Can shops refuse cash and insist on card payments only?

[AlternativelyWired]

A local deli moved to card only during lockdown and has continued to do so. There's a sign up saying card only and I wonder if there's a move towards a cashless society now. I get paid in cash and a take away drink and maybe a cake would be a weekly thing at most and I'd have cash on me but not necessarily any money in the bank. It's a first world problem I know but are shops allowed to say no to cash?

But agree that cash is a huge faff - counting it, reconciling it, taking it to the bank, getting change. And there’s a theft risk which there isn’t with cards.

The only place that still insists in cash only round here is the nail bar. Most bars, restaurants, hairdressers, and even Tesco! went "card only" months ago

The right to be paid in cash has not been formally abolished in any part of UK. Not least because I think the law is silent on the whole subject - you have to be paid as agreed, but how is entirely up to the contracting parties and twas ever thus.

Blaming Thatcher for all sorts of things she didn't do is however v common and I'm not surprised PP has come across it elsewhere on the internet.

Worst wrong example I saw was when she was blamed for abolishing grammar schools!!!!

It was the Truck Act and Thatcher abolished it.

You can be as outraged as you like but it won't change anything

You can certainly campaign and raise awareness (as you do with myriad of other things). Also vote with your feet actively avoiding card only places.* *

Well this thread highlights the wilful ignorance of the lucky majority doesn't it. A cashless society is a very unwelcoming one for many and one we should all be fighting against.

Truck Acts were about using legal tender, not tokens or goods in lieu.

Not about actual cash via bank, and its provisions are not relevant to that.

The Truck Acts (there were a whole series of them) were updated every 40 years or so, and in 1986 they were not repealed, rather subsumed into the Wages Act (the name being much more relevant to what the acts are about than the original one), and later there is ERA 1996

Have you ever read a bank note? They aren’t technically pounds themselves, they are a promise to pay a sum in pounds - except our currency hasn’t been backed by gold for almost a century. So banknotes are essentially a meaningless IOU. So much for hard currency!

Lol ok then,cool

Yeah right....I work in retail and see the little hissy fits at the tills

Then watch them pay on card anyway

Voting with their feet right there!

Yeah right....I work in retail and see the little hissy fits at the tills
Then watch them pay on card anyway

Could be if you are the only vendor in town for a particular item. But how common is this? If people want to pay cash and there are two shops they can use, they will choose the one that takes cash. Your loss unfortunately

And the people that want to pay card will choose the other, by this thread the majority choose card, so bye bye cash only shop!

And the people that want to pay card will choose the other

Not necessarily, as there will be one shop that takes card and cash. So both options are available as opposed to only one.

I get paid in cash

Time to talk to your employer.

Because a shop can refuse to serve anyone for any reason (except for protected characteristics, of which a preference for cash isn't one!)

Bullshit. Those cards teach most children an illusion of money. If anything is pretty poor parenting, it's allowing children to have those cards. (I understand that unfortunately the time comes when they need to have them due to restrictions on cash.) My 9yo DS is almost supernaturally fantastic with money and has been since he was a toddler and I introduced the concept of money to him. He astounds me, a person who bought my dream home for cash when I was 35, with how amazing he is at budgeting and his complete capability to put short-term wants aside for long-term goals. Even on the occasions that I've actively encouraged him to give in to his short term desires, he prioritises his future over his now.

And he does that by handling cash. Counting it, working it out, writing down his goals on physical paper. Virtual money is too hard for a child's mind to truly get to grips with. Especially when dealing with an abstract concept of future money that you don't yet have. Adding a layer of detachment to money by having it on a card, removes part of a person's ability to budget. It's very much proven that it's easier to stick to a budget when working with physical cash. That's for adults with a proven track record of budgeting. For children, learning about finances, who's frontal lobes won't develop until their mid-20s, then it's a fucking awful idea to start them working with debt cards and online financing.

I'd say your way is also bullshit. My DS is 20 and he's had cards for several years. He has a card for "spending money" which used to be for his school lunches and bus fares, but now for all his shopping (at Uni). He has another card for longer term savings (which he uses to feed his spending card). He also has 2 online accounts, one being an ISA and the other being a fixed term interest paying account. He has set up a standing order to feed into his ISA. He worked all that out himself. His "spending money" account is a Monzo which he regularly checks to analyse his spending and often tells us how aghast he is when he's spent so much on groceries and takeaways. He has a couple of notes and a few coins that he carries around "just in case" but really, really, never uses them.

Maybe I'm missing the point of GoHenry, but £2.99 a month plus a loading fee of 50p a month (after the one free one you get) sounds like a heck of a lot of money to spend. Particularly as so many people are suggesting it's a great way to teach your children about budgeting.

Speaking to a local shop the issue with cash is a lot of the local banks have closed so for them they don’t like carrying/leaving sums of money around. What was a maximum 10 min round trip to walk to the local bank and back again is now for them 1/2 hour trip parking in a car park that’s a further 10 min walk to the bank while handling sums of cash - not overly safe!

They haven’t stopped cash payments yet but for them it’s an added cost to take it to the nearest bank.

Same here in Conwy no Bank in town no Bank in next town, the only bank left you can never park nearby it's grim.

Charities are suffering collection tin wise

You can transact entirely in goats if you want to

Cards are not the illusion of money, they are money and card or online using a card is how the majority of money is spent nowadays. A financial education is nowhere near complete without being taught how to use a card. I think you are really doing your son a disservice as to what you think his mind is capable of. I got a debit card when I was 11 and understood perfectly that it was money and finite. I bought a house when I was 24 and DP 23 and our frontal lobes coped just fine with managing the money for that, thanks.

@justasking111 all the charities around here seem to have those portable card machines!

Yep they can. For me it’s brilliant as it’s just another bloody good excuse that I have, to not go out and shop, so it saves me money. Far too easy to spend spend spend little amounts here there and everywhere on cards, so much prefer small spending to be cash - once it’s gone it’s gone. I trust just one or two online traders and or do shopping once or twice a year (other than Tesco) at major retailers eg B&Q.

I haven’t missed what I don’t use/buy/shop.

This pisses me right off. I prefer cash, and I shop for older people regularly and they ONLY use cash. I wish there would be a move back towards using cash.