/2021 17:25

we haven't used cash for must be 30yrs. never had a problem. it will be the very young growing up wondering what all that dirty funny looking stuff is when finding it in drawer, the problem with cash its very expensive to move from A to B,it costs the company to order it,& blowing up ATM machines will stop over night. we have got to move on,no one had a card yesterday,or a phone but it all changes,and it does very fast,ATM s run out so your still unlucky.it's the way forward,i think another 10 will see it off,some people argue about amusement arcades,well I can tell you about one that Is totally cashless,no theft from staff,no lost coinage,less dirt in machine cleaner environment, ,& it's being rolled out so it's definitely changing.

aerosocks · 14/08/2021 17:25

Electronic is fine until the time that your card stops working, or it is stolen, or the cash machine swallows it, or you lose your phone, or one of the banks has a major issue and nobody can pay anybody. And don't say the bank issue would never happen, because it does - and relatively regularly. HSBC business banking went down for quite some hours only a few weeks ago.

Lockdownbear · 14/08/2021 17:26

We had this a few weeks ago in a clothes shop, they used one of those slide things with paper that transfers. So your card went between two bits of paper, then in a machine that slid over the top to make an imprint of the card and produced a slip that had an amount box that you signed, a bit like a cheque with an imprint of your card.

My latest bank card only has writing on the back, the embossed print of old has gone.

IceLace100 · 14/08/2021 17:27

Do you really want your bank knowing when where and how you spend every single penny of your money? They can tell where you go, when you go there, exactly what you spend in each and every place.

Think about the implications of them having this information. Think about the implications of when (not if, when) information like this is hacked and sold en masse.

If you think that your information is safe, you're wrong.

Think about the motivation of banks installing contactless points in every shop and the cost of doing so. They tell us it's for our convenience. Think about whether banks are more likely to shell out for our convenience or for our profits.

I'll be using cash whenever I can, thanks

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