To think paying with cash is a faff?

[Newtrick]

Are you put off by cash only businesses?
We have a local cafe that I like, and was hoping to take a group of friends to this weekend for a booked after noon tea

They've just announced that they will only be accepting cash going forward, aibu to then cancel my booking and tell them why?

I completely get the harshness of card processing fees so get when then there is a spending limit before you use cards eg. One donut= cash but it feel like if the total is more than £10 pound like their meals, can be then you should be able to use card
I rarely have any cash on me, but when I do its usually never more than 10-15 pound

The shop it's self is on a country route so its at least a few miles from the nearest cash point so its going to make it hard to pop in for things

The people that run the cafe are fairly alternative in their views so the announcement has got a lot of support in the form of "wake up, cash is king, government is tracking you via card" type responses.

Ultimately I'm probably going to cancel my booking because its a pita to tell each friend that they need to bring £25 cash each for the afternoon tea, knowing that if they forget that they will have at least a 6 mile drive to get cash out if that cash point is even open

Yabu- just use cash
Yanbu- cash is a pain

Yabu

I'm not adverse to cash in general and do think we shouldn't be a card only society but its the paying approx 100 pounds in cash at a cafe for something prebooked that seems off to me.

YABU and a bit lazy.

I think we must live in the same area @Newtrick

If the same (initials of cafe.. tt) I thought they only accepted cash anyway so had always taken cash personally

I don't ever carry cash but can understand why small businesses would prefer cash due to the fees they have to pay so don't mind going out of my way to get cash on the way

YANBU

I never carry cash - I just use Google pay on my phone/watch - because it's so much easier.

I also work in retail and we can't carry cash on us when we're on the shop floor, but can carry a debit card, so I just got out of the habit of carrying a big purse when I could just carry a card/my phone (which I always have with me anyway)

Sometimes I will pick things up from the shop for my parents and they will insist on giving me cash and I always spend it ASAP because I hate having to carry money, it's fine when it's a note but when it's coins it's just a faff, especially with the tiny pockets womens clothes usually have.

I never carry cash. And those bloody plastic £5,10 & 20 notes slip out of your jeans pocket, christ alone knows how many I've lost in the past.

YANBU

I hate having to queue behind people paying cash in the supermarket.

I think you should be able to pay by cash or card in all places. I don't know why but it gets my back up if I see a 'card only' or 'cash only' sign. I'd like the option thanks very much - what happened to the customer is always right?

If you ever worked in retail you'd know that the customer is usually a dick!

Also,

They have said a lot of card payments fail because it is the country and they get poor wifi signal so are losing money from failed payments

So I don't think they are being unreasonable in this circumstance to refuse card payments

Yes it's a faff.

I'd only do it if I really wanted to use that business.

This would annoy me too. I'd not mind a minimum card spend limit but I rarely have cash and if I was spending £25 in a cafe I'd expect to be able to pay by card.

In an isolated setting they are frankly bonkers. They will lose passing trade. (Free) Cash machine around the corner it could work.

I often have a tenner or so on me, but not significant amounts.

Our Scout group is considering a car reader for community events, precisely because not everyone carries cash now.

I wouldn’t mind a limit, for example under £10. But I rarely keep cash in my purse above that amount anymore, so cash only businesses would put me off.

Can’t see a problem you know beforehand so can prepare to take cash and let others know that’s it’s a cash only place. It’s different if you didn’t know before and turned up with only cards as payment.
yabu.

yep i'd cancel. i never carry cash. asking everyone in the group to bring enough cash to cover the bill (they'll have to take out more 'just in case') is a faff. plenty of nice cafe's that take cards.

I rarely use cash. My hairdresser is cash only, luckily the shop is opposite a cash point.

Our local chip shop was cash only but they started taking cards during covid.

YABU

I agree cash is a pain; in this particularly case I wouldn’t cancel if otherwise I particularly wanted to go to this place but it’s annoying and I suspect they will lose trade. Still at least you’ve been made aware, it’s when you turn up somewhere and then see “cash only” it’s annoying. The souvenir Shop at our theatre in town did that during panto season and a lot of people were caught out as it hadn’t been advised.

I'd cancel. I refuse to shop anywhere that doesn't take card payments.

I hate having to queue behind people scrolling through their phone to right the right app to pay or whatever it is that they're doing. Whoever thought that was easier than just waving a card at a machine seems quite mad.

But if it's a group booking for afternoon tea, can you pay in advance by bank transfer?

I try to cover all bases because, while I pay by card most of the time, I still feel a bit of a twat doing so for tiny purchases below a pound or two. Plus you do come across the odd cash only business, which is their right, and card processing services aren't 100% reliable so it's useful to have some cash and be able to pay when the system is down for whatever reason.

YABU.
You know about it so plenty of time to take some cash out. No different to card only places. Our local farmers market has signs to bring cash as the machines often don't work once it gets busy, they may have poor reception.

I prefer not to use cash, I sometimes don’t have any with me at all. But if I knew somewhere only accepted cash and I wanted to go, I’d just get some cash out. No need for it to be an issue. How is in a pain to tell friends? Just text them. No money, no food, I’m sure they’ll remember.

Or queuing behind people who are not ready to pay who have to unlock their phone and get their card up to pay.

or queuing behind the people who tap their card and it asks for them to enter a pin instead, 9 times out 10 they usually don't know their pins and have to start going through their phone looking for it.

works both ways doesn’t it?

I wish I had a £1 for every imbecile who tries to pay by phone and it does not work properly
I always use cash