To think it’s wrong some big companies won’t accept cash?

[YouDidThisPeterRab]

Just seems a bit shit.

I went to the cinema. No cash accepted. Card only.

Annoying. My preference is cash. But, some people use it to budget. Some people have it as their funds available to spend because they’ve been gifted some cash.

Seems really odd not to accept cash or advertise and make it clear on things like ticket confirmations that you don’t accept any cash

I think there is a risk of a two-tier society where the most vulnerable cannot access goods and services because organisations and businesses don’t accept cash.

I do think people should be given a choice as how to pay for goods and services.

Are you thinking child benefit should be paid in cash to avoid this? It would be a huge cost to implement.

Cash is King.
It should be illegal to refuse to accept money that contains an image of the King of the Realm.
People should have the right to demand their wages be paid in cash, in denominations of THEIR choosing, all in £1 coins should they wish.

You withdraw it from an ATM and it is now cash that can't be linked to you. So I could buy drugs or canteloupes or pay for sex - nobody knows its me, the transactions are anonymous. And as far as frozen accounts go, this already happened in Canada (www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60383385) "With no need for court orders, banks can freeze personal accounts of anyone linked with the protests." - what makes you so sure this won't happen at some point here? Those protesting and rioting after Southport - law enforcement went in hard and will go in harder in future - you say it won't happen, but when it does, you won't be surprised, you'll shrug and be pleased because you'll feel those it's happening to deserve it. But they will come for you in the end.

Hard luck. It's not going to happen.

A business can refuse anyone business. I worked in accounts counting cash and banking it. It really isnt worth the hassle

I'm aware of that. This is why I think it should be obligatory to have to accept cash and then illegal to refuse to serve someone because they want to use it, in the same way that it is illegal to refuse to serve someone for certain other reasons.

But how does having a cash option help you if the state freezes your bank account? Unless you keep all your savings under the mattress

Think a little about it. If we started to hear that bank abouts were being frozen - what do you think people are going to start doing? The exact thing they do when they hear a bank is on the brink of collapse. Haven't you seen Mary Poppins?! The reliance on digital transactions must sneak up on us, like frogs in a pot of boiling water. So when they do start measures like these - there is no atm to withdraw your savings from and there is nowhere that can or will accept your cash.

I do understand your argument sort of but once your account is frozen it's too late. Also too late in the event of a serious run on the banks. They won't have enough cash to give you (haven't you seen It's a Wonderful Life!?). Do you keep vast amounts of cash on the house just in case? Genuinely interested.

Business services aren't the same as shops though. If I don't like the sound of a potential client I don't have to work with them. Insisting on paying cash would be one reason why I might decline. There might be others.

In some EU countries businesses have to accept both cash & card by law!

@Noseylittlemoo
It is legal for your bakers to set a minimum card limit of £3, however it can be against the contract terms of many card processing services
(The law prohibits surcharges for specific methods of payment)

Payment services via retail subscription POS systems will typically have no minimum limit, and non subscription services such as SumUp have a minimum processing amount of £1. Most things my friends sell are £1+ so that’s mostly irrelevant, (though at a transaction fee of 1.69% so a £1 sale rounds to to 2% fee) but do have something at 20p which normally sells in handful’s, but if you don’t want £1 worth then it’s a cash sale or no sale

(There is/was a card service that had no minimum payment, but the fee format was a fixed number of pence plus a low percentage, which made it an expensive method until the transaction value was high)

I don't, no. I'm pretty digital. There's no point trying to fight it. But the point is, bank accounts won't all be frozen at once. So yes, for the initial handful of people it happens to, yes that will be the end of it, but the overwhelming majority will likely try and get their savings - and if they're told they can't have them, the authorities are going to have a bit of unrest to deal with. It's being carried out in such a way as to avoid any resistance or backlash. So that people passively accept it. Vast amounts of cash won't help. If places don't accept cash, people don't want cash, it becomes useless. Maybe gold less so. But I don't hoard that either. If I was wealthy enough I'd move into the woods and have chickens and guns. Maybe. Or just accept what's coming.

Chickens plan is solid to be honest! I keep thinking I should move to the Highlands to fend off global warming or something. But I think I'm more likely to just accept it too.

Nail on the head. The sooner we can start to reduce the black economy, tax evasion, benefit fraud, illegal sales of goods & drugs, modern slavery, money laundering, etc., the better. It all revolves around cash!

Plenty of choice of different merchant card processing options so those who are making lots of small sales will chose a different provider to those making a small number of large value sales, with other providers sitting in the middle. Some providers charge a percentage with no transaction fee, others charge a transaction fee and a smaller percentage, some charge monthly fixed fees and then a small percentage fee. Any sensible business owner/manager will be looking at their different options in the open market to choose a card processor that fits in with their typical sales values/volumes.

All fine if the stroppy person wanting to pay or be paid in cash will pay the extra costs that their employer/service provider will incur because they're being awkward.

I can just imagine the massive increase in armed robberies if employers go back to paying their staff in cash - thousands/tens of thousands in cash in one place would be heaven for criminals - we'd be back to securicor vans being blown open and armed robbers raiding the accounts offices of such organisations on payday (maybe killing the wages clerk!)!

I’m already disengaged from the value of money. I mostly use my debit card. My money are now mere credits on a phone screen. YADNBU.

I'm in the Highlands, but the sea already reaches my doorstep sometimes. I could always build a shack on the hillside... I'm not skilled enough for this. Enfeebled, just how they want us 😂

I'm not talking about people who lack capacity, I'm talking about people who either don't have computers, or if they do lack the skill to make financial transactions. You might find it hard to believe but there are people like that - my late parents for one, neither had a computer, or a smartphone. I also see some elderly people in shops paying by card and getting flustered so forget their PINs (not everyone is comfortable just tapping their card, some don't even realise they can do it).

Anyway, my favourite fish and chip shop only takes cash, and the local taxis charge a fee if you pay by card, and I'm not one to cut my nose off to spite my face, so cash it is.

Or he could put his cash in a basic bank account opened for him and use the card.

Incidentally, I'm not in the UK and have never worked anywhere which didn't accept cash. One of my workplaces had people coming in to pay money they owed in cash, sometimes several thousand dollars at a time - and there was an EFTPOS machine sitting on the counter where they stood to hand over the cash. Some people just prefer to deal in cash, and they should have a right to do so. All this nonsense about it costing the businesses - that is something they should factor into their costs, just like rent, wages, electricity etc. They are supposed to be there to serve their customers, not make life difficult for them.

I recently heard a news report that a tiny island (possibly in the pacific) was getting ATMs for the first time. I found it quite strange that the rest of the world is trying to get rid of cash!

@NattyTurtle59

The part about cash having a cost may often be brought up due to the memes that crop up stating that there are no transaction fees for a cash payment
A business factors in the costs of all forms of transaction, and may choose to take whichever

With regard to businesses being there to serve their customers, they are actually there to make money, which happens via serving customers - they can choose how they serve customers and customers can choose whether or not to use the business