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.

I have a token on my key ring for trolleys and traders on our farmers’ market all take card payments. When Tescos contactless system went down, you could still pay by chip and pin.

YANBU

Use cash people! Before we lose it. Go take out some cash and use it tomorrow!

Werweisswohin

Why would you not know to use a debit card?
Seems very odd, unless you have difficulties in learning, or physical limitations?

Does not bother me. Modern cash is fiat currency anyway.

Do people not realise, if things were fucked enough that online/card payments were down for any meaningful length of time, your bank notes would probably rapidly devalue as well.

In a seriously bad situation the things that quickly become valuable are not monetary. Its things like medicines, tinned & dried foodstuffs, clean water, tents & weatherproof clothing.

Yes we're older but not ruddy stupid...

Redshoeblueshoe · Yesterday 21:46
BeLilacFinch · Yesterday 21:41
Excellent. This is definitely the way forward.
No - I want a choice. Cash is still legal tender

There are countless things I'd prefer a choice of, it doesn't mean it should or could happen

The poor fuckers that have to bank it.

I’m rural, the staff in local businesses here that have to bank cash have to travel up to an hour to pay it in, and in some areas are vulnerable carrying it as they have been targeted. And then they pay a lot in bank fees to pay it in.

There’s no love for cash from them.

'Cute? How patronising are you? What exactly have you ever stood for?

Been at the work when contactless was down but payment could be made if paying card via chip n pin.

The number of customers who say that they only carry their phone or “I don’t know my PIN” was staggering.

You don’t have to use the PIN randomly allocated to you by your bank. Go to any ATM and can change your PIN under PIN services. Change it to something rememberable such as eldest DC birthday, childhood phone number etc. Not 1234, 1111. Probably ATMs refuse those now.

I want cash to remain as an option. I think banks would increase charges to shops as a result if cash was not an option.

So as Tesco would say, every little helps.

I'm sorry but anyone saying they don't know how to use a debit card - learn.

Do you still send telegrams? Ride penny farthings? Smoke in the cinema?

Society changes. The world changes. You have to change with it.

Society does change. I think it's very naive to think all these changes are going to be benign.

I'll also be dead, eventually. 😬

I'm old enough to remember when being behind someone in a supermarket who was paying by card was a pain because that process was slower than cash 🤣.
The issue here is that going cashless is a great convenience to the retailer, but it reduces choice for the consumer.
The thing that pisses me off personally is car parking. You never know before entering a car park whether it's cash only, bank card only or one of 27 different apps required to 'conveniently pay by phone' while charging extra for the 'convenience'. So it's not just cash payments under threat, direct card payments are being 'disabled' in many car parking sites.
None of this is for the consumer's benefit...

I have a sister who is in her late '70s who does not use a bank card or have access to the Internet. While I may think she's a bit of a Luddite, she is completely screwed by these changes which threaten her independence. I don't think that is right.

Eh?
I didn't say I don't know how to use a debit card, I said I sometimes prefer not to.

I suspect it's a choice of try this or close, none of our local Tesco's have cafes now they are Costa coffees instead. In my town most the cafes and pubs are card only too since the banks all closed

I work in care and the person I take out only has cash. It’s hugely annoying for me when I take her somewhere that I then find out only takes card, as I have to get it on my card and hope she then has the exact amount of cash in her wallet to reimburse me as it obviously all needs to be recorded and exact.

Who has actually said that they don't know how to use a debit card?
A pp, who seems to not be able to read, has suggested folk are saying that but none of us actually did.

I was however amused at the theatre about a year ago when the card payments went down when I wanted to buy a programme. I proffered a £5 note (the correct money) but this could apparently not be taken. Eventually they gave away the programmes for free to anyone who wanted one and closed the interval bar rather than take cash. This in a London theatre (like many) under risk of closure.
Twats.

Extra annoying when car parks are app payment only, but there’s zero signal in the car park! (I’m in Cornwall, not a rare occurrence!)

What's the principle?

I'm mostly cashless too and I have the same concerns about the effect of a cashless society on the most vulnerable people in it. I also find if harder to save when not using cash and have set up a series of accounts for various budgets to counter this, but not everyone is able to do that. I expect we will eventually end up with a cashless society but the longer we can stave that off for the better.

No, of course they aren't useless, but there are still many of them who aren't comfortable using contactless, and some still prefer to use cash. Your mother being happy with it doesn't mean all elderly people are the same. You have a very limited view of the world!

Many businesses go cashless because banks have started charging more to bank cash and make it really not financially viable for businesses to accept cash. I personally really don't like the idea of cashless society due to the fact your accounts can be controlled and frozen and we can literally be left with no way of access to anything...and if you think this would never happen look at Canada and how Trudeau froze the personal accounts of the truckers that's the 'slippery slope' people are talking about. Of course our accounts can be frozen now but at least there would still be some way of recieving/spending money for needs through cash were this to happen. Whatever side your on politically left, right, middle everyone should be concerned about it... and yes it is political its not just about great technology enabling ease. We will own nothing and be happy remember.

I use my finger joint to touch a touch screen.
I don't like totally cashless tbh. It's easier to budget with cash for day to day smaller spending.