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?

@Comefromaway

Surely a child would not have a smart phone or tablet?

The parent would though.

I'd think most kids will have a tablet, or at least access to a tablet.
Even my 4 yo will be getting Homework via Google classroom. The pandemic has pushed that forward to, e-reading books!

@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.

Yeah, fuck old people and anyone else that wants to use cash for any number of legitimate reasons. Lets all do what jollyandbright does, that's always best.

But as I said before the child might not always be with the parent. Mine usually were not.

@SalsaLove

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.

What happens when he needs to use his pin number?

I have friends in one of those Scandinavian countries where it's increasingly difficult to use cash, and many people who live there aren't happy about the situation. There are times when cash is better and easier to use, and they're not pleased with ever more government involvement in the minutiae of their daily lives.

It's rare that having fewer options is better, and people who want to cheat the system will still find a way. Going cashless won't put an end to that.

One thing many vulnerable women do is squirrel away a small escape fund by added a few pounds cash at a time. Much harder to do if you only have a card. Also, paying cash is one way you can avoid leaving a track. And people can have legitimate reasons for not wanting to leave tracks.

I'm more perplexed atm when I go places that's card only.

But yes, cash should be accepted everywhere

@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.

Well my widow cleaner prefers a bank transfer. Says it makes life ten times easier

I can't think of a occasion for my 4 yo to need cash without me.

Schools cashless, dress down day paid electronically, no tuckshop, if a babysitter had him I'd deal with cash with them either hard cash or electronically.

Cashless societies disproportionately affect the poorest in society. It's a proven fact. But of course this government doesn't care.

@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.

But not every bank account provides a debit card

Well I used to give my dd £1 o na Saturday morning. Then I'd go to work and she would stay with her grandparents. She could either spend it on sweets at the corner shop on their street or if she wanted to she could save it up for a few weeks and get herself a little magazine or a toy. She loved handing over her own money and getting the change.

I completely agree with you, OP. We all know what happens when the systems go down. If you don't use cash, well don't, but why impose your choice on others who are sceptical about the benefits of the cashless society?

Yanbu at all.

YANBU but the government would love to get rid of cash. Bank accounts can be monitored but cash can’t

I was on a train recently where the card readers went down and they could only accept cash.

I don’t believe that you don’t know your pin. Between burglar alarms, keypad entry, safe, pin nos I am at present remembering 14 separate 4 digit numbers. It would not be surprising if I forgot the PIN of a card I wasn't using very often.

What did they do with the passengers without cash, bound to have been someone who was relying on their card?

I'm useless at remembering PINS so all my bank pins are the same, put card in machine goto other options and change to match then rest - sorted!

I only do finger print in my phone and the alarm code is easy to remember

I see lots of people struggle with cash too. Eg struggle with the physical act of getting coins out of purse through to working out which coins add up to the total. It's common sense that businesses with more payment options will be looked at more fairly by consumers.

I understand why there sometimes has to be a minimum amount for card transactions though

@Phonelightmidnight

*With contactless needing to know your pin isn’t an issue, I have no idea what any of my PIN numbers are and with the contactless limit being increased I have no need to learn them.*

I don’t believe that you don’t know your pin. After a few taps it gets you to enter your pin as a safety measure. At work I wanted to buy something on the vending machine. I usually use my card. But it wouldn’t let me and there was no option to enter my pin to restart it. Luckily I had coins in my bag. Otherwise I would’ve left hungry!

Most places are not accepting cash due to covid. I still live at home with my parents and have a debit card. They can see exactly what I am buying with my debit card so I prefer to use cash. They are not financially abusive but I’d rather they didn’t not I spent so much on frivolous purchases.

It wasn’t long ago where there were problems with card machines and were only accepting cash. They should at least give people the option of either cash or card.

I honestly don’t know the pin.

I have four cards, two debit and two credit. I don’t know the PIN numbers for any of them.
I only use one of the cards regularly, the rest live in a draw at home, probably with the PIN numbers in the envelopes they came in, it’s all banking stuff.

I use a mix of contactless and Apple Pay depending on the amount of the transaction, maybe I don’t use the card often enough to trigger the pin check, I don’t know, but I’ve never had to use it.
But if I did I would just use Apple Pay instead.

Yanbu

I would prefer the option to use either…or both

@Lockdownbear

What did they do with the passengers without cash, bound to have been someone who was relying on their card?

I'm useless at remembering PINS so all my bank pins are the same, put card in machine goto other options and change to match then rest - sorted!

I only do finger print in my phone and the alarm code is easy to remember

They were unable to buy anything the whole 90 minute journey.

It was from London Euston so you can't get through the barrier without having bought your ticket in advance so no-one needed to buy an actual train ticket.

Our cafe can only take cash, as we can’t get a phone line and signal is very limited and the more people that come the less/often no signal we have.
But if the government made it that we had to by law take both cash and card then we wouldn’t be able to trade. So I think businesses should have the choice.
At the same time it is a bit worrying that people come on holiday(I live in a tourist area) with just their Apple Pay on phones so no other way of accessing money apart from that 😳! I carry cash, cards and Apple Pay so I am covered 🤣