I never use cash anymore, and I never have cash on me.
The landlord in that article (I know the pub too) says that his card processing fees are £550 a month, but I guess that's got to be 'only' pence per transaction (you'll probably know better than me, running a shop as you do). So, if he put the cost of a pint up by 10p and the cost of food dishes up by 50p, that would cover it without anyone of his customers really noticing, wouldn't it?
if I see a ‘no cards, cash only’ sign, I immediately think tax dodge.
And this
A few weeks in I find myself with a couple of hundred quid in my wallet
That's some paper round.
I have to find time in my working day and head into town to pay it in to bank.
When I get cash I just make sure to spend it in the supermarket next time I am there.
On a related note, does anyone write cheques anymore? I just looked at the stubs in my cheque book, its been nearly 5 years since I last wrote one.
no, but I got one the other day. fortunately barclays let you take a photo of it to pay in.
shame they don't do that with banknotes...
if I see a ‘no cards, cash only’ sign, I immediately think tax dodge.
Yip. Or a business about to go bust
Our local has been cashless since it opened. The landlord says that you can't put a price on the mither of not having to cash up at the end of each night, then having to find a bank with a branch still open to go and pay it all in
I get two cheques every three months. They're dividends from US shares and there's no other way of receiving them. The "pay in on your app" function is about 50% successful.
When I get cash I just make sure to spend it in the supermarket next time I am there.
Except the self-scan checkouts are generally card only. Which means I usually end up keeping hold of it until I buy something off Facebook marketplace. Works out well TBH, I've just got a mental list of bike/boat things I'm likely to need in the next 6-months or so and keep an eye out for so it's saving a few quid Vs new prices and keeping stuff out of landfill.
And in my local supermarket (Lidl) there's never a queue for self scan compared to the long wait for someone who hasn't clicked that the reason there's no packing area at checkout is because you're not supposed to faff around packing there.
On a related note, does anyone else remember supermarkets with a divider after the cashier. Allowing them to scan through your shopping at warp speed, take payment, flick the divider across and get on with the next person. It was a thing at least up until I worked in a supermarket ~2000.
I think cash is great & use it regularly for small payments in shops & pubs etc Also, I've written 3 cheques this year (car finance, solicitors & wedding gift).
When tech goes wrong it's always handy to have some cash about you, reminds me of a mate who was shopping in sainsburys when there was a power cut, shoppers leaving their half filled trolleys in droves - he offered £50 cash what he had in his & they accepted, saved him a few ££ and saved them emptying another trolley load back onto the shelves.
his card processing fees are £550 a month
at least its "cash if you can", and to the regulars.
lets be honest, unless this was publicised prior to me leaving the house, how many of us are carrying enough cash to cover a family pub meal around on the off chance of this occuring? Who even carries a wallet anymore?
Phone is on me at all times.
Will take the credit card, nectar/whatever card, driving licence if I think there will be a chance I need them.
If I am specifically forewarned of the need for cash, I'll withdraw some from the sock draw super secret secure safe.
On a relatednote, last week I drove past a road side protest. they seemed to have combined a number of conspiracy theories in to one protest to save time and money; so there were a number of signs relating to lockdowns, vaccines which were somehow both placebo and containing a birth control; and so on. (I think they stopped short of space lizards)
Plus one sign urging people to use cash not card to avoid something or other, probably Boris Liz coming round and asking why you were buying such hideous clothes. If thats the sort of people that love cash, I'm happy to be contactless.
but I guess that’s got to be ‘only’ pence per transaction
Thought it was a bit naive of him putting that out publicly as you can work out his rough monthly take on cards £550 at between 1.5 and 2% of sales = could be upto 27.5k......
Except the self-scan checkouts are generally card only.
The older machines did, newer ones are card only
That was the only way us socially anxious could get rid of our change. Tip it all in the little hopper, and then pay the balance on card. Luckily I rarely have change to get rid of any more.
Plus one sign urging people to use cash not card to avoid something or other
has no-one told them about the nano-bots embedded in the notes that shed into your pocket lining...
So, if the card processing fee is 2%, then I'm pretty much bang on at sticking 50p on a £15 meal and 10p on a £4 pint to cover it, and no-one really noticing
Hate to say it but they would notice it - it's part of the current cost of living going up post pandemic...... It's already being passed on.
I've had to increase my costs about 18months ago to compensate, the pub has only really seen this cost increase this year in comparison to 2019.
Hate to say it but they would notice it
Fair enough, you're closer to it than me.
Hate to say it but they would notice it – it’s part of the current cost of living going up post pandemic…… It’s already being passed on.
The business might notice the total at the end of the month.
But for most people, if they can afford to go out for a meal then will they pick the Lasagne and salad at £12.49 instead of the Cod and Chips at £12.99 to save 2%, if not, would they notice if they were £12.99 and £13.49? If people can't afford to go out for a meal then they can't afford to go out for meal, it's the ~£11 markup between ingredients and restaurant prices that causes that, not the 25p transaction fee.
Same reason I stopped buying frothy coffee in the work canteen, at £1.50 a pop it's not bad but it's ~£40/month I could easily save. I didn't swap the Latte to a cappuccino to save 5p, I just got a cafetiere, coffee and milk from the supermarket.
sirromj
I’ve never used my mobile to make a payment. I don’t use my mobile for online banking. Saying that, it’s become quite rare that I use cash. Chip shop today, barber the other week. But always card in the supermarket, or pay online and collect/deliver. Agree with others, I don’t want to have too much convenience to make purchases. As I’ve got older obviously gained some self discipline around money, but still feel more comfortable with a few small safeguards to delay any impulsive decisions on what I ‘really really need right now’.
Very similar to me... though I did have Apple pay once a few years ago. Had to cancel when my phone broke and never put it back.
I do use the card in the supermarket and fuel but barbers and also anything treaty like a coffee out I pay cash. I find it far easier to keep track of what I spend on frivolous stuff if I pay cash (doesn't matter what except its frivolous)... the rest on proper food etc. (overwhelming majority) has to be spent anyway so i pay by card.
I bought some beer and chocolate drink mix at the supermarket Monday evening and paid separately in cash to the shopping.
I use my phone for most payments now. Instant tracking of spend and no need for receipts as it's all saved. That said, I am still a cash user - plenty of places where it's needed. Eg reunion bar at the weekend, but I expected that.
From the other side having done a few fundraising bbqs over the summer, yeah there was a fee, but I wonder how many burger/hot dogs sales we would have lost out on without the card machine. One was a music festival, and the later it got, the more card/phone sales we got. The only hassle, except fee, was that we had a 3g one. It wasn't particularly quick and the signal was rubbish, but I'd still take that over no sale.
Our village vet requires all owners to wear masks as a Covid prevention measure but only accepts cash as the card provider charges such a large commission but this is rural Cataluña so anythings possible.
Yak
One was a music festival, and the later it got, the more card/phone sales we got. The only hassle, except fee, was that we had a 3g one. It wasn’t particularly quick and the signal was rubbish, but I’d still take that over no sale.
I get that from your side but from the other side that was probably mostly people spending money they don't have.
Similar situation accumulating cash from kid’s birthdays, presents etc and transferring from my account. I find it very difficult to spend it. Don’t even visit the supermarket these days so hoard until it’s worth going to bank to deposit. Everything is done via Monzo now so don’t even need kitties any more for holidays, biking trips etc.
Use cash as much as possible and am sure that other customers find me a pita. Found it an interesting and positive experience after I'd done this a few times, makes you question whether the purchase was really necessary or simply frippery. Never pay for anything with a phone and wouldn't know how to anyway. Am concerned about CBDC so using cash gives me some semblance of control in a minor way.
We don’t have CBDC in the UK. Not sure how using cash impacts that.
Over the last 3 months I have tested my phone payment to the max. As I seem to be retired at the moment I've been on a big road trip in the UK.
In early August I was staying in Horsham and got the train into London, on the bus to the station I dropped my debit card and within 5 minutes I realised it was missing so using my banking App cancelled it immediately. Since then I have just used my phone for every payment while travelling 3000 miles and the only time I had a problem was my own fault filling up with petrol in Helmsley as I had put the phone into low power mode that turns off wireless pay.
In the last 3 months the only physical money I have had on me is a pound coin for supermarket trolleys.
I like the way my App notifies me of every payment within seconds (Barclays) and the spending tools are really useful in seeing how things are going.
My In Laws still drive 10 miles each way to get cash out and spend it in shops that take cards which they have Oh and every so often the MiL reports the FiL has left £50 plus in his pocket and its been through the wash (real money laundering)
I like the way my App notifies me of every payment within seconds (Barclays) and the spending tools are really useful in seeing how things are going.
this is the best function. Well, that and the fingerprint security.
The OP (a year ago admittedly) was talking about people paying for stuff and not taking a receipt. By the time I have politely declined a piece of curly paper to stuff in my pocket, my watch has normally buzzed telling me how much I just spent.
I go through my CC statement every month. But dear god do people still go through their wallet and add up all their paper receipts?
We don’t have CBDC in the UK. Not sure how using cash impacts that.
Not yet. It will be coming, when I don't know.
Have spotted a lot more people paying by cash at the supermarkets and petrol stations, of all ages so it's not just the oldies going back to cash for budgeting purposes.
Our local has been cashless since it opened. The landlord says that you can’t put a price on the mither of not having to cash up at the end of each night, then having to find a bank with a branch still open to go and pay it all in
Lots of businesses that handle significant amounts of cash get it collected by a security van, pubs are a big user of it. I used to do it as my old job and for sub-£7k collections it cost £13, so less than sending a member of staff to the local bank and back for lots of customers. I haven't done the job for 2 years now but ex-colleagues who are still there say small pickup trade is booming right now after it pretty much died off last year. People are switching back to cash to help with budgeting (or to keep the real spend in the pub away from the other half...).
The only time I ever have cash is when I pay the MiL's leccy bill. It gets stuffed into my wallet and swapped for Euros when we go abroad. Always pay on my phone these days, haven't used a card for ages.
I pay our cat sitter in cash and that's pretty much it. I have an emergency £20 in my phone case, for cafes etc which don't take cards and think I've had to use it twice since the pandemic started....
Lots of businesses that handle significant amounts of cash get it collected by a security van, pubs are a big user of it. I used to do it as my old job and for sub-£7k collections it cost £13, so less than sending a member of staff to the local bank and back for lots of customers. I haven’t done the job for 2 years now but ex-colleagues who are still there say small pickup trade is booming right now after it pretty much died off last year. People are switching back to cash to help with budgeting (or to keep the real spend in the pub away from the other half…).
Surely that's only really saving you the trip to the bank though. It doesn't get you out of all the cashing up at the end of the night and having to store it until the van comes round the next day.
Just spent 2 days in Iceland (transit to USA). Didn’t spend, touch or even see a single physical ISK. Which was a thoroughly good thing. Been in USA for 24h, ditto, though I don’t expect that to last and we do have some dollars with us.
Why would anyone want to use physical money these days?
Card is clearly preferred but the majority of people. I manage a lot of unattended payment kiosks, where we offer cash and card payment (cash payment is both coin and notes and the machines give change) card usage is between 60% and 85%. We recently made significant improvements to card payment availability, saw quite a marked shift in the payment ratio further towards card as payment availability got to 99%. This is hundreds of thousands of transactions a week, across the country, many locations where we have a demographic skewed towards older or low income users. Not what we expected when we started tracking the data.
Cash resurgence is real but it's also lazy journalism, there's a lot of people who don't want to let go but the reality is cash is on a downwards trajectory. As the older generations die out and are replaced by digital savvy kids the decline of cash will speed up.
but the reality is cash is on a downwards trajectory. As the older generations die out and are replaced by digital savvy kids the decline of cash will speed up.
+1
The sooner the better.
if I see a ‘no cards, cash only’ sign, I immediately think tax dodge.
I normally just go somewhere else. I've pretty much stopped shopping in the local town centre because nowhere accepts cards and I've no time for messing around with cash. Makes me wonder if they ever consider how much they lose from lost business.
There is a rise in ‘no cash, contactless only’ retailers in Manchester. Mostly coffee shops and cafes, but the switch is coming.
Brains tried that in their pubs in Cardiff back in 2019, worked for a while but they quickly had to go back to cash payment availability on Rugby days as there were lots of issues with people not having cards! Agree though, cashless is coming in the next generation or so.
Surely that’s only really saving you the trip to the bank though. It doesn’t get you out of all the cashing up at the end of the night and having to store it until the van comes round the next day.
You can rent a machine that does it for you actually, you just feed the cash in and it does the rest. Some customers actually have it with a live feed and it's classed as 'in the bank' that day. It only eases the burden of cash but there are a lot of businesses and customers who won't give the stuff up! It's all a solution to the lack of bank branches rather than a complete system, sort of a halfway step.
if I see a ‘no cards, cash only’ sign, I immediately think tax dodge.
Indeed! On the other hand, a self-employed plasterer mate boycotts those enlightened business that don't take cash. I can't imagine why he would do that 🤔😉
I was in 2 pubs last week that wouldn't accept card payment. Cash only
Did those pubs have flat roofs?
Everywhere I've been recently has taken contactless payments, I'd be pretty stuck if they only took cash, I don't live in the cash economy and the number of cash points is also dropping. Many that are left charge a stupid amount to take money out.
I really don’t understand the idea that using cash is better for budgeting. Whatever you’re planning to spend it on costs the same regardless. Self control and a spreadsheet takes care of budgeting. Cash is a massive pain in the arse in my opinion. Not used it for years and don’t intend to start again for any reason.
There’s a special place in hell for the people that message you when you’re selling something and ask “How much if I pay cash?” More, I’ll charge you more because I’ll have to take it to a bank to put it in my account and that’s top fun and a superb use of my time.
I really don’t understand the idea that using cash is better for budgeting.
I do understand this, TBH. When you pay cash you physically hand something over, and physically have less of that thing following the transaction, so the act of spending the money has an obvious, immediate effect. That's quite a thing, psychologically speaking. Plus, if you have a fixed amount of cash for the day/week/month, it's much easier to keep track of than phone apps and spreadsheets, again, mainly because of the physicality and immediacy of it all.
budgeting means different things to different people.
for some, its looking at your bank statement or spreadsheet and realising youve spent £90 in starbucks this month, then making the effort to go less next month.
for someone else it might be having £40 left til payday, so you take £20 to the pub and leave £20 in the sock draw for next weeks supermarket.
personally I dont get the phsycological aspect to handing over cash, but we are all wired different.
I really don’t understand the idea that using cash is better for budgeting.
I can see this, you have a wad of cash and when it's gone you have nothing until you next get paid / Giro cashes etc.
You really want a contactless app which flashes up what you have before and after each debit. Currently it's a bit vacuous, you could be overdrawn or have £20k in your account and it looks the same.
for some, its looking at your bank statement or spreadsheet and realising youve spent £90 in starbucks this month, then making the effort to go less next month.
I think that works differently for different demographics though.
I'll admit that when I'm out of work my wallet is bulging with cash because I'll usually sell bikes/parts, get cash and subconsciously that's all my money until the next payday. When working and paid regularly it's generally empty. So it does work. But at the same time I'm not generally one to spend every penny I have in the good times either so I'm not entirely the one the advice is aimed at.
You really want a contactless app which flashes up what you have before and after each debit. Currently it’s a bit vacuous, you could be overdrawn or have £20k in your account and it looks the same.
i'm currently moving from barclays to monzo. the barclays app is good but the monzo is better. automatically categorises spending, tells me if I'm spending more than usual etc.
its not hard to check but some people (my wife mostly) prefer not to know...