Starbucks don't take cash

[CoastalWave]

AIBU to think this is ridiculous?

Took DS yesterday for a treat after school with his birthday money. We only spent £8 but as he handed over his £10 we were told, sorry we don't take cash anymore, card payments only.

Is this just the start of the slippery slope down to a cashless society ?

Really annoyed me!

At a show recently a friend ended up with free drinks due to card machine failure.

The barman came back to her after the first attempt telling her the payment had failed and charged her again - but she was concerned over double payment as the machine didn’t show the failed message when he got back to her

So she spent a while afterwards trying to check her online banking in case the same amount came up twice …. Which it didn’t at all

I have just been stuck for 30 with my DH in A&E and the hospital restaurant was card only. Luckily I had one with me but some will be stuck there with no food.

You have to be desperate to use the place, they charge £5 for a sandwich and I paid £8 for a portion of chips and a burger with no bun.

That’s up to the retailer.
If they have any sense then they will consider various options, which could include not taking cash normally but taking cash if there is a total failure (eg if their issue is the cost of handling cash)

Card payments can still continue during a power failure when their mains goes down if their card machines are charged and have mobile connectivity
eg if the wifi is off but the machine has mobile access, but if their POS is wifi only then it won’t

A business with a high enough turnover will use a ‘full’ POS system with lower transaction fees but a monthly subscription etc, which might be more intergrated into the till etc - if that combined system requires mains & wifi then it won’t work

But they could be holding a non subscription handheld card machine as spare which runs on an app it has its own direct mobile connection - in which case it just needs to be charged and to find a connection
That will work in a power cut unless the mobile phone masts are also cut off and don’t have a backup power source

But surely this is the same if the machine took cash? Some people wouldn't have cash?

I'd argue that more people would have sufficient cards or access to phone with a card loaded on it than cash.

Everyone seems to have forgotten when the banks, credit cards etc shut down the accounts owned by russians, when they invaded the Ukraine. Many ordinary russian people were stranded on holiday. They had to declare themselves homeless in the countries that they were in, to get food.

Another example are protesters. The police hand information over to the DWP when they break up protests and things like hunt sabotages. Many people on disability or attendance allowance benefits were sanctioned and had benefits removed. Even if the protest only involved them getting driven in a car and sitting on a chair all day. I know a lot of protesting pensioners, they made up the numbers on the picket lines and outside other places.

So imagine your ability to buy food was totally reliant on our government not pissing off whoever owns the businesses and all rights to protest was removed. Or your ability to get benefits had your behaviour overseen by the police and again if you do something against big business/government, then you get no income.

Another scenario, fraud takes place, it happened to my DD on her Argos card. The Argos card that she was relying on for Christmas toys for her children. Her account was shut down while they investigate. Luckily we could help, but many people won't have any other means of shopping. She also had ongoing issues for weeks with Amazon because they wasn't understanding that although she could change her password, they had to sign out all devices first. This was because of not being able to talk to an actual person and then a lack of understanding/language barrier.

We aren't just being forced into no cash, we will be forced into paying on our phones, because cards take so long to replace.

I still use cash. I'll even pay for a big shop and petrol in cash.
Starbucks make awful tea anyway, I went once and never again.

I use cash too for day to day stuff as it's easier for me to budget. I've also read/seen The Handmaid's Tale and always have enough in the house to buy food a month or so.

I lost my card holder with all my cards a few weeks ago and it would have been a nightmare without it as even the quickest replacement took a week. If others don't want to that's up to them, but I can't see why anybody would think that people having fewer choices is a positive thing.

We'll said. I'm going to boycott all businesses which go card only. It discriminates against the very poor and gives the banks and governments too much power. Imagine the lockdown craziness again with the government able to freeze your bank account if you don't comply!

Yeah I won't be having a stash of cash lying around just in case those scenarios happen!

What's wrong with paying by phone?

If there's a power cut, the retailer will almost certainly have to close unless it has it's own generator. There'd be no lighting, no heating/ventilation systems, no security cameras, electronic tills won't be able to read bar codes, etc. During Storm Desmond, our town had no electric for 3 days, there were no (or very, very few), shops open, nor were cafes, pubs, petrol stations, etc. It's not safe to open without lighting, and everything in fridges/freezers had to be disposed of. The power cut meant no mobile phone either for the first day, so no mobile internet for mobile phone linked card readers etc.

Except they do not close. When there was a power cut in our area the chain all closed. The corner shop and independent pub stayed open. There was sun to provide light, no heating but people understood, they wrote down purchases in cash, pumps would not work in pub but they sold other drinks.
Long term they would have had to close, but no they did not have to close for a 4 hour power cut.

And both did a roaring trade because everywhere else was closed locally.

Apologies if someone brought this up but PayPal tried to have a clause allowing a $2500 fine for wrong think.

www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/10/28/paypals-2500-fine-for-misinformation-has-not-been-reinstated/

They retracted this but in a cashless society, you can see how this could be abused.

amp.theguardian.com/money/2020/jun/24/you-cant-pay-cash-here-how-cashless-society-harms-most-vulnerable

This is an old article, but useful still.

Considering that financial organizations like HSBC have been caught laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and are too powerful to prosecute, it's very concerning how much power they wield.

A restaurant near me is card only and has been for about 4-5 years, well before Covid. They went cashless after their staff were held up at knifepoint one night. I don’t think I’m ready for a totally cashless society, but can understand why shops/ restaurants do it - less hassle and much safer for their staff.

A cashless society would help stamp out the black economy and the UK tax gap which costs tax payers £32bn per year www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps/1-tax-gaps-summary

Elderly people do have cards though because their pensions and benefits are paid into bank accounts.
Handling cash is very expensive for a business and card payments are safer for employees. A friend of mine was attacked and badly injured on day taking the shop takings to the bank. Small convenience stores are ripe pickings for robbers.

Why should businesses be forced to accept payment in a form which costs them more to process?

Would you be happy to pay more if you were paying in cash rather than via card?

Lots of people have basic bank accounts with no card to pay for goods in shops.

@CoastalWave I also sell things on market place but I accept payment via PayPal, which is free. All the purchaser needs is your email address. Removes the need for people to scrabble around for small change.

And means lots of people with early-stage dementia and learning difficulties would need more carer help. Plus I would have to pay £4 a month subscription fee to give my kids access to a kids card. So it simply moves some costs onto the public, just like self-service tills did.

Am I alone in finding the posts supporting cash payments whilst accusing Starbucks of being a tax dodger very ironic?!

There are parts of the country with still a lot of cash only retailers or cash preferred. And in some areas card payment is very temperamental because connections are still so poor. Not everywhere is London.