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!

Cash machines also require electricity.

This, it literally places you at the mercy of whoever controls the means of paying.

@BertieQueen

was there signs up saying card only? If there wasn’t I would have walked out leaving the made drinks/food as there should be signs up letting people know before getting to the till point.

A few customers spitting out their dummy and leaving their drinks will cost the chain a lot less than having to pay all the charges/costs involved in handling cash. As others have said, staff wages for the time spent, bank charges, risk of theft/loss, forged note losses, insurance, etc etc.

Noticed this slow creep to exclude cash, particularly over the last 12 months. Went to Prezzo in the summer and it was cash only and since it was a 'girl's-night' it was a right pain as we'd already started a 'kitty' to pay for everything. A trip to Henley recently and even the ice-cream stall was cash only!

As a society we really need to push back on this movement. Many still very much rely on cash and find it easier for budgeting, or like my elderly Mum, who doesn't 'do' cards and understand them and much prefers the cash in her purse for paying.

Cash is legal tender and should be accepted everywhere. There should be no argument about that (although for businesses I expect it's easier for them). I'm going to start boycotting businesses going forward who won't accept it, and if enough insist on cash being accepted for payment, we can roll this back.

Yes but people used to at least, take cash out and already have it. If cash machines went down right now, I'd still have a small amount of money available because I have it in my purse

So do you have wads of cash under your mattress @TimeForTeaAndG, the horse has already bolted I think. I doubt anyone here could live for more than a week on the cash they have available to them right now.

My point is, if you can never hold the currency in your hand, you are reduced to administering it, rather than controlling it.

Handmaids Tale is 100% what I always think of too when I think about cashless society.

plus you can Google the truckers’ Covid protest in Canada and see what happened there - people who contributed to their crowdfunder found their bank accounts frozen. The thought of what a fascist could do in a cashless/digital only society is chilling.

also entering your pin code into pin pads touched by hundreds of people doesn’t sound any more hygienic than cash.

This is unfortunately norm in a lot of places now, to the point I have to ask if cash is accepted. It’s very frustrating- the option should be there to use either.

I think they're thinking of contactless when discussing hygiene. But I completely agree with you.

A quick google search will answer that for you.

The big one for me - Natural disasters or even large-scale cyber attacks could render entire financial systems useless, preventing people from accessing their money or buying what they need.

That's beside the fact that removing cash will affect the poor significantly more.

I regularly make an extra £10-20 a week (might not sound much to you) by selling things I no longer need on marketplace. I also pick things up for free and sell them on for a small profit. Without cash, I would be unable to do this.

unherd.com/2020/10/how-corporations-can-delete-your-existence/

plus you can Google the truckers’ Covid protest in Canada and see what happened there - people who contributed to their crowdfunder found their bank accounts frozen. The thought of what a fascist could do in a cashless/digital only society is chilling

You've just given an example that shows this can already happen, in the current situation. Forcing companies to also accept cash changes nothing.

This poster says everything I feel about retailers not accepting cash.

Another good reason not to use the American tax dodging bastards, plus their coffee is crap.

Try and find an independent cafe that uses cash.

@Snoken I've been in cafes where the card machine and till isn't working and they had a tub of change and were writing down transactions on paper.
Without electricity I guess they can't make coffee anyway.

Pretty sure you can't make coffee if the power is out.

Sorry used the wrong word, I meant tills need electricity. You can't open a till to receive money, give change etc without electrcity.

It can all be tracked. You might think that is fine, you're all legal, no money laundering skeletons in your closet. But you are giving your spending info to big corporations. You tell your doctor you drink little alcohol, your health insurer can access the info that you are buying wine in Tesco every week. Your child is on benefits, you slip her a tenner every now and then, the government will now know and penalise her. So many scenarios.

There are also increasing instances of banks locking people out of their finances, there soon will be no option to have spare physical cash on hand.

When we lived in Copenhagen I drew cash out 3 times in all- and that was just to pay the gardener!! There are many reasons they do it, safety if I cash on premises, cuts down the 'black economy' etc.

I get that it can be annoying but businesses don’t have to care about your budgeting methods. If enough people are happy to pay card and that is easier for them, they’re going to go cashless.

As far as I know, legal tender only applies to debts. So if you owe £100 to your gas company and send them it in cash but they want you to pay online, they couldn’t sue you for the money. But shops etc have always been able to refuse legal tender at their discretion (£50 notes are a good example).

If there's a power cut, then Starbucks will be shut anyway. Shops etc can't open if they don't have electricity for lighting, heating, refrigeration, tills, coffee machines, etc.

Our city was without electricity for 3 days during Storm Desmond a few years ago. Literally everything was closed. "Cash" was useless, as shops, cafes, petrol stations, etc were closed because they need electricity to operate!

Our little village pie shop/bakery was open for a few hours on the first day, but basically just to sell off what stock they could. It's owned by a couple of village women, so they knew prices off the top of their head and tallied up prices in their heads.

I have a mate who runs her own cafe/coffee place and they went cashless this past year. I was really angry when I heard about it and asked why.

She said that the cost of doing business with cash just wasn't worth it anymore for a number of reasons:

1. Efficiency. Using card payments is quicker so improves customer turn around and service with a small staff.
2. They have had issues in the past with customers questioning cash given and change which has caused problems, an issue not aided by having to make do with unsuitable seasonable staff in the midst of a skills shortage in service industry. No matter how often you drill good till and money etiquette sometimes it doesn't work and getting new staff is difficult at the minute.
3. Less time and effort wasted on bank runs and the electronic system makes accounts cheaper to keep, easier to do and track. 3 of our local bank branches closed so she had to move banks twice in order to keep doing cash drops at a convenient location. Even then, the new bank she uses is still slightly further out and there is talk of another one closing. The hassle of bank runs, time spent counting cash and fuel costs to go to bank for a small business owner seemed more hassle than it was worth with the decrease in cash usage post covid.
4. She had been robbed twice. Once as she was closing up and once during broad daylight. Lost takings were a hit, compounded by the fact insurance premium to cover lost earning could rise and make her premiums go up if she claimed. Two staff off from stress of it all naturally which comes with its own headaches. Large sign on front door now states it is a cashless business so no point in robbing them.
5. Sticky fingered staff. The skills shortage has meant having to hire staff that ordinarily she wouldn't have looked at and she has had cash go missing/tills falling short on an increasing number of occasions. The cashless system prevents this.

I am still a proponent of cash, and the thought of cashless businesses make me uncomfortable for those who use cash to budget and for the elderly...it feels exclusionary. Also, the reality of how cashless payment systems essentially remove your privacy by making all transactions traceable feels a bit too big brother for me. Yet, hearing the cold realities of running a business from my mate I can't really fault her for going cashless when she sees it as a necessary step to remain safe, open, providing good service and solvent in the long run. I feel more angry at the situation that has driven her to this point now than at her for her decision to go cashless.

Doesn’t bother me to be honest, I can’t remember the last time I used cash. It’s also pretty common - a few bars in our village now only take cards / device payments.

Had this last year when out doing some Christmas shopping and all the card payment facilities locally went down. Had only about £5 in cash in my purse, so that was the limit of what I could spend - hand intended to buy more but had to put it back. Good for the bank balance at least, but not so great for the retailers that day.

Another problem that I think contributes is bank branches closing down. My local vets no longer accepts cash because their local bank branch has closed.