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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Thesearmsofmine · 14/08/2021 18:53

@mogsrus

amusment arcade without cash works like this...tap your debit card on the machine select a!out you wish to play with,you receive a card with the amount stored on it,to play a machine,tap card on machine reader,& that's it,as for the pennyfall machines they are being looked at with some sort of video,so as you can see its going to change,the first cashless arcade happened over 5yrs ago
This sounds so joyless and also a recipe for people to spend more than they can afford.
letmethinkaboutitfornow · 14/08/2021 19:00

Nope! I am happy without cash exchange. I have been taking my phone for shopping. Loyalty cards and Amex on Apple Pay.
Today went to CarpetRight and they didn’t accept contactless 😳😳😳😳😳 I mean what? You expect me to carry a card? Not to mention cash? 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️
Nope!
I only go to shops where I can pay by phone…

I am member of a local fundraising club and sorted out several card terminals for our collections. Much easier.
I mean this IS probably one of the biggest difference in old and young people’s spending

Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 19:02

There is no way I’m going to play the 2p falls without actual 2ps. 😂

Original poster
smittenkittten · 14/08/2021 19:07

I can’t imagine many wanting to play the slot machines if you can’t win actual coins. How austere and joyless.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 19:09

Watching a video of the 2p falls. That's the saddest thing I've heard all day. Sad

SchrodingersImmigrant · 14/08/2021 19:10

The arcade tales😭 This is turning from ok thread to quite disturbing one

Sparklingbrook · 14/08/2021 19:12

I am all for cashless but not in the amusement arcades. Grin

Florawest · 14/08/2021 19:30

I hope cash doesn't disappear, mid 50's, I find it a great way to budget where as using my bank card, tap and spend is so easy.

Plus for pocket money for my teenager, coins for donating to charity collectors, tips in restaurants etc, money in birthday, wedding cards etc.

I use both but would prefer the cash option.

OytheBumbler · 14/08/2021 19:34

Nobody's even mentioned the tooth fairy!

wanttomarryamillionaire · 14/08/2021 19:35

I would refuse to use somewhere that didn't accept cash! It's discriminatory and it's legal tender! I have both cash and cards/apple pay and i like to be able to pay as i wish.

MrsSkylerWhite · 14/08/2021 19:36

Can’t remember when I last used cash. Contactless is so convenient.

mustlovegin · 14/08/2021 19:38

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

^This

Also your bank can block your account and access to your money without warning (for example if there was an error, etc) pending an investigation and they don't have to explain anything to you.

A completely cashless society is an appalling idea.

I always try to shop where they accept both means of payment. I hate it when places want to appear trendy and put up 'Card Only' or 'We are Cashless' signs. I try to avoid them, as a matter of principle where possible

TheGenealogist · 14/08/2021 19:39

@CarlaH

Power failures or systems going down result in shops having to take cash surely.
Yup.

We had a flood in the charity shop where I volunteer last week. Electrical circuits tripped in the back shop, water in the router. Managed to boot up the computerised till, but the card machine needs internet access to accept payments. Which we still don't have as Head Office are sending out a new router.

I'd say that since we reopened after the last lockdown we've been about 60% cards, 40% cash. At the moment it's cash only and most people are happy with that.

Clocktopus · 14/08/2021 19:44

I don't understand how someone doesn't have a bank card.

Reasons why someone might not have a bank account or a debit card include outstanding debts with the bank, history of frequent overdrafts, no ID with which to open the account (passports and driving licenses cost money), paid in cash so have no need for a bank account, no fixed address, and so on. Approximately 1.5 million adults in the UK don't have a bank account.

Then there are people who do qualify but who don't have one for reasons such as financial abuse, recently returned to the country and haven't got a card they can use in the UK, recently been released from prison and no account yet, don't trust banks, have an account but not one with a debit card (e.g., very basic bank account due to debts or credit union account with no card facility).

Coogee · 14/08/2021 19:50

or can be used by a large corporation in a number of ways (ie tracking your spending habits to create a profile of you which they can then use to their advantage).

It may be to their advantage, but is it to my disadvantage, and if not, why should I worry?

iklboo · 14/08/2021 19:55

So it is ok to be sneaky and stealing money from a partner to leave? Maybe cashless is the way to go?

If you're in an abuse relationship they're hardly open to you asking for cash to put away until you've got enough to leave. The abuser usually either gives you no money at all, no access to banks, bank cards & credit cards or expects you to account for every penny you spend.

Surely if there is domestic abuse etc there should be a process to provide a card etc

You know you actually have to have a bank account with money in to use cards don't you?

mogsrus · 14/08/2021 19:55

All arcades will be ticket wins only in the very near future as the gaming rules are getting tighter every year

Sittingonabench · 14/08/2021 20:48

Going cashless could be a great thing ( it could help balance things out for the most vulnerable in society and really help make sure children are protected and provided for) BUT it won’t be. We already know this from how badly the government enforces correct taxes on the richest and biggest companies - I.e they don’t. What will happen is they will control and penalise the poor and the middle and let all others exploit the system -again. It’s a real shame but it is reality.

ticketstub · 14/08/2021 21:12

I would worry how all that data is used and in a cashless society it could be used to control the population.

I wouldn't have thought this a few years ago, but considering that some think the unvaccinated should be denied access to services including NHS treatment, then it doesn't take a big leap to see that people's spending data could be used against them.

For example, "Mrs Jones we can see you spent more than £10 a week on alcohol/white bread/high heeled shoes/golf in your 40s, we think that contributed to this disease so health care is denied" or "Mrs Jones you have failed to do X,Y or Z so your spending is rationed to £20 per week" or "Company X you have not done X,Y or Z so you are banned from trading for 1 month (allowing Company Z who the rule-maker invests in a huge competitive edge).

It wouldn't be a big leap to link money to earning social credits for being a good citizen, leading to control like "Mrs Jones, you are an E-grade citizen as you have not been quadruple vaccinated/done 10 hours of government study/worked 60 hours this week therefore you are entitled to only 1 restaurant meal per year/1 holiday every 3 years/E-grade housing."

And if Covid's anything to go by, these rules won't apply to the rich and powerful who impose them on us. It's a slippery slope.

mogsrus · 14/08/2021 21:20

The gaming authorities do go want children gambling so all pushers will disappear as well

Shade17 · 14/08/2021 21:32

I would refuse to use somewhere that didn't accept cash! It's discriminatory and it's legal tender! I have both cash and cards/apple pay and i like to be able to pay as i wish.

I don’t think you even know what legal tender means! Perfectly legal not to accept cash for goods and not discriminatory.

MurielSpriggs · 14/08/2021 21:42

@Shade17

I would refuse to use somewhere that didn't accept cash! It's discriminatory and it's legal tender! I have both cash and cards/apple pay and i like to be able to pay as i wish.

I don’t think you even know what legal tender means! Perfectly legal not to accept cash for goods and not discriminatory.

It is definitely discriminatory, I don't really see how it couldn't be.
DonnaDonna01 · 14/08/2021 21:43

I think we should have a choice if we want to use cash or card. Why does everything have to be one way now? I’m starting to feel uncomfortable with the way we seem to be heading. I’m not totally opposed to cashless but I am concerned the way everything seems to be forced on us these days backed up with gibberish from the government as an explanation.

Shade17 · 14/08/2021 21:50

It is definitely discriminatory, I don't really see how it couldn't be.

And yet it’s perfectly legal

Precipice · 14/08/2021 21:53

Firms tracking your spending habits has the same disadvantage for you as the advantage for them: the purpose of building a profile on you is to specialise advertisements and 'offers' to you to manipulate you into spending money. If you are a person who relies on a service and it seems that you have fewer options, you might be given a higher price, for example.

In the more direct sense, in the US: www.thewashingtontime.com/bank-of-america-handed-over-transaction-details-to-feds-investigating-capitol-riot-report-claims/

^At the request of federal investigators, the bank identified 211 customers who fit the profile after making purchases in the D.C. area or spending money on flights or accomation in the days around the violent riot, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson claimed on Thursday.

Carlson reported that one person identified by their transactions was taken in for questioning but was found to have no links to the event, as he accused the bank of spying on its customers and sharing their private information without their knowledge.^

Of course it is possible to be suspected by other ways, but here is a clear disadvantage: to be a suspect because of your banking purchases, not even because the banking purchases are dodgy (oops, you're buying bomb ingredients!) but because of where you're spending them.