Even the ice cream van in the new forest took cards.
That's more necessity than anything else, no one has pockets big enough to carry the change for an ice cream anymore!
On that point, when did ice-cream get so expensive? I remember when a 99, was 99p. Inflation has not made that £4!
You're serving fozen UHT milk in a car park, no a f****** Michelin star desert.
I'm all for cashless. As a few others have said I find it far easier to manage my money when everything is digital and I can see each transaction. In years gone by I would see a list of transactions with a few £100 cash withdrawals and I could rarely remember if that money went on a Tesco shop, the pub or something else.
It's the pub. HTH.
My exact recollection of my weekends activities is slightly hazy due to the alcohol consumed. However with 2 thumb presses I can see exactly how much and on what I spent as I only took my phone to use apple pay. If any of the vendors were cash only then they would not have got my business.
You’re serving fozen UHT milk in a car park, no a f****** Michelin star desert.
Yet a desert is a great place to sell f(r)ozen UHT milk.
So does anyone rely solely on their phone for payment, or also take a card as "back-up" in case the phone doesn't work (even if the card linked is the same)?
Went to London yesterday. My phone (Google Pay) got me through the ticket gates at Kings Cross to get onto the underground no problem, but then didn't work at any other Underground gate for the rest of the day so I had to use my card.
No idea whether it's the phone's fault, the app, the ticket gate....just an error and the gate not opening.
I quite like the idea of just using my phone to make payments but cannot trust it to always work.
I get the same problem randomly at shops too.
So does anyone rely solely on their phone for payment, or also take a card as “back-up” in case the phone doesn’t work (even if the card linked is the same)?
I do if apple pay failure would result in a catastrophic mess, such as being stranded at a supermarket checkout, petrol pump, or big city reliant on public transport.
Its never actually been required though.
Kids is probably another use case for loose change. I hadn’t thought of that.
All my nephews and nieces have GoHenry accounts, I just transfer money to their accounts for B'days etc.
The only time I either use cash or need a cash machine these days is money for homeless folk or the occasional car park (I'm looking at you Peak District authority) who haven't joined the rest of the world in the 21st century and have an app or card reader.
The only time I either use cash or need a cash machine these days is money for homeless folk
If homeless folk can't be bothered to get a card machine to take my payment then they lose my business and I go to the next homeless person who does take cards.
I have only started using card payment during the pandemic otherwise it is cash for me.
Yes, I like the look of cash and if it ain't broken don't break it.
AFAIK China is going cashless ...
a little bit of me died inside before I realised they had a contactless card reader as an option.
Yes. Card reader. Not a bloody phone reader most likely. Looks like I'll have to use your app or website then. Its the ones that charge more over the app that piss me off. I'm saving them from having to pick up cash but somehow that means I pick up the cost?
So does anyone rely solely on their phone for payment, or also take a card as “back-up” in case the phone doesn’t work (even if the card linked is the same)?
Me. But I rarely seem to travel out my bubble and even then rarely come across problems, only said parking meters generally.
Exception is daughters ice skating who still insist on taking £8 cash each session rather than just paying electronically. Have to buy some nonsense just to break a tenner twice a sodding week.
I only use my phone. Don't take cards unless I need my work debit card (no Google Pay integration) or credit card (I don't think you can put credit cards on Google Pay?)
Have my debit card on my Garmin watch as a back up though.
If they only take cash, I'm going somewhere else.
You can put credit cards on Google pay.
Compare that to how it all worked 30 years ago and I call that progress. In case you are not old enough I would have had to fill in bits of paper, send/take to bank, wait days or weeks for completion, wait for monthly statements etc,. etc,
Hang on, I was around 30 years ago, I knew how much I had in the bank(loads because no one was maxed out on credit) and I paid, I don't recall filling out bits of paper to buy stuff?
I love contactless, hate carrying change, ok with online banking but stall at using a phone to pay, having had a phone nicked I don't think I'll ever rely on that one.
If homeless folk can’t be bothered to get a card machine to take my payment then they lose my business and I go to the next homeless person who does take cards.
Well you know something. That doesn't surprise me.
You can put credit cards on Google pay.
Depends on your bank.
I mostly use my phone. Card is only for purchases in excess of £45, so groceries and fuel are the only regular items (and I don't use much fuel).
I am not the only one whp doesn't like the idea of my purchasing being recorded? Cash avoids that in the same way that I refuse to give Screwfix my address.
I seee the ease in paying contactless but despise the trend tyo have everything easy.
Stuff the phone. Why take it everywhere? Do you need to tell the wife that you are on top of Ben Nevis or will be an hour late because of a pucture?
I am not the only one whp doesn’t like the idea of my purchasing being recorded?
Nope, MrsMC would go nuts if she saw just what my cafe habit cost us!
Card is only for purchases in excess of £45
Fwiw, you can make contactless payments from a phone in excess of 45. I don't think there is any strict limit at all.
I haven't carried cash since the start of the pandemic. If somewhere doesnt take cards, they don't get my business
Stuff the phone. Why take it everywhere?
I mean this could be a whole other thread, but why carry a few hundred grams of palm sized computer that can contact everyone I know, and the emergency services, plus take photographs, navigate, and pay for things electronically on me at all times?
I mean this could be a whole other thread, but why carry a few hundred grams of palm sized computer that can contact everyone I know, and the emergency services, plus take photographs, navigate, and pay for things electronically on me at all times?
Yes, complete madness. Why would I want my phone with me when I could "just" take 2 debit cards, some bank notes, some coins for the many payphones that we see each day, a list of numbers of the people I may need, a calculator, a newspaper, the train timetable, my work laptop, my camera and an OS map. I do wish we could go back to simpler times 😉
I have a proper first world problems grumble now if I have to visit a cashpoint. Chip shop in Wales was the last one. I usually just give the change to MrsSalmon because I just don't want to be carrying it about.
I also can't help thinking that these days not taking cards is just being bloody minded. If an ice cream van can accept cards then a chip shop certainly can, unless they're trying to make a tedious point. Or are money launderers I suppose.
I suppose I am a bit uncomfortable that if, say, MrsSalmon asks how much those coffees and cakes were I often don't know - I just waved my card.
Still, I'm not sure I'd really be that happy to see the UK going fully cashless. As things stand now I think a lot of people would be left behind and I don't think age would necessarily have much to do with it.
So does anyone rely solely on their phone for payment, or also take a card as “back-up” in case the phone doesn’t work (even if the card linked is the same)?
I have a £20 note in the iPhone case for the rare occasion I find a cash only cafe or once the card readers were down in Pret and I just bought lunch using Cash, two occasions in the last two years.
I am not the only one whp doesn’t like the idea of my purchasing being recorded?
No it's quite common, but I think there is a divide between those that value that sort of freedom, and those that value the convenience type of freedom, I'm somewhere in between I think, but it irks me when I hear a hint attitude toward anyone that doesn't do absolutely everything on their phone.
No worries with Screwfix, I'd trust them more than I'd trust myself to not drop my phone and watch my ability to function pass before my eyes.
So does anyone rely solely on their phone for payment, or also take a card as “back-up” in case the phone doesn’t work (even if the card linked is the same)?
The card as a back-up in case the phone doesn't work is literally either "I've run out of battery" or "I need to pull cash out of an ATM." I cannot envisage a scenario where a card would work and a phone would not.
Yes. Card reader. Not a bloody phone reader most likely.
Same thing.
I love contactless, hate carrying change, ok with online banking but stall at using a phone to pay, having had a phone nicked I don’t think I’ll ever rely on that one.
Never had a card nicked, then? What's the difference?
I cannot envisage a scenario where a card would work and a phone would not.
Pay at pump at unmanned petrol stations is the obvious one.
Pay at pump at unmanned petrol stations is the obvious one.
Although the bigger fuel chains are adding apps you can pay with your phone from inside the car. Surprised me because I always thought they made their money on the chocolate I didn’t need but picked up anyway rather than fuel.
I think you are absolutely right that 100% cashless leaves a very small minority of people cut off - particularly those who are unable to get an address and prove their identity. But could this be the impetus for government/ society to at least partially fix that crisis so that they can get accounts, then help get benefits (which have long ago gone cashless afaik) and potential to dig yourself out of the pit that society has left you in?
@CountZero - if you are still waiting for a new card - a number of banks have a facility in their mobile app where you can get emergency cash from a cash point using the app to prove your identity. Usually only cash machines from their own / closely linked banks not all link machines - but potentially helpful when your cast is frozen/lost/nicked and the branch is shut.
Same thing
Unfortunately not. I was confronted by a parking ticket machine on Monday that had a notice on it saying "Contactless cards only, no Google Pay or Apple Pay". I had no cash on me and no cards - luckily Mrs OWG had a card with her.
the impetus for government/ society to at least partially fix that crisis so that they can get accounts, then help get benefits (which have long ago gone cashless afaik) and potential to dig yourself out of the pit that society has left you in?
are you an expat in another country ? there's no danger our government will do any of that under ANY circumstances. More so its often not that they are not availible - its that the hoops you have to jump through at prohibative / confusing / too much for folk that have got into that spiral - drug addiction / Anxiety and other mental health problems at often at the root.
ITs not just a case of giving them a phone and telling them to get on with it.
Unfortunately not. I was confronted by a parking ticket machine on Monday that had a notice on it saying “Contactless cards only, no Google Pay or Apple Pay”. I had no cash on me and no cards – luckily Mrs OWG had a card with her.
Getting rarer and rarer though and I suspect they'll add ApplePay etc at some point.
are you an expat in another country ? there’s no danger our government will do any of that under ANY circumstances. More so its often not that they are not availible – its that the hoops you have to jump through at prohibative / confusing / too much for folk that have got into that spiral – drug addiction / Anxiety and other mental health problems at often at the root.
I think the reason they won't do anything is that they simply don't give a shit about those people!
think the reason they won’t do anything is that they simply don’t give a shit about those people!
Much like most of society it seems.
I think the real reason the Tories won't do anything is their traditional support base (blue rinse brigade) want banks etc to keep branches open, so any policy which accepts that that won't happen will be unpopular. Therefore they just ignore the whole issue and occasionally criticise banks for closing branches.
However, they are also encouraging and licensing new online only banks to compete with the traditional platers; thus accelerating the decline of in-person banking with no plan whatsoever to help anyone who can't / won't adapt.
Bit like Brexit, a total contradiction of policies which ensure a loose / loose end game (for the poor and disadvantaged).
Contactless cards only, no Google Pay or Apple Pay”
I don’t claim to understand the technology… but did you try, or just obey the sign?
are you an expat in another country ? there’s no danger our government will do any of that under ANY circumstances. More so its often not that they are not availible – its that the hoops you have to jump through at prohibative / confusing / too much for folk that have got into that spiral – drug addiction / Anxiety and other mental health problems at often at the root.
ITs not just a case of giving them a phone and telling them to get on with it.
No - I'm not on an alien planet... and it may be a bit of wishful thinking. But I've dealt with enough government depts and having to make things inclusive (even at the expense of actually providing an improved service to the majority and leaving the minority with the existing service) that I can completely imagine the Banks saying to govt - we need to get rid of cash; you need to find a way to provide an inclusive service for the left behind. And because banks actually dictate how we work they'll do it. I'm under no illusions they'll do it to fix a problem - they'll do it because the Banks push them to.
But of course, we also aren't necessarily stuck with the same government forever. Different flavours of government might be as easily sold on the idea of closing tax dodges by getting an audit trail on every transaction.
I happen to love the so called 'Evil buy it now button'. It's been keeping me in shiny new toys for years.
Long may it continue 😀
Same thing.
I know but the fact it's not activated for phone payments bugs the hell out of me.
Unfortunately not. I was confronted by a parking ticket machine on Monday that had a notice on it saying “Contactless cards only, no Google Pay or Apple Pay”. I had no cash on me and no cards – luckily Mrs OWG had a card with her.
Technically he's correct, it's just the operator doesn't allow phone payments.
Getting rarer and rarer though
Where do you live? Up here I nearly jizzed myself when I discovered Stirling will be moving from cash only to allowing app payments from this month. Never mind finding a working phone friendly reader.
I don’t claim to understand the technology… but did you try, or just obey the sign?
It never works, ever.
I was confronted by a parking ticket machine on Monday that had a notice on it saying “Contactless cards only, no Google Pay or Apple Pay”.
Did you try it? Did it fail?
I could be wrong but to the best of my understanding, Google Pay on a locked phone is functionally equivalent to a contactless debit card. This claim is akin to saying "contactless cards only, except Halifax cards." If it's factually correct and Google / Apple didn't work then it's only a matter of time, in the same way that 30 years ago we had to find an ATM compatible with our bank card, "hey mate, is there a Link machine nearby?"
On an unlocked phone GPay removes the £45 contactless limit, but I can't see this being a concern in a car park unless you're leaving the country or are in London.
I could be wrong but to the best of my understanding, Google Pay on a locked phone is functionally equivalent to a contactless debit card.
That would be different to ApplePay, you can't buy anything until you activate it with a finger print, face ID or PIN.
I could be wrong but to the best of my understanding, Google Pay on a locked phone is functionally equivalent to a contactless debit card. This claim is akin to saying “contactless cards only, except Halifax cards.”
That's exactly the case here.
Bit of a thread resurrection as I couldn't find my own thread on a similar theme when I could see in my shop that peoples spending habits had permanently switched to contactless.
Wondering if anyone's attitude towards card and contactless payments have changed with the cost of living going up?
My local pub is asking for cash if possible as their card payments have increased dramatically post pandemic.
https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/22874854.pub-near-stroud-pleads-regulars-use-cash/
My daughter has a paper round and gets paid in cash. That is useless for her so she gives me the cash and I transfer money into her account. A few weeks in I find myself with a couple of hundred quid in my wallet, it a pain. I have to find time in my working day and head into town to pay it in to bank. I could do without the hassle.
Interestingly, my 75 year old dad asked me yesterday to help him set up contactless on his phone, he has clicked that it is more secure than cards.
if I see a 'no cards, cash only' sign, I immediately think tax dodge.