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!

Was reported in the local press. I think McDonalds are in the process of trying it out and finding problems at the drive thru because customers weren’t aware of the policy and were either unable or unwilling to pay by card. They weren’t taking the food and then scarpering, they were refusing to pay by card and leaving without their order.

All you're doing is increasing their bank charges, increasing the amount of time they waste counting/banking/recording cash, so ultimately reducing their profits. If you genuinely wanted to "support" a business, you'd pay in the cheapest/simplest way possible, i.e. by card!

You pay before you get your order, whether drive through or at the counter, so I can't imagine how anyone could get their food and take it away without paying.

@CoastalWave not necessarily.

whether you have £10 in cash or in a card, you have £10.

some people who aren't very good at budgeting choose to take cash out so they don't over spend, others can resist over spending when they use a card. It has nothing to do with 'having money'. Although having money can indicate being careful with money rather than just having more to start with.

They didn’t. Re-read my post.

some people who aren't very good at budgeting choose to take cash out so they don't over spend

I'm very good at budgeting, thanks. I prefer to use cash when I can.

I honestly do not give a crap if my bank knows where I spend my money.

Not a tiny crap. The convenience of cashless and being able to manage my money to the penny via my phone far outweighs any paranoid concerns about the Natwest knowing I just spent £10 in Asda.

Of course you have control!
For a start you can put a limit on the amount you can spend on your card.
You can still write it down when you spend £4.
There's nothing stopping you budgeting if you can't pay cash.

Due to the provenance of the money

@CoastalWave

if DS was paying out of his Birthday money, how is that you taking him out for a treat? Surely that's just taking him to spend his Birthday money?

but with a card nowadays you see instantly how much you have left.

They didn’t take the food they left the prepared food.

seriously?

Why didn't you learn from the first time & carry a card with you? It's hardly onerous.

Well according to the European Central Bank website it's illegal except in certain very specific circumstances.

For those saying it's cheaper for businesses to use electronic payment methods rather than cash and the costs and risks associated with managing cash, I'm sure, as soon as cash has been eliminated from society, the banks will decide it's actually quite expensive to process electronic payments and will ramp the fees up.

Ok that’s great, but lots of teens who don’t use that bus, don’t have a card. My dc didn’t have one until they got a bank ac aged 18.

Plenty of teens get paid in cash for their part time job - paper round for example.

Mine comes from salary I've saved and my state and a couple of private pensions. That's the only 'provenance.' Paying cash makes me neither a tax dodger ( I wish, given the amount HMRC takes off me) or a money launderer, if that's what you're implying.

Starbucks stopped taking cash when it reopened at the end of the first lock down. Suspect they have no intention of starting again, though my local one still has a tatty notice up saying they have ‘temporarily suspended cash payments’, hmm that’s a ‘temporary’ that has now been going on for over 2 years…..

Why did you deliberately stop your children learning how to use money and bank?

My phone isn't much newer than yours & apps aren't an issue, maybe you need to delete some stuff to make room. Apps don't use much.

anyway, you don't need an app to know how much money you have or are spending.

Starbucks coffee isn't very nice so it's not somewhere I would go anyway, hopefully they will lose custom

Chill. You've misunderstood my post. You are choosing to pay cash but don't have to.

My post clearly stated that there is only one reason why people have to pay cash.

It is a treat for him. We can't afford 'fun' drinks in places like Starbucks!

We had this problem recently, DD15 and a friend went to a gig at Brixton Academy and I gave her £10 cash to get them both a drink - she has a nimbl card but I didn't want her to worry about losing it.

Turns out they run a cashless bar.

Cue a stream of worried texts from DD who has no way of paying for their drinks.

Luckily the person behind the bar took pity on them and offered to take their cash and put the transaction through on their debit card.

What a ridiculous and unnecessarily stressful situation!!

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain that's why I said SOME 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄