To think we should be able to pay with cash?

[PearLime]

The government should enact a law making it illegal for retailers to accept card only.

It's a discriminatory practice, with elderly, disabled and low income people suffering the negative consequences.

AIBU?

YANBU

However our Government want to cripple us and really don’t give two hoots, so yeah 🤷🏽‍♀️

YABU

Everyone can have a bank account, even the homeless. There’s no reason everyone can’t use cards other than personal preference.

if that if your preference you can shop in shops that take cash and not everywhere else.

YANBU.

How are people being discriminated against?
Other than their desire to use cash not being fulfilled?

@JollyAndBright

YABU

Everyone can have a bank account, even the homeless. There’s no reason everyone can’t use cards other than personal preference.

if that if your preference you can shop in shops that take cash and not everywhere else.

I beg to differ.

My gma is 85, and has mild dementia. She is still independent, but she cannot remember how to use a card. We have shown her, but she remembers for a bit, loses track of what she has bought and gets herself in a bother when she looks at her paper statement.

With cash:
A- she knows how to use it, so she has the independence to do some things independently still.
B- she can see how much she has spent and how much she has left.

I am sure this is the same for lots of elderly and disabled people.

@JollyAndBright

YABU

Everyone can have a bank account, even the homeless. There’s no reason everyone can’t use cards other than personal preference.

if that if your preference you can shop in shops that take cash and not everywhere else.

My father has a brain injury , he has a bank account but finds using his card difficult, often forgets his pin etc. Your comment is extremely abelist

@romdowa

Completely agree.

Lots of people struggle with finances. Tapping a card is SO much trickier to keep track of what's what than having cash in your hand.

But randomly tapping the card doesn't work and you have to put a pin in. Yes, retailers should be made to accept cash.

My dad is 87, with mild dementia and has no problem using a card. All you have to do is hold it in front of the machine. It’s easier than handling cash and there’s no possibility that the elderly or disabled will be ripped off since there’s no exchange of cash.

God, times have changed from when it was 'cash only'. I bet HMRC are loving all the traceability in this cashless society.

Yes, I agree with you OP, cash should be accepted everywhere. It is our currency after all !

I agree with you, OP.

www.saveourcash.co.uk/

@RedHelenB

But randomly tapping the card doesn't work and you have to put a pin in. Yes, retailers should be made to accept cash.

But it does work. Only occasionally do you have to type in the pin.

@SalsaLove and clearly your Dads experience is universal, despite the contradicting anecdotes from previous posters

It's a balance, some businesses won't be viable if they had to take cash with all the extra stuff that involves

Keeping a proper float, having to go to the bank, having proper security, fraud risk etc but I agree that should never go to a wholly card only situation

What type of shops are you struggling with, I cant think of anywhere that I go that doesn't accept cash

YANBU, it is unacceptable that so many retailers have gone card only.

I do understand that cash comes with its own issues, however my grandmother is 93 and totally independent. She does, however, struggle with her debit card. It can be difficult for her to remember the PIN and she has no concept of whether the amount on the screen should match the total for her goods. She never checks.

Once she accidentally voided the total and entered her PIN in its place. Both revealing her PIN and increasing the total. She's also incredibly anxious about taking her card out unless she's inside the bank itself. She doesn't really understand what to do if your card gets lost or stolen.

YABU. Society is going cashless and the world needs to adapt to that.

Completely agree!

If people want to pay cash then they should be able to. For whatever reason.

YANBU at all.

I'm not sure it would be easy to be homeless and get a bank account.

I also agree OP. No retailer should be allowed to refuse the currency of the nation they are operating in.

I also worry about what happens when the banks have tech glitches/get hacked and no one can buy anything. Most people could get their hands on a bit of cash to tide them over and this should never be taken away from people.

There are people, some homeless or with bad credit, who have a basic account which benefits are paid into but the account only allows cash to be taken out of it, it does not have a debit card. This is in addition to some elderly people who take out cash and do not like to pay by card.
There are self-employed people such as window cleaners who do not have a card machine for customers to pay and would find it difficult to deal with lots of very small bank transfers.
All these issues would have to be resolved before we could be a cashless society.
A cashless society would be difficult for these people.

I agree OP.
My late mother always paid by card from about the mid 70s onwards.
Once her dementia was no longer "mild", she wouldn't have known what a supermarket was, let alone how to use a card in one.

My 13 year old has a card and homeless her support with an address they can use (so long as they engage with the council support). It’s tricky for elderly people to adapt but my granny found changes to TV harder to deal with and changing phone style. That’s not really a good reason to not do something on it’s own. Many people with LD find cards and apps easier. You’ll never please everyone.

I was wondering about this today. Caffè Nero (well, my local branch anyway, in a London borough) does not take cash. It doesn’t have much of an impact on me, but I can see that it could have an impact on others, especially if this is the start of a trend that other shops adopt.

@NeedAHoliday2021

My 13 year old has a card and homeless her support with an address they can use (so long as they engage with the council support). It’s tricky for elderly people to adapt but my granny found changes to TV harder to deal with and changing phone style. That’s not really a good reason to not do something on it’s own. Many people with LD find cards and apps easier. You’ll never please everyone.

Actually we can please everyone by having the option to use either cash or card.

It's not a question of there being one or the other

@PearLime

The government should enact a law making it illegal for retailers to accept card only.

It's a discriminatory practice, with elderly, disabled and low income people suffering the negative consequences.

AIBU?

YABU

No retailer should be forced to take a certain method of payment.

It is not discriminatory, old people are not incompetent, they can use cards, they have been using them for longer than many adults have been alive. Low income has no impact on using a debit card, debit cards are free to use.

Physical cash is a dying relic of the past, we don't insist that shops allow barter any more, which is what existed before (and alongside) physical cash for many centuries. There is no reason why the elderly, disabled or low income people can not use a debit card.