How would you manage shopping if only cash could be used?

[NotPerfectlyAdverage]

Cash preps AI / cyber threats in the news. I always have cash in the house but very rarely use cash.

The news on AI taking over the Internet has got me thinking again about the cash aspect. Say you can only use cash and that becomes a reality ( so leaving aside the but / what ifs... shops can't buy stock, doors don't open etc)

Not many people have have cash. So how would you navigate going to shops? Hypothetically?

First few hours or day going with a wod of cash would be fine, but if it lasted a week you want to not draw attention to the fact you still had £50 cash to hand. My cash prep is mainly for cash in hand work for sons very informal tutor and the various takeaways so it's not going to last long. But I'm fairly close to the coast so I change up the odd £20 to coins at the arcades every time I go. I get £1 coins and 10ps.

Of all the preps I do, this is the one thar I have never really needed. Sainsbury's regularly lose visa and Mastercard capability but it lasts a day and I only ever have £20 cash on me. Rarely £50. When this happens the cash machines run dry. I just avoid it.

This is a musing really. I think having £10 cash at least on your person if you can spare it is handy. £20 including various coins at home. I try to keep a note in my phone case but invariably spend it then don't replace it. Has saved me before when my phone died on me for Google pay

Longterm, we'd have to go back to how it was years ago, ie taking a lump sum out in cash every week/whatever suits to buy things locally (not online). Short-term obviously going to cause immediate problems with banking, how much we could buy - I guess this is where the government's suggested mini stockpile kicks in (many of us have food in cupboards/fridge/freezer which would last a few days, but a stockpile for an extra few days would take pressure of people panicking).

If something happened that had an impact on computer systems, you'd probably find most places like supermarkets, major retailers (including phamacies) in towns, wouldn't be able to operate their tills (due to measures that have to be taken on computers/morning set up), so short-time cash wouldn't help with that, so would definitely have to be places that can manually operature tills.

If I’m physically in a shop I will always pay in cash, no question.
If we go out and the shop/restaurant etc doesn’t accept cash, we leave.
i have a separate card for on line purchases, just enough in that account for the said purchase.
Genuinely don’t understand why some places don’t like cash. No charges like a card payment. Cash will still be king for many years to come.

Aren’t the corner shops going to be ransacked fairly quickly though anyway? We’ve all seen videos of societal or community breakdown which happens pretty quickly without a strong law presence or regulation. Besides, if phone lines/internet are down, together with very little fuel for truck deliveries, I suspect there won’t be much left to buy. I think there also might be a chance that retail workers might gather up all the remaining stock for their own families and ‘shut up shop’ so to speak.

Can you recommend a particular safe? Can it just stay anywhere in the house. Under the bed seems a bit obvious!

Withdrew cash today for dd's school so now have £7 left over - winning 🥰

I. Guess that depends on where you live. I'm rural wealthy area so past riots don't come near us, nor our market towns. Very little trouble at all within 20 miles and I'm not far outside of the M25. Riot in our village you'd be posted on FB and identified in ten minutes. Mind you, there's is one shop within 3 miles. They would be bought out pretty fast

Thing is, banks would have to go back to storing money on the premises in bank vaults. You’d get more high street banks, which would have to be rebuilt, but also more armed robberies as money would be collected and transported as it used to be, by lorries and trains. Shops would go back to taking the day’s takings to the bank every evening. That makes them vulnerable to assault.

I live where basically you can’t use cash. Not even in the banks. Tbh I haven’t seen real money in so many years I could not describe what our coins or notes look like. The UK ones I could, but not ours.

I use cash at least 50% of the time anyway. I have always believed we should not sleepwalk into a cashless society.

I see what you mean but I prefer staff to be safe, with no robberies. Although if shtf there would be robberies anyway and cash wouldn’t really matter.