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Original poster

To want to keep our cash.

159 replies

TarasHarp55 · 03/09/2022 09:08

What's everyone's thoughts on going digital? Yesterday on the bus was for me, a prime example of why we shouldn't. This man got on and presented his debit card to pay his fare. The card declined. The poor man was on his way to work and was saying "I've just got paid this morning, I don't understand". He had no other way of paying. The driver kept telling him to try again, the poor man getting upset. Anyway the outcome was I paid his fare because he didn't want to miss work.

It got me thinking though, is this going to get more and more common. Relying on a computer to give you your money. There's so many other problems when there's no cash too imo. I hate the thought of a cashless society.

OP posts:
AnaDay · 03/09/2022 09:10

Completely agree - it’s about that choice being taken away. It really annoys me

sst1234 · 03/09/2022 09:20

We rely on computers to tell the weather, change lights so cars don’t crash into each other and fly planes. It’s not a reason to want to keep cash.

Cash is a way for those to evade tax, who can. People on PAYE don’t have the luxury of cash in hand. Small businesses use this way to cheat the rest of us all the time. Cash is an enabler of sinister illegal activity of all kinds. I’m sure people will be along to justify how their 80 year old parents like using cash so we should not get rid of it. Or that it helps with budgeting, which is a strange argument as the pennies are the same whether they are in coins or in a bank account.

You can choose to be a Luddite about anything. Change happens, get over it.

thegcatsmother · 03/09/2022 09:23

sst1234 I disagree. Even Sweden, a very digital payment country, has passed legislation to ensure they there is still and always will be, access to cash. Cyber attacks, power outages etc, means that non cash transactions can't be done. I always have cash on me.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 03/09/2022 09:26

It may be Luddite not to want spend what feels like eternity in the Checkout queue while some poor idiot tries to make their smartphone pay for their shopping ( and heavens preserve us when they try to find the voucher, you may as well get your camp bed out)
I don’t want or need a smartphone, and I don’t want to have to pay a monthly tariff for the privilege of being able to pay for parking at the station. your comment about the elderly is needlessly offensive, very few of that age group pay for anything with cash because it is so hard to get hold of any ( no more banks, very few holes in the wall).

by the way, the Luddites actually broke in and smashed the machines, they didn’t just politely complain. Now there a thought…..

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 03/09/2022 09:28

@TarasHarp55
that was very kind🙏

midgetastic · 03/09/2022 09:32

But you don't know if that was a tech fail or a guy who had no money ?

katkit · 03/09/2022 09:34

Have two cards- get a free prepay backup. They do go wrong from time to time.

LampLighter414 · 03/09/2022 09:36

Card only = control

Mumspair1 · 03/09/2022 09:39

I prefer card only. I never, ever carry cash on me.

Sparklingbrook · 03/09/2022 09:46

I much prefer card only, I have more than one. Very occasionally there might be a time where the card doesn't work for whatever reason. Keep an emergency tenner just in case.

I find people faff more over paying with cash (counting coins out etc) than just swiping phone or card.

i don't miss cash at all.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/09/2022 09:46

Cash is a way for those to evade tax, who can.

You could just as easily say that cars are a way for people to get away from bank robberies, using that as justification for banning them; or that nobody should be allowed to cut bread or prepare vegetables because a minority of people use knives to hurt and kill other people. That seems quite a one-sided view, suggesting that individuals probably can't be trusted whereas banks and governments always can!

I'm firmly in the camp of wanting to keep the choice. Of course, modern society necessitates cards and online payments, and they're very often the best/only/most practical way, but there is still a place for cash.

I hate car park machines that force you to pay online, call a number or download an app (often charging you extra for the 'privilege' of paying them). Great as an option for those who prefer it, but I just want to stick a quid in, take a ticket and get on with my day.

Also, as in the OP, if I have coins or notes, I have a guaranteed currency to make payments and I'm not dependent on a bank's systems not going down or having mobile reception. Scammers/muggers can't rob me of cash without my knowing (unless I'm asleep).

I'm not saying that they would/will, but the idea that somebody in a bank (or a hacker) could accidentally (or deliberately) press a button or a computer could glitch and render me unable to pay for/buy anything until it's all (hopefully) resolved, maybe days or weeks later, is not the most comforting thought. Effectively, every time you make a payment digitally, you're asking your bank for their permission to allow you to do so. Although they shouldn't decline it if your account is in credit, they easily can at any time, if they want to.

Sparklingbrook · 03/09/2022 09:50

I love a parking App, great to not have to rush back to the car to buy another ticket when I am the other side of town. And the texts to say that I have ten minutes left. No standing in the rain at the ticket machine and trudging back to the car with a ticket. Well worth the 30p extra IMO.

EmeraldShamrock1 · 03/09/2022 09:53

It's ridiculous removing cash from society.

Bouledeneige · 03/09/2022 09:54

I always have two ways to pay - my bank card and my iPhone. I've never had a problem with my card though. As my DD said to me, when I questioned the utility of cash, you only need cash to pay your drug dealer.

Sparklingbrook · 03/09/2022 09:55

EmeraldShamrock1 · 03/09/2022 09:53

It's ridiculous removing cash from society.

Is it even possible? To remove cash completely? Confused

diamondpony80 · 03/09/2022 09:58

I prefer card only, but having been caught with only one card before and it being declined, I always carry more than one.

Ithinkthatisenoughnowthanks · 03/09/2022 09:59

You can choose to be a Luddite about anything. Change happens, get over it

So you have a trolley full in Sainsburys and the power goes out for half a mile around. The nearest cashpoint will pay you out the cash you need to finish your shop. Or no shopping till the power's back on?

We are living in an uncertain world. Power cuts are way more likely today than they were 6 months ago.

YellowTreeHouse · 03/09/2022 10:00

I would love a cashless society. I really hope that’s the way we’re going. Cash is unnecessary.

Sparklingbrook · 03/09/2022 10:01

So you have a trolley full in Sainsburys and the power goes out for half a mile around. The nearest cashpoint will pay you out the cash you need to finish your shop. Or no shopping till the power's back on?

Supermarkets have back up generators. But cashpoints need power too.

Stangerthings · 03/09/2022 10:02

LampLighter414 · 03/09/2022 09:36

Card only = control

Correct!

AlwaysAWoman · 03/09/2022 10:02

It would make us vulnerable to get rid of cash. Financial abuse in relationships, people struggling with low incomes who find it easier to manage cash (also charges etc coming out of the bank leaving you with no money?). Also paper trails for every payment we make. I can understand why people would be opposed to it!

Taiyo · 03/09/2022 10:03

I usually pay by card and have a back-up but it does marginalise people. I know someone who went bankrupt due to a failed business and she struggled to get a credit card. I always have some cash, just in case.

For what it's worth, I live in Japan and we had a mobile phone outage, where we couldn't get a mobile phone signal in some networks for 2 days. Also, after some of the big earthquakes, the power outages can last a week and there is so mobile phone network, so having some spare cash so you can buy supplies is a good idea.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/09/2022 10:05

As my DD said to me, when I questioned the utility of cash, you only need cash to pay your drug dealer.

How old is she? A lot of younger people will only have grown up with modern methods for things and thus may not have experienced/appreciate the benefits that the older ways did/can still bring. They will often associate things like that with older generations and thus instantly boring and outdated. Unless it's something like vinyl records that many of them think their generation has discovered!

Even then, most young people would have no interest at all in the music of, say, Elvis Presley or Dusty Springfield, but that's no justification for arbitrarily saying that no music over 20 years old should be available - presumably because the preferences of a lot of older people somehow 'don't count'.

weleasewoderick23 · 03/09/2022 10:06

Bouledeneige · 03/09/2022 09:54

I always have two ways to pay - my bank card and my iPhone. I've never had a problem with my card though. As my DD said to me, when I questioned the utility of cash, you only need cash to pay your drug dealer.

Apparently, you can transfer your drug money from your bank to a pre paid credit card.
I don't know this from experience by the way Confused

CuntAmongstThePigeons · 03/09/2022 10:07

Cashless is so dystopian. The government tracking every purchase you make.

Soon it will be oh you can't buy xyz as we can see that you've already spent XXX on this and therefore we're cutting you off.

Proper handmaid tale vibes.