Being asked to keep cash?

[SpringDreams26]

AIBU to be a bit annoyed the UK Goverment is now asking us to keep cash, where it’s otherwise been effectively eradicated.

I never carry cash and numerous places don’t accept it anylonger!

Ive only experienced concert venues and theatres cashless, but i am assuming if there was an issue with systems they would accept cash, I dont know why you think cash has been "eradicated" if there was some sort of cyber attack you would struggle wouldn't you ? Go to the cash point take some money out think of it as nostalgia.

Yeah, the cash thing bothers me too. I suppose retailers will start taking cash in a hacking crisis for example, or a power cut (assuming they can open the doors which smaller corner shops may be able to do). I don’t like having cash about the place and it ties up available money in a way which, out of emergency situations, can’t be used in so many situations any more.

Being annoyed is a bit of an overreaction: it’s a suggestion, not an edict, for the event that payment systems are temporarily down and shops won’t be able to accept card payments. If you don’t like the idea of having a bit of cash kept in an envelope somewhere for emergencies, then prepare for emergencies in other ways (stock up with a few days worth of food and water) and take your chances over not needing anything else.

If there was no electricity and the POS machine's wouldn't work supermarkets would have no other way of charging people.
Cash machines also wouldn't work and so you need a reserve otherwise you might not be able to buy food.

It's a good job we didn't get rid of cash and people haven't forgotten how to use it.

Of course it hasn’t been eradicated. It’s sensible advice.

Why are you annoyed? Seems like a bit of an extreme reaction to being advised to keep a bit of cash in the house. If you don’t want to then don’t do it. Nobody is forcing you.

Abba Voyage and a coffee shop on the Strand in London are literally the only two places I’ve ever been in my life that have refused cash.

It was a sensible suggestion by the government, but feel to ignore it!

No government in the world can make absolutely sure that there won't be any disruption of electricity, internet networking or banking systems. That's physically inpossible.
In that case cash is the most reasonable backup solution available.

Now the risks are a bit bigger then usually, so they warned you - if you want to be able to buy things under that scenario, you know what to do.

Are you annoyed about this fact, or about them forcing you to acknowledge it?

Always keep cash. If the grid goes down nothing will work. No cash points, tills etc. Cash will be the only way to buy things. Our total dependence on electricity and the internet is insane.

What else would you do if there was a major power cut or cyber attack and electronic banking wasn't working? Barter toilet rolls? Or were you thinking that we won't be able to buy anything anyway because none of the tills will work?

It’s obvious why though isn’t it. If a Russian cyber attack takes out the entire banking network for a week, if you have cash you can still buy food.

Nobody is asking you to take out your life savings? It’s £100 to keep you going in a serious crisis.

It's sensible OP as others have said.

With AI especially there is a risk cyber attacks could be on a new level in terms of the amount of places down at once.

Remember M&S last year? 2 months they were down! Even longer for some services. Appreciate that didn't impact in store luckily.

Now imagine a cyber attack on all the banking /card payment systems and all the supermarkets are out at once

I think it's a good suggestion and makes sense. If you can't afford it then you can ignore the advice, it's not essential. Hopefully will never be required.

I took out a £100 for my emergency stash and then needed £90 to pay the carpet fitter. Now back down to a measley £10 so appreciate the reminder...

Yes, YABVU. But by all means, go ahead and try and use your cards or digital devices if the power cuts off and you need food.

I always have cash. I try to pay cash to local stores anyway.

I never carry cash and numerous places don’t accept it anylonger!

Do you understand that if the card system goes down, they'll only be able to accept cash?

This is why we're being advised to keep some?

If there was a major electricty outage for a few days, that covered the local supermarkets, it is likely they would close because all there fozen food would go off, etc, and their tills would not work whether cash or not.
It would likely be a local 'corner' shop type of place, and I am sure they would accept cash.
The real question is, how much cash should you have?

So don't do it then.

I'm sure that if all the electronic banking/payment systems go down - not because of a cyber attack but because of network power outages - there will be a "special" exception for @SpringDreams26 to continue using cards or retailers will automatically know that you didn't get any cash out because you were annoyed, and they'll let you just take what you want without having any means to pay.

Do the people who 'never use cash' never even buy low cost items from independent retailers who often can't afford to take card payments for small purchases?

I always have some cash for such eventualities but also because, like others, I wouldn't want to be entirely reliant on card payments if there was an outage.

It's not like it's even a rare problem. Not so long ago, a major power cut affected much of Spain and Portugal, so cash would have provided resilience there.

Payment systems have outages reasonably frequently. It seems awfully naive to totally rely on electronic payments.

Why? To support tax dodging?
don’t get me wrong I use cash as and when relevant, I’m not in favour of a totally cashless society. However I also recognise that cash costs a small business more now:

1. time to “cash up”
2. time to travel and pay in
3. banks charge more to pay in now than credit card fees

It's sensible if you want to purchase anything during a computer systems/banking outage surely.

But a lot of local businesses to me ask specifically for cash rather than card payment, so I dont think this is universally true.

“Some cash” is very unhelpful. How much?

How can anyone answer that?

It depends on your income and how much you're likely to spend in say a week.

No point in advising £100 as some won't be able to afford that, but they'll have an idea of how much they can afford.

I understand. I'm not annoyed at the good advice of keeping a bit of cash in the house - I'm annoyed that we've been allowed to sleepwalk so far towards a cashless society and the powers that be are apparently only just realising the potential downsides 🤦‍♀️