Food places and cafes not accepting cash

[Annoyedtiger]

Yes I understand covid and I normally always pay with my card but today I accidentally left it at home and I went to three cafes including Cafe Nero which wouldn’t take my cash.

We know covid is airborne and everything is mostly back to normal.

AIBU to think everywhere should be tasking cash now?

How is it 'reaching' to suggest some people can't access digital payment?

My sister has learning difficulties, she racked up thousands of pounds worth of debt when left to manage her own banks accounts. So now she has a set amount of cash given to her weekly.

My DS has extremely complex needs and attends and adult day service. Yes he has a bank account which his PIP is paid into but it is me who manages that account. I take cash out of it and put it in his wallet for whatever activities he will be doing at the day service that day. My DS wouldn't even understand what a bank account is but can grasp that money is exchanged for goods.

I love how MN is so lefty & inclusive until it comes to issues that matter. How can you be so shortsighted that you can't get that all those women on the relationships board being abused who you advise to 'get their ducks in a row' might need to be squirrelling away small amounts of cash to do so?

@user1497207191 So punish the poor more by making them pay more? What a great idea.

Surely they have all those already. They took cash up til now.

YANBU. It makes things very difficult for people who, for whatever reason, don't like using their card. My grandad, for example, can't even use a cash machine.

We've "trained" MIL (80 years old with dementia) to use her debit card. It wasn't the card that was the problem. It was her convulated banking "system" with multiple accounts that she'd set up decades ago and never changed. I.e. different pensions paid into different bank accounts, some direct debits/standing orders from one account, some from another, she paid some things by cash out of habit only. She literally had to go out between banks every week to draw out cash from one bank to walk it round to pay into another. It was crazy but it was all she knew. We rationalised it all over a few months. She now has a single "current" account where all money is paid in, and ALL bills paid out, and she has a debit card to go shopping with. All other accounts are closed. She says herself how easy it is as she doesn't have to think anymore. Yes, it took us a bit of time to move the long standing transactions to/from a single account and a few attempts to get her used to using the debit card in shops etc., but it's well worth it for her. Much simpler and less stressful. I think a high proportion of old people are more than capable if they've someone to help them get things set up and "train" them. The bigger issue is contacting banks, pension firms etc to change bank accounts/set up d/ds & s/os etc as it takes forever to get through to the call centre, then the security questions etc - MIL couldn't have done that herself, but now it's all set up and streamlined, she doesn't use cash anymore.

My mum has a bank account and a bank book, not card. She doesn't have a mobile, much less a smartphone.

i have no idea how typical I am, I am 46. I could no more forget my PIN than my date of birth I have had the same sort code account number and PIN since I was 14, those numbers are indelibley imprinted on my brain.

You are only 46, things could change. I am often stuck in supermarket queues behind elderly people who cannot remember their PIN, and it is sad to witness their frustration.

I wouldnt say I even have memory problems but Im in my 50s and regularly forget my dob and post code. Peri menopause.

Yes the app-only thing shouldn't be allowed for car parks. You might say it's not necessary to use the car, but at the moment, in many cases it is.

has there been any case when someone has actually caught a disease, covid or otherwise, from cash

I don't know, but I suspect it's vanishingly unlikely. I know people get funny about library books as well though.

We parked somewhere in Scotland once, some beauty spot, only an app option and we didnt have any signal, unbelievable.

Wow all the just put it on your phone comments. Not everyone has a smartphone especially the elderly. Some people also need cash to budget as paying by card can make it feel like not real money

We went to a local outdoor museum which has a traditional sweet shop.a group of 5 children went in with a teacher. They had £2 each to spend and teacher used school credit card. Apparently was much quicker.

The only reason a lot of shops have gone card only isn't because of 'the cost of cash' it's because now they don't have to deal with people with disabilities or homeless people. You can pretend it's because of a, b, c but that's the actual reason

I am not elderly, but I hate all this "just put it on your phone" nonsense anyway.
I think it is dangerous to have so much info on your phone.. your bank details, loads of loyalty card things, NHS info etc
My phone is just text and calls, and the odd bit of googling. I don't even take it out with me.

@XenoBitch the whole point of a. Mobile phone is its mobile, you take it out with you?

Why bother having one at all?

I love the fact that my phone serves so many purposes, you're in the massive minority, you must see that?

People saying just put it on your phone are trying to help people cope with a cashless society.

Why are people so adverse to keeping up with technology, they just want to moan about not being able to use cash.

Its not compulsory to have a phone. Why should anyone carry one around if they don't want to. We managed for decades with people calling the house phones at a sensible time. Or I dunno, getting theilr shit together and saying/doing what they need to when they are with the person. Why should some one carry a mobile just so disorganised bosses friends and family can bug you at any time.day or night when u aren't even getting paid for your time responding to emails they couldn't be bothered to send in work hours.

If people don't want to their jobs and sell their products by accepting legal tender of cash because they re too precious to count it or work out change then that's up to them but we should not be so keen to facilitate this nonsense for them.

www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender

from the Bank of England. Legal tender is referring to the payment of debt.

Why would it be quicker? You still have to check each child has only chosen £2 worth of sweets. So each child's sweets still has to be individually added up at the till. Any difference in time must be negligible. And more complex for the teacher.

@XenoBitch I do love a "but we managed for years without nonsense cry"

Yeah

That goes for every modern gadget?

Washing machine
Dishwasher
Tumble dryer
TV

No where did I say it was compulsory, so not sure why you spouted that no sense at me?

It's just, you know the way of the world now, personally I love it and embrace all technology!

I don't even have a house phone plugged in, so don't ring that at a sensible time, it won't be answered.

Anyway, you keep resisting technology and limiting your places to visits due to cash not being taken. More space for the non luddites!

You laugh at " luddites" but they aren't the ones screwed when their phone gets dropped and broken or stolen or the signal is so lousy you can't load your train ticket or it won't scan because the scanner is not working.

With cash buses and trains tell you when prices increase etc so people start turning up with 2.10 as opposed to 2 quid. They won't bother with card and apple pay because you have that on you.

And this stuff is still run by people. People screw up. Only takes one person to accidently charge 50.00 instead of 5 and then u r stuck waiting 5 days fir a refund with no money to get to work

@Whatwouldscullydo I live in London, no cash on train and tubes for years!

What about when you lose cash, or is it just phones that get lost? Dropping phones? Cases are brilliant now, unlikely the phone will break. Signal, never had an issue, even when travelling.

Abroad, still pay be card, no going and queuing for currency.

Not sure if it's this thread, but sone one was saying their mail at only took cash.... well mail bars ace renowned for money laundering and modern day slavery, you happy for your cash to find that?

But the "luddite" is well and truly screwed when their handbag/wallet is lost or stolen, and it contained their cash, train ticket, etc etc.

The "luddite" is well and truly screwed when they were sat snuggly thinking they had a shed load of money in the house and could buy things if there was a power cut, but then find the shops are all closed because of that power cut, so they can't buy things after all.

It's really NOT that different one way or another. You can be well and truly screwed either way.

As for the "no signal" problem, you just take a download or screenshot of your e-ticket, which you'd be able to show/use from the phone's internal memory if there was no signal when needed. If the scanner isn't working, it wouldn't be working to read a paper ticket either.

I live in London, no cash on train and tubes for years

No but you can use cash to load an Oyster card.

Sorry message didn't match quote. I agree that forcing people to have a mobile phone can be annoying. I generally find them useful, except for people thinking it's ok to call you at any time and getting offended if you refuse to answer because eg you are driving. That's a different issue though.