Cash-only kids club

[BluePony]

My DS goes to a club similar Beavers/Cubs but not that. It’s run by volunteers so I suspect IABU. However, every week it’s £3. So it’s a great value for a kids club. But they only take cash and don’t seem to give change or let you pay for a few weeks at one time. I never have change and if I want cash, I have to go to a certain cash point that’s out of my way. I don’t mind doing that but then I have to find a way of getting change from it. My bank (which I’m fortunate to have where I live as it’s a small town) doesn’t do that anymore when I’ve been in as they’ve been low on change. So it’s really inconvenient. My DD does brownies but you pay it twice a year via a bank transfer. AIBU to find this really annoying? Each week I have to go out of my way to get the cash, then find a way to get change from the cash. Even times I’ve been into shops to try and buy something I don’t even want for £1, they’ve said they don’t have enough change (fair enough).

To add to the change thing- I overheard someone who had a note (not sure of value) and the person said we don’t do change as we don’t have enough to do it for everyone. When they said something like well can this be 2/3 weeks worth, they said they don’t keep a log like that and won’t be able to do that.

Just get a £20 note out a cash point, go into a big supermarket and spend a little, enough to get a bunch of £1. Keep £1s in a kitchen drawer and then top up every few months or weeks

I hate dealing with cash but in volunteer run things you either take what they're offering or you volunteer to help them. Drives me absolutely crazy when people complain about the PTA without offering to help - we are doing it the best that we can with almost no help.

I know it is a pain but can you just withdrawn money get change and keep it in the car, the admin sounds a bit over the place but surely they must bank the money weekly so they could get change?

Do you have any arcades near you? If so maybe use a change machine there.
Else just buy something small with a note when you go to the supermarket and ask for coins as the change.
You could offer to volunteer at the club and take over the payments as maybe they don't have anyone to do this properly.

It does sound annoying, but I think you need to source a lot of coins and then use that rather than doing it week by week. It'd been worth going to a bigger town/city bank or change machine (any arcades near you?) and getting £50+ changed up.

I agree with this. Would you be willing to be their volunteer membership fees secretary and say that you will take in everyone’s cash and keep the weekly record? It would just mean being there for the first ten minutes and writing down (or better yet take a laptop and keep a spreadsheet) that Billy’s mum gave you a £20 so he has paid for the next 6 weeks, Sally’s mum paid £3 exactly so she’s only up to date, etc.

But if you aren’t willing to do that yourself, then you can’t expect them to do it on top of offering the activity, so sort the weekly cash as they have asked.

I think I'd use a self checkout with a £20 note , bag of crisps or chocolate and get a bundle of change.

Have you suggested a weekly bank transfer?

That's one option.

But its just sent me a big red flag because my initial thoughts were they probably don't have a bank account.

But how do they pay insurance? Are thry insured

Yes i was wondering about banking but maybe they deposit by the machine or something so don't get change.

Do you want to pay for the year upfront?

As you say, it's volunteer-led and this is the easiest way for them to keep track of payments without the burden of extra admin. I always have a coin purse in my car for parking in places where there isn't enough mobile reception to do it online or for old machines that only take cash and not cards. I take out £20 a month from the cashpoint and then use it in the cash self-service tills to get the change I need. I only need to do two or three small purchases to get a good handful of pound coins. You could also speak to your local branch of your bank and ask if you can withdraw X amount of money in pound coins - if you give them notice they are usually pretty obliging. My two bank accounts are both purely online, so I can't use this option, although I would if I could.

There are only two supermarkets near me (coop and Tesco) and they only have card only self-checkouts. Don’t have a car. True about either offering to help or get on with it, I just actually can’t see a way of getting lots of coins in one go though where we are.

Second an arcade - I have 3 bowling alleys reasonably local to me, all who have an arcade-y bit attached and all 3 have machines you can tap your card and get £1s out. Anything like that near you?

Otherwise it probably is a case of volunteer if you don’t like the way they’re doing it. I imagine the volunteers know it’s a bit of a pain but keeping track of subs is hard (especially when you start paying by transfer/in advance because then inevitably people will fall behind in paying, and chasing it up becomes an unpleasant job to do!) so just want it this way for simplicity.

Taking cash doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have an account for the club.

As other posters have said, clubs are dependant on the volunteers who take everything on and how they can or are willing to operate

Clubs and societies generally have a treasurers account, I had one for a team until charges were introduced

(We ran some events and wanted an account to hold team funds between making money at an event and overspending on props for the next event, plus somewhere for members who wanted to put some money aside for the next time we played etc - that meant a need to account for what was team money and what was an individuals money. As we had the cheapest free account with just a cheque book it meant that to withdraw it had to be in the bank or transfered to a personal account to enable going to a cash point
We could upgrade, but would have incurred fees so it was good enough for our use, then when the free option was withdrawn we closed it down - we didn’t bother shooing around for alternatives as we don’t run events anymore)

A children’s club may still be able to have a free account depending on the bank and criteria for ‘community societies’ etc
Volunteers turning up each time may not have easy access to the account as it would need to be managed by a treasurer, though multiple names could be granted access - they also may be able to have any volunteer fill in a deposit form and pay in via the counter or deposit point

To take funds in any way other than a pay as you go basis each day does mean that someone would need to track who paid and when - which (and should) could be combined into the treasurers accounting, but they may not be there on the day

Cash, card and bank transfer all have their benefits and disadvantages, and causes enough discussion when a shop etc states a preference

Change can be a pain, the volunteers therefore need a cash float of £1s to change £5 notes down. That means they have to get the cash either from the club funds or personal wallets
A natural form of change could occur if some people bring £1s and some bring £5s or £10s which may or may not be balanced out on the day

As it’s a regular club, many attendees should be able to be prepared with £1s, and then some £5s or £10s may be able to get change

These days card machines are cheap, or may not even be needed with some phones being able to take payment - but they cost in fees
(for the last time I too a £3 payment SumUp took 8p, which is higher than the advertised 1.69% but they round up and charge some card types at different rates)
This is only an option if the treasurer and/or volunteers have the equipment and set up a card processing account - ‘staff accounts’ can be created to take payment that don’t give full access to the account, if the treasurer knows how and if they don’t have a card machine the master account has to log onto the volunteer / staff phone to enable phone payments

Go to bank / or a coop near you and see if they will give you a bag of £1. Think they are usually £20 worth

which will last almost 2mths - 7w worth + a £

keep in car , if driving

edited to say no car so keep in handbag

There isn’t a single cashier in any of the stores? You can’t buy a £1 lucky dip with a £10 and get change??

Try the nearest Post Office counter. Ours is always delighted to change notes into coins for me to take to the car boot sale!

Or just go into the bank and ask them to order in £50 in £1 coins for you to come and get on an arranged day, they're a bank, that's the sort of thing they are literally there to do.

If they can’t manage the simple task of making change or grasping the concept of a bank transfer then I’m not sure I’d trust them to be in charge of my child. What if there’s an emergency? Would they know what to do? Do they believe in DBS checking? Are you absolutely sure they’re not some sort of cult or religious group? Considering they seem to like daft old fashioned rules that they insist on following to the letter.

I accidentally discovered that Premier inn do cashback (like the supermarkets used to). Could that be an option, if there's one nearby?

Post office always give me coins when I ask.

You’d probably get a £10 a £5 then a few pence

Blimey you got alot from them being correct cash only !

It sounds like a small group keeping admin to the minimum. You clearly have never run clubs and events, its alot of hard work. If this is simpler for them it shouldn't be too difficult to source a bag of £1's even asking a family or friend to help.