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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think we should be able to pay with cash?

350 replies

PearLime · 08/10/2021 10:12

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?

OP posts:
TheUnbearable · 09/10/2021 10:44

I can see why it’s an issue but if we went cashless it would really mess up cash in hand work which really irritates me. I know huge corporations evade tax and use loopholes but the amount that regular folk evade is often overlooked.

Rockhopper81 · 09/10/2021 10:54

@Ajl46

You're right, it is the cumulative amount of tax lost that is the problem, absolutely. I agree that it's an issue. But I'm still not convinced a non-cash society would prevent that, not really.

@TheUnbearable - again, not disagreeing with you, tax should be paid. I do think it would be better as a beginning move to close the loopholes that big corporations exploit though.

As an aside, if as a society we were completely cashless, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree would most likely go (if I'm buying - and collecting - a £5 used item, I just want to hand over the £5 and take the item), as would jumble sales in village/church halls.

dogsrock15 · 09/10/2021 12:49

I work with adults with learning difficulties. They don't all have bank cards. There are places such as the local cinema which don't accept card. It is not fair.

Flowerlane · 09/10/2021 13:02

All this brilliant technology is great until it goes wrong and the systems go down….

A large Tesco extra near us systems went down due a flood about a month ago.They were only accepting cash for 2 weeks!!

AFuturisticalSound · 09/10/2021 15:04

@DGRossetti

Are you saying Amazon are money laundering?

Well Nat West - a bank apparently - has been convicted of just that. No cash involved.

You've got that all wrong

NatWest was found guilty of not stopping its customer doing money laundering and it involved ££millions of actual cash

Where did you get your info from? I wouldn't trust a word they say

KarmaStar · 09/10/2021 16:10

I agree.it also stops over spending as you can just take enough to pay for what you need.
A card only is not an option for many

DroopyClematis · 09/10/2021 17:42

Like other posters, my 83 year old mum is starting to forget herself.
She has a card but it isn't contactless. She can't have one , bizarrely, as she only gets the bare minimum of pension and DLA.
I've argued until I'm blue in the face but that's the situation.

She can't remember her PIN only the pattern of the numbers on the pad. Sometimes she can forget 'the pattern.' My MIL , who had dementia forgot her pattern completely.
Both use/used cash as it was easier and could keep track of their money.

Both of them could only withdraw cash from a counter as they struggled with cash points.

A PP mentioned not knowing their OIN numbers as they only do contactless.
Given that you are required to put a PIN after a number of contactless payments and given that many purchases are over the contactless limit , I'm not sure how they'd suddenly produce their PIN numbers

OldTinHat · 09/10/2021 17:58

@JollyandBright you are wrong. Not everyone can have a bank account. I can't get one and have to make do with a prepaid debit card. I can't even open the most basic of accounts.

Patapouf · 09/10/2021 18:06

I agree OP.
I have serious concerns about the implications of moving towards a cashless society. I mean, yes I want everyone to pay tax and not operate on a cash basis for tax evasion purposes but do we really want banks and govt to be able to have access to data on every single monetary transaction??

There is much more to paying by card than just having a bank account so the PP who says there's no excuse is a twat.

I don't carry cash because it isn't convenient for me but I appreciate that for many that cash is their preference.

HateJudgmentalPeople · 09/10/2021 18:32

[quote OldTinHat]@JollyandBright you are wrong. Not everyone can have a bank account. I can't get one and have to make do with a prepaid debit card. I can't even open the most basic of accounts. [/quote]
Have you tried a Nationwide Flex Basic account? I hardly had the correct ID and I opened one with them x

tillytown · 09/10/2021 19:07

Not read the thread so someone might have already mentioned this, but a couple of years ago there was a poster who was being abused, the only access to money she had was the weekly shop, her partner would give her the exact change she needed and go through the receipt to make sure she hadn't taken any change for herself. When she would go shopping, as she was paying, she would claim to whomever was behind her in the queue that she was 10/20 pence short, and if they gave her the money she was short, she would take it home and hide it. After months of doing this, she had enough for a bus fare to get away from the abuse. When people talk about how cash is pointless and everyone uses card they forgot about people, mainly women, who need cash to survive.

GrandColombier · 09/10/2021 19:35

@DGRossetti

Are you saying Amazon are money laundering?

Well Nat West - a bank apparently - has been convicted of just that. No cash involved.

Eh?! Cash was central Nat West story. And it wasn’t them money laundering. Maybe try reading about it again?
Bitofachinwag · 09/10/2021 21:12

Ajl46
You can touch and see a cash card Yes you can. Can you tell how much money you've got by touching it though?

JollyAndBright · 09/10/2021 23:22

@ butterpuffed
Try getting a taxi with a card where I live, you'd be lucky.

I live in a small market town in Yorkshire, all of the taxi firms in the area (here and nearby towns) that I know of take card payments, they have little machines that Bluetooth connect to their phones to work.

It sucks you live somewhere where that’s not an option yet.

JollyAndBright · 09/10/2021 23:25

@longtompot
JollyAndBright every now and then, approx every 6 contactless transactions, I have to use my pin to use my card. I'm surprised you've not needed to.

As @AFuturisticalSound said it entirely depends on your bank, yours sounds really annoying and I would also want to change banks if that was how mine worked.

DerAlteMann · 09/10/2021 23:30

Possibly, but how widespread is this? I know of only one place (a not particularly attractive bar) that totally refuses to take cash.

longtompot · 10/10/2021 00:27

[quote JollyAndBright]@longtompot
JollyAndBright every now and then, approx every 6 contactless transactions, I have to use my pin to use my card. I'm surprised you've not needed to.

As @AFuturisticalSound said it entirely depends on your bank, yours sounds really annoying and I would also want to change banks if that was how mine worked.[/quote]
Nah, I'd rather that than someone getting my card and spending whatever they liked on it.

JollyAndBright · 10/10/2021 08:05

[quote OldTinHat]@JollyandBright you are wrong. Not everyone can have a bank account. I can't get one and have to make do with a prepaid debit card. I can't even open the most basic of accounts. [/quote]
That’s very unusual, do you mind if I ask the reason?

JollyAndBright · 10/10/2021 08:09

@longtompot

Nah, I'd rather that than someone getting my card and spending whatever they liked on it.

I’m glad that system works for you and you are happy with it.
It’s not something I would worry about as I don’t feel like I’m much of a risk for loosing my card or phone.

gogohm · 10/10/2021 08:15

Unfortunately our bank has started charge to bank cash, the fee is flat so actually works out more than card transactions (for accounts reasons we have to bank weekly at least), then there's the time to drive to another town and queue because they closed in our town. We still accept cash donations as we are a registered charity but I can understand why the local cafes etc do not

gogohm · 10/10/2021 08:17

@PearLime

Then they also need to insist banks open branches in every town to bank the cash! It's more complicated that you imagine

MatildaIThink · 10/10/2021 08:22

@DerAlteMann

Possibly, but how widespread is this? I know of only one place (a not particularly attractive bar) that totally refuses to take cash.
In my town three of the bars in the town centre don't take cash, two coffee shops, several other boutique independent shops are cash only, the Sainsburys and Waitrose seem to have only one till that accepts cash.

Cash is more expensive for businesses to handle than card, it is also inconvenient, adds to insurance premiums, makes robbery more of a risk, can have handling errors etc. Businesses have wanted to get rid of cash for a long time and the pandemic has allowed them to accelerate that process.

pinkwoolymammoth · 10/10/2021 08:48

I use my phone for transactions and my cards, I don't actually know the pins to my cards but have managed for years. Not sure why it's worse for an elderly person to tap a card, surely the risk of fraud with cash is actually higher, I know when I worked in certain places the toll people deliberately gave less change etc to the most vulnerable. Disgusting but it happens.

I think it may be better that as people are getting older the government put free courses on to help those who are unable to use a card use it. My mum has learning difficulties and we had to teach her how to tap the card, also had to set her up with a bank account with one, that is actually very easy now there are banks out there to help people with zero credit history which is the category my mum fell into.
I actually think no cash in shops is better. My friend used to work in Sainsbury's and saw several people get the sack stealing cash out of the till. This ends up pushing prices out when it's constantly happening, again better for everyone to avoid it.

pinkwoolymammoth · 10/10/2021 08:48

Till people*

user1497207191 · 10/10/2021 17:36

@Bathshebahardy

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.
A lot of mobile small businesses like window cleaners use handheld card readers these days. They only cost £50 or so to buy. You link or bluetooth them to your mobile phone.