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!

Sorry but you're wrong. I'm an accountant with dozens of small business clients. They hate cash. They can't pay suppliers in cash because most suppliers are large businesses, they've banned their delivery drivers from accepting cash due to risk of theft/robbery. Your village Spar shop can't pay "cash" to Spar for their weekly lorry load of supplies costing thousands of pounds. Nor can they pay "cash" to their landlord for the shop rent of a thousand or two per month, nor the council for business rates, nor EDF for electricity, nor Biffa for waste disposal, etc. They "CAN" shop around for the best deals for card acceptance - they're not tied into their business bank, but can also change business bank too! No, they can't negotiate with card processors, but there's a very big choice of processors to use, some with low fixed fees and slightly higher percentage charges, others with higher fixed fees and lower percentage charges - there are online calculators to help the business find a suitable processing firm for their typical number/value of transactions - the optimum card processor for a convenience store is different to the optimum for a car dealership! Handling cash means higher insurance costs, enhanced security/alarm system requirements, greater time spend counting cash and taking it to the bank etc.

You've now completely changed the premise of your post.

Your AIBU was that you were annoyed at being asked to havesome cash at home because 'I never carry cash and numerous places don’t accept it any longer!'

Because you've been told you're BU, you've changed it to 'I just think the “keep cash” message is hugely oversimplifying the impact of a cyber attack and would, for reasons I’ve explained been relatively useless.'

Just caught up with my retailer husband who oversees over 30 stores for a retail chain and agreed that it would all fall flat pretty quickly. Ie you can have your milk for a day (but not if you’ve not got there first) but as I’ve said, the challenge would be the supply chain.

I'm not even a retailer but I told you that there still would be a scarcity issue upthread.

I love the idea there is an apocalyptic scenario in which the internet and electronic banking is down yet supermarkets are fully stocked and only people with cash will be able to buy. All the tills, the replenishment systems, deliveries etc are also using the same systems, so we better hope they have an abacus and manual till to serve us with, as well as endless change of course.

Exactly!

To another posted - The premise of my post has not change, I’ve just set out the logic and rationale that led me to my view.

If they put together bags of groceries primarily from the fresh stuff that's about to become unsaleable but other things like cereal, bread etc and got it out on the emergency FM channel that they were selling £20 bags of essentials, cash only in person to anyone who wanted them, they could be handed over in the car park by staff. That's the sort of practical, achievable thing that could be done. Staff can pick the groceries with torches or by emergency lighting.

Getting rid of cash was never a good idea, but governments like it because cash is the only type of money they can't control.
Should you have erased cash from your life I suggest you reacquaint yourself with it straight away- cyber attacks on financial institutions are always more likely than on power grids and other things because it can be used to directly generate cash, so having ways to pay which don't involve financial institutions is always going to be a good idea.

This is the crux of it, we absolutely have been discouraged from using cash and the use of cash is far less common than in previous times.

@Bjorkdidit

Staff can pick the groceries with torches or by emergency lighting.

It'd be a massive breach of H&S laws if there wasn't adequate heating and lighting. If a staff member tripped and injured themselves, the compo bill would be very high! They're simply not going to do that.

There would definitely be scarcity / rationing.

Maybe the government and supermarkets could agree a capped amount (£30-£50) for essential grocery rations per household, record the transactions offline and then the supermarkets submit the amounts to government for reimbursement once we're over the worst.

Your logic was that you were annoyed because you resent carrying cash.

I Always have some cash on me since the time I was trying to buy coffee in a small independent cafe and their wifi had gone down.

There was no logic

That might have been your interpretation but I did not say I resent carrying cash.

But only for a few days worth of fuel/basic groceries. You're still going to need the banking system for paying your rent/mortgage/utilities, for your employer to pay your wages (or the state to pay your benefits), to pay your credit card bill, to buy anything online, to pay for your monthly subscriptions/car lease payments.

It's why we had to bail out the banks in the 2008 financial crash. Letting them fail would have disastrous knock on effects in virtually every way to virtually every person.

You're not going to have thousands of pounds in cash under your bed and traipse around town with it trying to pay your bills, rent, mortgage, etc., when even the Post Office is reliant on electronic systems to accept bill payments etc.

Agreed, OP is presenting her annoyance as 'set out logic' for some reason.

You said you never carry cash and you are annoyed at being asked to, ergo you resent it,

My annoyance is that the message of keeping cash is illogical. I have expanded on my argument and now you’ve realised your opposition to my assertion was misplaced so instead, it would appear you’re resorting to name calling.

This is a national emergency. Do you think fire fighters and police officers refuse to walk along perfectly flat surfaces unless it's daylight?

They can do a risk assessment and put in place a safe working procedure, ie torches and working in teams to keep an eye on each other. If they're pushing trolleys around, they're also less likely to trip up. They can also do emergency exercises to test the viability of the plan.

Ok, so what is the solution? You must have a better idea.

I really don't think the government would accept every shop across the land sending them boxes full of random scraps of hand written paper with lists of what people have bought! How many months do you think it would take the government to process it all and make the payments? In the meantime, how would the shops pay their suppliers for stock sold and buy more stock to replenish the shelves? Look at what happened with all the covid fraud from people pretending to be in business (by buying old limited companies off ebay) to claim grants and loans who literally took suitcases full of cash abroad! There has to be checks and balances and proper systems.

I don’t carry cash because the way society has evolved in terms of making payments dictates it’s not a necessity.

I always have cash on me also like to take the piss when friends are paying an independent business that often have a minimum spend to pay cashless. So they end up spending a few pound more than they need. I won't lend it to them because I know I won't get it back. A £1-£2 here and there adds up. They just use the excuse well I don't carry cash.

None of those things would be as easily and untraceably didsposed of as cash.

People do people. They will anyway, and best of luck.

But if there ever comes a time when cash is the only way to exchange payment, you really need to think how much will have gone wrong to get to that point. Much like preppers who don't pack a weapon ...

Where would all these staff appear from at “The Goverment” too!

What on earth are you talking about? What have I 'name called' you?