Tesco ditches cash payments at 40 cafes

[sunnydaytoday0]

I was reading this article (can read for free via Yahoo link) that Tesco are going card only in 40 of its cafes and customers will have to pay by card at self-service machines. I know it's something a lot of fast food places do already although I'm not sure how many give you no other choice but to use them. Would you be bothered by this or if all cafes (maybe even restaurants) eventually went the same way?

I don't mind self service tills when shopping in general although not for more than a few items. Interesting decision given recent news about different supermarkets deciding to actually put more staff on tills.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/tesco-ditches-cash-at-cafes/
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/supermarket-customers-forced-order-cuppa-134836134.html

YABU: I don't mind if I had to use these ordering screens in a cafe, and it being card only.
YANBU: I prefer the option of ordering via a person and/or having the option to pay by cash.

What about a scenario of someone being in a controlling relationship where every micro payment they make is being monitored/questioned by their partner? The option of being able to use cash in some situations could be important in ways that some others might not realise.

Budgeting is done before the spending, it's not seeing where your cash went after the event. It's not atm...atm, it's one withdrawal, one month's shopping money taken out on payday and then I stretch that across the month.

Also my bank statement doesn't itemise, it just tells me the retailer, I could have bought food, I could have bought a new dressing gown so I still need the receipts if I'm investigating past spending anyway.

We have that in many places already.

I prefer ordering on a screen or app to
in person and never use cash. So it’s good I think.

Cash is expensive and a PITA to bank, I will be glad when it’s gone.

You can label each transaction as it happens in some banking apps and use pots to do what you are doing manually.

Get a Monzo account or similar and make life easier.

It won't 'be gone' generally, you're free to avoid it though.

For some people life is easier, using cash.
We need different options.
😬

Errr no thanks. I don't have difficulty using my cash.

Who am I making my spending easier for?

I never carry cash and it sounds fine to me.
And let's not stereotype all older people - most of them will be fine with cashless services.

In a cost of living crisis that doesn't seem to be improving cafes are becoming something to be saved and budgeted for and a lot of people do that with cash

It's up to them of course but it will alienate people

This

Just accept people like cash. We shouldn't be so reliant on technology. Read the thread for some examples.

Who uses a fucking supermarket cafe anyway 😆 surprised they're even still a thing.

Adults with learning disabilities often find digital payments harder to use or budget with.

And whilst many elderly people have now gone digital, there are still a disproportionate number who haven’t compared to other age groups.

Other vulnerable groups (eg homeless, those with previous bankruptcies, refugees etc) are also statistically less likely to have bank accounts.

Lots of people find cash easier to budget with and avoid going into debt, especially if they struggle with addiction to spending- contactless payments don’t seem to register in our minds in the same way handing over cash does.

I am largely cashless in my own life, but I do think this will most affect those vulnerable groups, so for that reason alone I am against us moving to a more cashless society.

Lots of folk.
Don't be so judgemental.

This. I think we will rue the day we go cashless.

Who though?! I can't think of anyone that would use a supermarket cafe unless it was a Costa or something. I don't move in sophisticated circles either, working class all the way. But I just can't see why anyone would decide to go there.

There are none where I live but I've used them in other locations - they've mostly been fairly busy.

Our Tesco had a problem with their internet today and couldn’t use contactless at all.

I’m not sure how it’s different to the garden centre cafe or the high street cafe?

I think it's really sad that companies make these decisions without a second thought for the proportion of older people who will be effectively excluded from using the service. Yes, some (possibly most) older people will manage fine, but a chunk of them won't.

My FIL wouldn't manage to use a touchscreen so he'd just go without. He was unable to use the only public toilet in a nearby town recently because he doesn't trust contactless and that was the only way to access the toilets.

It feels like these companies/organisations have decided these people don't matter anymore.

This. I’m 71 and I think the last time I used cash was around 2019.

People should just boycott these places and go to local independent places that prefer cash. Some people must have very closed lives if they never use cash. No independent markets, school fairs, donations to charity tins, even just a coin in a trolley. What happens when banking systems go down do you just abandon your shopping? What if you go abroad to countries that don't widely accept cash?