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!

Do you have retailers in your town that would suddenly be able to operate using cash?

Yes, loads. Most accept cash and some prefer it and have a minimum purchase amount like £5 for card payments.

Do you think none of these retailers have any non electronic back ups, contingency plans or business continuity policies?

Well my local M&S food store had to close for several days with the bank card cock-up last year. So it doesn't seem like it, no?

Yabu.
Good luck shopping when the banks are all hacked and have to shut down card transactions for a few hours / days.

BBQ, log burner, camping stove. I had thought the same with people buying pasta.

See the post directly above yours.

They're really not. They pay higher prices to their wholesalers than the likes of Tesco pay, in fact often they pay more to wholesalers than the prices that Tesco and their ilk sell for, hence why so many small businesses actually buy some of their stock at supermarkets.

They also have ridiculously high costs, such as rent, business rates, utilities, wages, etc. So they have to make "profits" on items they sell to cover their costs, and, of course, pay themselves a wage, on top of loan repayments, equipment/vehicle leasing, etc etc.

If they were so profitable, as you seem to believe, why have literally hundreds of thousands of small shops closed down over the past few decades. You'll be saying pubs are always a rip off next too!

Exactly.

Nope, the Co Op chain was very badly affected by the cyber attack last year. Ours barely had any stock to sell for several weeks as their supply chain collapsed without a functional stock control/stock ordering system.

The individual store managers weren't even able to order locally from local wholesalers just to get "some" stock in to sell, as it would have buggered up their tills and shop stock control. Ours only managed to continue selling "locally" sourced stuff from local suppliers, such as sandwiches as they had a separate system set up for ordering directly between the store and the sandwich supplier - virtually everything else came from the CoOp warehouse via the stock control/stock ordering system which had collapsed.

@Askandyforcompo

When we had a 3 day power cut in our village last year none of the card readers would work in any of the shops or restaurants.

How did restaurants open without any power??

If the online payment systems, that support cred and bank card actions, is compromised, everyone will be hit.
It could take a week or more for things to get sorted, during which time all payments would have to be cash.
They don't have to take out the whole Internet, or the whole government, they just have to target online payment systems.

If lack of electricity knocks out the systems and WiFi, then everywhere will have to accept cash. No alternative. 🤷‍♀️. Your dislike of doing it won’t help you.

I’m just keeping a cash float in my home safe.

Calculators and cash only. As it was. 👍

My butcher takes cash, and also has deli and dairy. They managed fine in the power cuts we had last year and didn't close.
Edit to further clarify, they have generator back up. Longer outages, yes would be an issue of course.

How long do you think your local butcher's stock would last if all the other shops/supermarkets were shut down? They'd be cleared of remaining stock within a few hours.

If the power is out "everywhere" will be closed! It's what happened to our area during Storm Desmond a decade or so ago. Everything shut down when it became apparent it was a long term outage.

Did you manage to spend your 10k fine ? I assume you did, why wouldn't you be able to spend £50 if say your banking app was compromised?

I pay for everything in cash when I'm buying stuff face to face.
At the Museum of The Home shop in Hoxton, the lady always says "I can accept cash if you have the correct change". Hold my coat, sweetheart.....

Paying in cash doesn’t cost them but paying by card is a loss?

do explain this one!

All business can negotiate or find more competitive card processing rates, even with PayPal (although this is more difficult it’s still possible).

This isn’t about power cuts, it’s about data hacks and server outages. Logistics, supply chain and so on.

Sorry I thought you did. Maybe that was another poster / similar thread.

I don't think you are getting how the government would intervene in the event of a huge cyber attack. Supermarkets can organise things with suppliers without internet. They'll pick up the phone and organise deliveries, a lot of them will have been already ordered.

In the event of a huge one off event getting people food and water to the supermarkets is a logistical issue for the government to sort.

All they are asking is for people to keep a few days supplies of food & water + cash so that we aren't all immediately on the brink.

For plenty of people it's not necessary. My mum would have enough tins to keep herself going. I would have a bag of pasta and a tin of chopped tomatoes as I usually go to Sainsbury's every day. I would have a few pound coins down the back of the sofa. It's perfectly reasonable advice.

Yes. Do these people not see any news at all? Astonishing.

Thee's always cr*pto ...

Obviously. My point was they take cash, not how long the stock would last, and in any case many items can only be kept fresh for so long even with back up power.

Emergency preparation absolutely does include power cuts which can be caused by different issues including the recent weather. Include- not limited to.