Do you still use cash?

[BitchesBeSniffin]

Just had a discussion with my DH about this and am wondering which of us is in the minority in the world of Mumsnet.

YABU: I still use cash and make sure I always have some on me

YANBU: I barely ever / never use cash

Rarely use cash, only under duress and I’m annoyed when I have to. We used to have debit cards which authorised offline making them more robust, but then everyone expects an instant notification now so they need to authorise online instead - which means they’re more susceptible to outages. Bring back offline debit !

Use both but always have cash on me.

My riding instructor, the local chippy and my window cleaner only take cash.

Was at the seaside the weekend, a mum had settled herself and her four children on the land train but when they came round for payment their card reader had just been dropped so they were only taking cash. The mum had no cash so she had to get four excited kids off the train. It wasn't pretty.

A few weeks ago we went to pay for our food in a restaurant just as they had a power cut. We had cash so we were able to pay but it was pandemonium with hardly anyone having cash. I think we can rely too much on cards always working.

I worked in retail a few years ago and we would have issues with the cards most weeks. It was usually just temporary, and often only lasted a few minutes.

Stopped about 10 years ago or so

I pretty much never use cash, last time I withdrew anything was probably at least over a year ago.

I use cards for 99.99% but always keep a few quid in coins for chocolate or drinks from small shops

Even schools now have PTA bank accounts for those small payments.

I was at a school fete recently.
The Year 6s man the stalls. The whole school turn up with bags of cash to spend on said stalls. They raise a lot of money that way. Overwhelmingly, those KS1 and KS2 pupils will not have cards. Even if they did, there wouldn't be enough card readers for all the stalls. Even if there were, I'm fairly certain it would cost more than they gain for 50p transactions.
Plus, of course, it is a great place for the children to begin to work out the 'value' (to them) of the coins they have.

Yes as I go to toddler groups with dd. No £2 cash to go in the cup, no entry!

If they insist on cash they lose the sale with me.

Everything goes on the credit card.

@Himitsu I do!

I don't always take my phone and cards with me because my pockets aren't big enough. Often I might just have my front door key and some notes.

Had to get cash to pay the builder - felt so weird

I very much doubt that would work here, businesses would rather not take cash.

I have a £1 trolley coin. That's it.

The best family run restaurants here tend to be cash only. The chains love cards though.

I like to keep some cash for emergencies. So I have twenty quid in my dog walking bag, work bag and purse (you never know when you might see an ice cream van!)😀
Also have a few hundred cash at home for emergencies as some tradesmen still prefer cash.

Handy to have as well, only a few weeks ago contactless payments weren't working in several shops in my town.

I’m in California.
Went to a new shop for a haircut the other day.
The day before my appointment, I got a text reminder saying, “We don’t take debit or credit cards. No Apple Pay.”
What business in the 21st century only accepts cash?
I took cash, but I had to make a stop at the bank first.
I was forced to, wasn’t I.

What are the odds of it being an actual emergency though? If I was in a supermarket and there’s a tech glitch it’s not emergency, I just can’t buy what I’ve gone in for.

The only thing I use cash for is when DS gets his hair cut. I’m Apple Pay all the way.

It's a pain when you've just walked 20 minutes for milk and bread or similar. Far easier just to have emergency cash.

It’s literally never happened to me so it’s not easier to have emergency cash, especially as, to my original point, it’s not an emergency.

Strange attitude to have. What if the card machines go down?

Well I have never experienced a card machine going down. Yes, I know it happens but it's hardly an everyday occurance. What if you lose your cash, or have it stolen? I have in the past pulled out a note and another one has come out of my wallet at the same time, unknown to me. Surely you must have seen cash lying on the path/street sometime in your life? I know I have, on more than one occasion.

What if the card machines go down?

What if you lose your cash?

It's a phrase. Just means a twenty or something in your phone case or wallet to cover the 'essentials' (of course nothing is really essential as argued on the 2020 threads 🙄). It's only not easier if you can't afford to keep that amount aside, but even then you could spend it at the end of the month then replace it.