People who don’t carry their bank cards with them

[Auburngal]

I was in Sainsbury’s this morning and systems are down. No contactless, chip n pin taking ages to go through. Unable to buy gift cards, mobile top up vouchers.

Systems going down like this happen not very often but when they do it’s awful.

On the self scan next to me a woman screamed at the manager on why she can’t pay on her mobile.

Why do many people don’t carry their bank cards anymore? The cards don’t weigh much. Plus if the contactless payment system goes down, hopefully their card will go through via chip n pin. Also they won’t look like idiots either. No sympathy for these.

Regarding contactless payments- sometimes your bank, NOT the retailer etc asks you to do a CnP payment as part of security. “I dunno my PIN”. You can change your PIN to any number you want (not 1234, 1111) at any ATM under PIN services.

I know. Great isn't it ?

Well if I'm popping to the shop I don't take my cards.
Day in London I do.

If the contactless/ chip and pin not working I would NEVER blame the retail staff tho!

Zombie thread..............
Howver, I'd like to say that those berating the elderly for not "getting with the times" have no idea how they will be able to cope or not when they get to 90.
My DM is that age and has all her marbles.....she's been using credit cards etc for decades and was an early adopter of telephone banking but she refuses point blank to do online banking because her hands are not as steady as they used to be and she finds websites confusing. You might be perfectly capable now, but you don't know how able you will be in 40 or 50 years.

Not so great if you actually want public services, that are paid out of taxation etc.

For so many people in this world nothing is ever their fault or their responsibility, they choose to not carry a card or, heavens forbid, a bit of cash, so when there is a problem with the technology their only recourse is hysterics! Being old I have always worked on the principle that the less complicated things are or dependent on external forces the better!

Most 90 year olds won't be capable of safely handling and dealing with cash either. Many will be suffering from dementia, many will just be confused. So, most will be needing help from relatives/carers or there'll be a POA in place anyway, whether they're dealing in cash or online banking.

My MIL is a case in point. Always dealt in cash. OH used to get paid in cash so it was the typical scenario of him giving her his pay envelope every Friday, and she'd put various sums of cash in different envelopes, and what was left over was "spending" money for the following week. That was how it worked all their working lives. Her OH died in his 60s but she carried on the "habit" by withdrawing the weekly pensions from the post office, sorting it into envelopes and then taking the cash and bills to the post office to pay them.

She presented herself to be her normal compus-mentis self. It was only when she started claiming to run out of money, i.e. envelope empty when it came to paying her council tax or electricity bill that we started to realise there was a problem. She was convinced she was being burgled. She'd go to the post office for her weekly pension, come home, sort it into envelopes and the next day, it would be gone! After she told us this had happened a few times, we started taking more interest. Started searching the house in case she'd put it in different/wrong envelopes. A few times we found rolls of notes hidden in really weird places, such as the bottom of a corn flakes box, or behind books on the book-shelf. She was clearly hiding the money but forgetting she'd hidden it. She also claimed she'd gone out with several notes in her purse but then the purse was empty when she got to the shops! She started having to draw out of her savings accounts to pay for normal household costs, utilities, food, etc., which was crazy as her pension was more than enough.

Then OH and SIL started noticing she hadn't a clue what the notes/coins represented when out shopping with her. If something was 50p, she'd try to hand over £50 of notes for example. They asked her why and she told them that "paper" must be worth less than a metal coin - so in her mind a 50p coin was worth more than a £50 note! It all started to make sense. She was obviously being conned in the shops by some unscrupulous shop assistants taking notes when offered and she'd probably be refusing change! They were also convinced that some rolls of notes must have been accidentally thrown away or dissolved in the wash, as once the SIL found a roll of notes in the middle of the laundry basket.

Just saying really, that older folk can be just as easily confused and incapable of dealing with real cash as they could be with electronic banking etc. I honestly think that most people in their 90s are probably needing help with day to day things like money from relatives, friends and carers, so saying they can't deal with internet banking is a bit of a red herring.

I stopped using my card during COVID and if I wasn’t able to use Apple Pay, which hasn’t happened to date, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Of course, the obvious answer is to carry both, so as to be prepared for any eventuality. I'm pretty sure most people would do just that. I have all cards in my phone's Apple wallet, but I still carry a small purse with a card and a few notes "just in case". Barely ever use them, but it's my "Plan B" if things go wrong.

But even then, if say there's a power outage, you probably can't buy anything anyway, whether cash, card or iphone, as the shops are probably closed and even if open, probably the tills won't be working (they're electric). When Storm Desmond caused power cuts throughout our city, nothing was open, so you couldn't spend money even if you had cash. Supermarkets, shops, etc closed because there was no heating, lighting, ventilation, security etc., let alone no tills, so customers simply weren't allowed in. Same with petrol stations - you need electric to run the pumps, so power cut means no fuel can be dispensed. Even the city railway station closed down and trains didn't stop, as they didn't want passengers in the station when there was no lighting, no monitoring of people of platforms etc (security risk), etc. So when, say, there are power cuts, cash won't get you far either!

And wandering around with a mobile phone worth the best part of £500 isn't ? Pretty sure more phones are stolen every day than purses.

Yes the amount of phones that get snatched I would be very wary of just relying on a phone to pay

I don’t carry bank cards.

I know my PIN.

I don’t scream at shop staff.

I carry my cards - Pay? of course tap supermarket card already in my hand, then tap debit card. All done thank you and gone. Behind the phone owner who has to swipe, then realise her phone is out of power, or swipe, then password, or face id that does not work because she has her specs off, then find her app and password, then walk to the window because her signal is not strong enough, then back and out again before it finally works. Then wait while the super system recognises after cleaning her mucky screen and angling it so the light does not shine on it. Yeah! very popular, especially as there is only ONE till open.

I carry cash mainly my preferred method of paying for things and phone has walle if I absolutely have to use that as a last choice

I don't I carry cash..
Part of my budgeting...

I keep apps as separate from each other as humanly possible. I don't want them to talk to each other if I can help it. Trying to use cash more often, too. Easier to budget.

Small traders and family businesses pay quite a bit in transaction charges, so paying in cash helps them, because that makes just one transaction per any number of cash sales

Depends on the small business, locally it’s hard to cash in, takes man hours out to have to cash up and cash in at the nearest bank which is quite far away, my family’s business went card only a while back because of it.

Yes, but they have to spend time counting, balancing and taking it to the bank.

Their insurance and security costs will be higher if they have to keep more than a couple of hundred pounds on the premises. Insurance firms often stipulate top standard alarm and cctv systems and better quality locks etc when cash needs to be covered.

Business bank accounts charge on amount of cash deposited not a fixed charge per deposit. The percentage charged can be very similar to the percentage charged on card transactions.

Risk of loss due to theft or fraud (counterfeit notes) is high.

It's really down to the business - you can't generalise.