To be annoyed that lots of companies won't take cash

[sicknote26]

Hi,

Been to lots of places that don't take cash, but starting to get really annoyed at not having the option of paying by cash.

Been to a couple of places today, first a well known activity place and a well known restaurant. Both completely cashless.

Aibu or is this a sigh of the times now.

What about the older generation who prefer to pay with cash.

My Sil only uses cash and won’t pay for anything online, she’s paranoid about ‘privacy’ yet uses the internet and a mobile phone 🙄

Recently I lost my bank card and due to post strikes and general Royal Mail sluggishness, it took nearly 2 weeks to receive the replacement.

Many, many businesses lost my custom as a result.

Before cashless then. How many staff were off sick and unable to work due to handling cash?

Ita impressive none of you staff are off sick anymore because they dont handle cash, are they not allowed to handle cash outside of work hours either incase it impacts their ability to work?

Places should take cash as legal tender- though most people are likely to use cards

Recently had a free small lunch as card machines weren’t working, they didn’t take cash. It was just a shame I didn’t have the whole family with me!

I've a got a friend the same, yet their lives are splashed all over social media for all to see and she has and uses store cards too.

Yet refuses to shop online as she doesn't want them harvesting her info

It’s equally annoying when the business is cash only

Alternatively, while their broadband was down, they could have switched to one of the many 4G based card readers - for instance, in an emergency you can get a sumup card machine from Rymans for £29 and it runs by Bluetooth to your phone's 4G.

More naivety. There is no mobile phone coverage, so it would have been pointless switching to one of the many 4G based card readers.

I don’t know what bank you’re with, but I lost my debit card a few months ago. Cancelled it, then I could immediately add the new one to my digital wallet and Apple Pay, so could use it straight away. Much better than waiting for it to physically arrive (which it did, a week later). If I was dependent on taking cash from an ATM I would’ve been very stuck!

I was in a Sainsbury's in Marble Arch a couple of weeks ago (arguably one of the busiest parts of London), and their card machines were down and had been for a while - they had printed signs on the entrance doors saying 'cash only'. I had to go somewhere else as I'd given my emergency £20 note to my son.

Because they didn’t know that paying in cash is not the norm here, and it probably woudn’t have occurred to them to check @KousaMahshi.

That's a stupid answer. Even if your British sister somehow doesn't know that paying by card is the norm in Britain, she's not so chronically out of touch to not know that there aren't any European countries that you can choose to pay by card instead, is she? Is your sister and her family living in a remote cave in the Arctic or something with no internet, ot is she just dim?

Ok but you were completely surrounded by a million other shops to go to instead whose card machines were fine, right? So no issues whatsoever and no need for cash.

It's much much harder to get cash to spend than it is to use cards or phones.

I've switched back to using cash more often since doing almost entirely contactless during the lockdowns. The local small independent shops prefer it (I asked) as it keeps their costs down. And I find it far easier to keep track of what I'm spending. I tend to use it for amounts up to about £20 and take out each week what I think I'll need.

I've experienced machines going down several times in a variety of places - one children's farm was having to ask people to pay whatever cash they could as it was a very long way to the nearest cash machine!

I do use contactless when I need to. I find my elderly relatives (70s and 90s) are very suspicious of it though and prefer cash and cheques still. We recently shared some building work with elderly neighbours and the only way they could pay us was by cheque as they couldn't handle internet or phone banking.

A lot of people on this thread misunderstanding legal tender. It only apiesto the payment of debt. If you have rejected settlement in legal tender you can't pursue in court for non payment. It has nothing to do with buying things in shops.

Well that makes sense, but does it mean that back in the day when some used to charge more for those who used a credit card (thinking holidays and flight bookings etc) they shouldn’t have been racking it in from the customer?

sicknote26 we’ve sometimes experienced the same thing in different countries and it is annoying because of the charges for using a card abroad, so your sister has my sympathies.

@KousaMahshi

No my sister certainly isn't dim, are you so small minded that you think every country is the same ?

As I've said they had money changed as they knew they would be doing lots of days out, activities and eating out. Seeing lots of family and friends too, that they have not seen in over three years. It's really hard to split the bill when you have lots of people needing to pay their share.

It's definitely not the norm for she lives to only be able to pay by card. She lives in an area really busy with tourists and they take both .

I'm the same if I visit there take most of my spending money in cash. And take my card to use if I need it. Visiting tourist places and buying souvenirs is just easier with cash.

There's one restaurant by me where I never tip because they are open from 12 to 12, the tips get shared with whoever is there at midnight close, so if you work midday till 6, you don't get any tips, even if you were tipped during your shift.
My friends DS is a chef I understand that standard stuff is all tips are added up every month and distributed to everyone chefs waiters kitchen porters etc according to how many hours they work. When I tip IM tipping the chef the waitress and everyone else involved. Hairdressers maybe slightly different mine rents anchair and the tip goes straight to her even if I pay with my phone.

You seem to have misunderstood the point entirely. She lives in a place where it is normal to be able to pay by card and cash. She is visiting a country where it also the norm to be able to pay in card and cash. So why would she change her money into cash, rather than just using a card, which is normal in both places? That was the question. No idea what you are wittering about now. Visiting tourist places and buying stuff is, almost everywhere, easier with card. And cheaper. And safer.

@sicknote26 its also not difficult at all to split the bill nowadays when you are paying by card.

”Divide this by 5 please” everyone taps

or

”put £30 on for me please” tap

and the machine asks you if you would like to add a gratuity 🤷🏼‍♀️

@KousaMahshi

That's exactly what I'm saying she should be able to do both in this country.

Thank you, glad we got there in the end.

The butchers I work in went over to card only recently, as its was a complete pain
to bank the cash. Just made more sense to the owner efficiency wise to switch.

I assume you mean 'not exactly cutting edge'? True, card payments are probably amongst the earliest commercial uses - I worked in IT for a bank in the 1980s, the core systems went back to the 1960s. Their age doesn't protect them, indeed it generally makes makes them more vulnerable to cyberattack. Often legacy systems remain intact, within a wrapper of newer technology that will interface between them and the newer systems. What looks like shiny and new at the user end is a creaking dinosaur of code inside the box, written before cyberattacks existed and with no defence against them. And cyberattacks are constant.

So yes, people put too much faith in computers.

Not sure what point you're trying to make about planes and autopilots. The aviation industry, like banking, was an early adopter. And a big fan of outsourcing, so they can blame anyone but themselves for outages. Or did you miss the British Airways fuck up earlier this month, that they claimed was "due to a technical issue with our third-party flight planning supplier".

So yes, people put too much faith in computers.

As opposed to what? Not relying on computers? You present it like it’s a choice to not rely on technology. It’s not. Unless you don’t use fiat currency.

Too much faith in computers? Have you never flown? Do you know planes have autopilot. I think card payments is not exactly cutting computer technology.

WW2 Lancaster bombers had autopilots. It’s hardly a shining example of cutting edge technology.

No, youre still not there. That wasn't the point, at all.

She CAN do both in this country. The question was, since she can do both, WHY would she choose the far more expensive, time consuming, less safe option of changing all her money to cash?

Do you understand the question yet, given that this is the third time of asking you?

I don’t want a cashless society because it’s too easy to track an individual’s purchases and movements. The government doesn’t need to know everything. As an American, I am thankful our currency is marked “Good for all debts, public and private”. I’ve never heard of any business not accepting cash. I do routinely use a credit card with points, and pay some bills by direct deposit. To pay other bills by mail, I write a check. In case of disaster, I keep cash hidden in the house.