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!

Yes, I was previously working in store IT. Most stores can cope for a couple of days at least on offline mode. All the prices are held locally in store on the till server. They can also take payments without bank link (but have to take the risk if the transaction is late declined) - or they can resort to cash. But generally, yes they are pretty resilient. The big ones at least. Don’t know about the corner ships.

Having £100 in your house tucked away means if the banking system has an outage (which happens from time to time) for a few hours you can buy essentials. Very few places that are essential are cashless (theatre bars, sports stadiums and little gift shops don’t come under the essential category!)

I didn't say I was departing- I've been commenting on other posters views.
So your magnanimity is not required.

Yes, it is depressing to realise that British people can be incredibly stupid at times, scoffing at what is sensible advice. Other countries just do it.

Interesting point.

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. There was a tree down in the road so nobody could get in or out. The only way of getting anything hot to eat was going to the wood fired pizza restaurant who could only accept cash. You could do bank transfer but most people's phone batteries had run out.

When the electric came on I danced around the house shouting "I love electricity".

And they are only asking you to maintain enough monies for a few days>

Anything more than that and we will have far bigger problems. This is the downside of modern technology and you are naïve to only just make this realisation.

I keep a small amount of cash at home circa £100.

I always like to have a couple of hundred in the house in case of emergencies. As a disabled non driver I might have to take a taxi somewhere and buy food. I have just put it away safely and forgotten about it - except for where I put it.

90000 houses with no power/trees down everywhere after this weekend's storms and people are still questioning why having a camping stove and food that can be kept in the cupboard might be a good idea. Weird.

I agree entirely with you OP. I cannot think of any retailers in my local town that would suddenly be able to revert to notebooks and cash in a crisis. It's weird and daft and sinister.

This and the lady who has posted today that she lives in the arse end on nowhere and is blocked into her house by a fallen tree.

You're being aggressive to anyone who disagrees with you, OP, and accusing them of insulting you when they haven't

You seem to have taken it personally that the government is suggesting everyone keep some cash handy. No doubt you will be furious if you need cash and haven't got it, too.

FWIW I always have £20 or so. This stood me in good stead when Sainsbury's were unable to accept electronic payment a couple of years ago, but could still take cash at their tills. Since then I've made a point of keeping enough cash handy to do a weekly shop.

You do you, though.

Please tell me this is sarcasm...🙈

I probably have £30-40 in the house but don’t agree it will serve any meaningful purpose. In the event of an outage.

This happened to me last week but I moved it enough to get by by snapping smaller branches off and then went back for a chainsaw. Problem solved.

So if you don't need it, you can spend it later anyway..

I always have a min of 150 -200 in my purse and I use cash daily wherever I can

I also have several thousand pounds at home In the safe with passport and other important documents jewelry

Interesting discussion. I live in a US state prone to hurricanes. A stash of cash is part of our standard hurricane kit.

True.

maybe a smaller tree?

Not sure where this is going or the reference from the previous poster. It’s by the by but trees falling down on my lane are pretty common. It’s a single track road. We take it for firewood 😀

I just stashed away £2k cash in case, a load of bottled water in the cellar with tins gallor.
Only thing is, how do we heat the tinned food if the gas goes out. I can eat Heinz ravioli cold and Branston beans but that's about it. If it's dry we can heat food over a fire in the garden.

Get this 3 day lark out of your heads. If disaster strikes it could go on for months or longer.

But hopefully nothing will happen and we can all rest easy 😁

Why? Do you have retailers in your town that would suddenly be able to operate using cash? Everything is bar-coded.

And how long would it take before they ran out of a change?

The only place here that takes cash is the local craft shop. So I'd be okay if I suddenly needed a bad acrylic painting of highland cattle, so that's reassuring.

If the government said "We've been working with supermarket chains to ensure that in the event of a crisis, they will provide <this service in cash>" that might be more realistic. But otherwise, we're basically fucked without electricity/banking systems.