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!

interesting you say that because in our business we are suddenly being asked if people can pay cash 80% of the time.

I have never seen anything like it

So what do you suggest?

It was my husband who decided to do it and arranged it, he is almost certainly not anxious. Although coincidentally I do have anxiety disorder and yes, have sought help.

Thanks for your concern but I’m not sure that throwing flippant diagnoses around to attack my credibility is at all relevant to the thread.

My husband keeps around that amount too and tops it up as it gets used. One of my best friends keeps a large amount of her life savings in cash under the floorboards.

I think we’ve led ourselves up the garden path.

I think that's was a problems for m&s. They were out of my favourite stuff for months because of their ordering system.

Oh piss off with your moralizing. My local shopkeepers are a great bunch and I want to keep a thriving local economy. I have every confidence that they are above board. Sorry if you live somewhere shitty where its not like that.

Cyber attacks would most likely target payment systems rather than the national grid to maximize disruption. The payment systems are frighteningly vulnerable to cyber attacks

The national grid is more resilient.

You could put fuel in your tank quite easily & pay with cash. If you had no cash you would be stuck.

Yes I suppose they have likely set a precedent for everyone to learn from,

It’s really sensible. I am not someone who ever uses cash.

But I used to live in a much more volatile region prone to natural disasters. I had to take a disaster preparedness course as part of the onboarding with my employer there.

The two most important takeaways from that course were: (1) having cash in small amounts. The equivalent of £1, £2 coins, a £5 note, £20 note, but mostly small value amounts. Have you tried paying at your local shop when the power is out? You need cash. It’s sensible. Little change purse, store it away somewhere. My grandparents lived through the war. They had probably £2000 in various denominations stored under mattresses and in pants/socks drawers. I always knew it was gonna be a good day when I got asked to bring the envelope from under the bed! They’d draw small amounts out, but go to the bank every month or so to replenish. I know this is because we didn’t have cash machines back then, but it was also just a little safety net from when times were tough.

And (2) know where the water and gas shut off valves are for your house. If something happens that causes a pipe to burst (we had a lot of earthquakes there so you can see why this would be useful), you can prevent your house being absolutely destroyed. You might think you’d be able to work it out, but in a panic, you might not. Make sure everyone in the house knows where they are.

It sounds like the big stores need an emergency plan for power outage of more than a day. Calculators, a range of fixed prices for the basic goods needed. And staff training.

Not tax dodging.

To stop the card companies taking their 3%

Husband has a small online business, every single transaction incurs fees.

Dont assume everyone is corrupt, there are lots of small businesses paying 1000s in fees every year to banks and card companies

Yes I am a supermarket manager & we have an emergency procedures folder & that is one of the things covered.

I've had to implement it on several occasions.

It is one of the most straightforward emergency procedures.

It's a nuisance for people who dont have cash. That's why it's very sensible to keep some cash!

Small businesses also use a lot of the cash they take in the local cash and carry, so banking fees and time to deposit is irrelevant.

Plus some people really value cash and for lots of reasons don't want it to vanish, so make a point of using it and supporting it.

I'm not annoyed by the advice but I'm not going to follow it. I wonder if it's even real advice, is any of this advice real, or if it's just to make people feel like they are prepared and in control. People get a few notes out and buy a few cans and feel safe and secure and like the government is on top of things. It's reminiscent of advice to hide under a table during a nuclear attack.

In the event of a prolonged city wide/nation wide power cut, or total banking system failure, you wouldn't be able to trot down to Aldi with a £50 note and buy your groceries. They wouldn't be able to open the store without electricity, refrigerate the food, calculate the cost, or pay the staff. They wouldn't be able to order more stock or receive it so the shelves would be empty within hours.

Yea, I always keep some cash hidden in my house, also coins so I can tip the food delivery guy.

We are going backwards mentally. In the 50s there were very few computers, just people like my Mum who could think quickly and had nimble figures. My Dad was a draftsman and used a slide rule. It irritated him that in the 70s we no longer had to learn to use a slide rule.

So what do you suggest? You can just ignore it if you want.

The older chap in Aldi in front of me at the checkout earlier today paid in cash and Saturday in morrisons, an elderly lady paid her bill in cash. I see cash transactions quite often in supermarkets.

I usually pay by card in supermarkets but occasionally I will pay in cash just to ring the changes depending on how much my bill is.

There's still a lot of us who use cash for various items and I currently have about £400 tucked away at home, it always comes in useful.

Turkish barber shops only take cash.

Aren't the banknotes about to change? Won't our squirrelled away cash become worthless once the new notes come out?

Royal Albert Hall for one.

It's easier for me to keep cash at home rather than buy loads of food and water that I need to check and consume on rotation.

Of course there will be other problems like cost of food going up and scarcity.

There’s always a long changeover period when bank notes change, and once theyre no longer legal tender, you can always change them at the Bank of England. We went there a few years ago when my husband came across some old notes tucked away in his office, and there was a special queue for people who wanted to change old notes.