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!

Numerous places don’t accept cash? Which places?

Yes, and there is a fee for paying in cash.
Small business don't 'see it' less the large ones, its a cost of business.
Small business perhaps don't value their time, or factor that in. Paying by cash now costs the business more than paying by card, that is a fact.

They just wouldn't put it through the till, and it might be a case of no change given hence the advice to keep smaller denominations.

Practically though how will the fuel stations cope with manually measuring fuel and then charging the customer accordingly? Given the pumps are electric.

It would be pointless unless you wanted to buy drugs of course which might be useful if the shit really hits the fan.
Can you imagine today's shop assistants trying to do mental arithmetic without their digital tills? The look of confusion I get when handing over £10.20 for a £5.20 sale would suggest that it would be mayhem. Some of them have probably never seen cash 😂

Where I live, a lot of places are card only and it’s been that way for at least a few years now. It annoyed me at first but I’ve got used to it and now I rarely carry cash.

I had a weird situation a while ago where I was ordering at a local cafe/takeaway place. I ordered my lunch, the server made it and put it on the counter. The card machine wouldn’t work, she tried resetting it, etc. Still wouldn’t work. I offered to pay cash as I actually had some money on me but she said she wasn’t allowed to accept it. She ended up giving me my lunch for free!

I guess all these “card only” businesses are going to have to start accepting cash.

But even if we carry cash, how can we buy things when all the tills are electronic? If there’s a cyber attack, literally everything could stop working. Automatic doors to get in the shop, tills, cash machine, etc.

Unlike phones and payment cards. I trust you not to report me for this emoji 🙄

Do you keep it in a safe or something fire proof?

Generator. You know, thing you put fuel into, start it up, it’s noisy, and it generates electricity?

Gen Zs can't do mental arithmetic. Can they? When I was at primary school, we had to learn the LSD system and the decimal system. My Mum was whizz with pounds shilling and pence because she once had a job where she had to make up the wage packets for the men in a factory and woe betide anyone who short-changed them or the factory.

Loads and loads of places are cashless! Currently queuing for a salad in a cashless place…

Cash has not been "effectively eradicated" at all. 🙄
I mainly use cards but choose to have cash on me to.

i think it would take 3 days for them to figure this out tbh.

When M&S had their hack, a couple of years ago, they were cash only until they could work out what payment methods were OK. Even once they realised that card payments were OK, it had to be chip and pin, so no waving your phone at the card reader (which always seems to be slow and unreliable, anyway)

Well it sounds like some people need to upskill if they're unable to do basic mental arithmetic or use a calculator. Have we really become so incapable as a nation?

I remember some years ago in Asda, the tills went down and they estimated the price of people's trolleys, agreed a price and took payment with manual card readers - I wonder if they still have them?

A contingency plan for supermarkets in the event of mass card/electricity failure, so faced with food that is about to go off and become expensive to dispose of waste could be for them to package it up into household sized TGTG style mixed bags and sell them for a fixed low price, paid for in cash, or by manual card imprint. Get it advertised by word of mouth, or broadcast on the emergency radio programme that will be running that people will hear on their wind up radios. So waste is minimised, no-one actually needs to go in a supermarket, and people have food.

Not only that but all their stock control system so reordering etc is totally automatic with quarterly inventory checks. So it would be total carnage.

I’ve just been to specsavers, no cash, the boys swim lessons I’ve just paid for, Costa, there’s absolutely loads of cashless places.

In the event of a prolonged power cuts, cash will be your only option. There will be places who will adapt in the short term.

It's not a big deal. Get some out you can afford. Go down to an arcade and swap some of it for coins or pop to the bank and just put it somewhere in the house.

It's up to you though. If you can do without buying stuff then you're golden.

My daughter started at a cafe in the summer that is mostly cash - lots of elderly people and her mental arithmetic had to get better very quickly.

It’s not a lack of mental arithmetic, it’s the lack of individual autonomy for workers and the automation of process and procedures which relies solely on computer systems and private networks.

£10k cash WTAF

I'm surprised the bank let you.

What did you imagine it would be needed for?

Have you sought help for the anxiety / ?????

I've only ever seen people being outraged at the idea of using cash on Mumsnet, and I've never met anyone in real life who doesn't still use cash from time to time. There are lots of takeaways and small shops near me who only accept cash, and most tradesmen that we use would always prefer being paid in cash. I also always leave tips in restaurants and cafes in cash to make sure it gets to the waiter/waitress who served us rather than going into a pot, and friends who use a hairdresser use cash for their tip. I also need cash for the postman's Christmas card, and any other Christmas boxes. If I'm just buying a bar of chocolate or a bottle of water in a shop, I would be embarrassed to use a card for a tiny amount.

Cyber attacks would target payment systems as it would cause maximum disruption.

Sensible to keep enough for a couple of days of food & half a tank of petrol .

Supermarkets still take cash & if there was a major incident a cash system is very easy to set up (with a pen & paper or calculator)

So just don't keep any then. There's really absolutely no reason to be annoyed about this.

I've always told my kids to keep a little just in case cash. At least you can still get a taxi or buy basic goods in case of internet outage. I was in a queue at a store yesterday and the shop's payment system went down. A lot of people had to leave the queue because they couldn't pay even for a couple of small items without paying on card. I'm in a bad internet area, and card payments are not always available.