As detailed in the story here:

Covid: Cash refusal ‘creeping into UK economy’

What’s people’s thoughts? I know it’s been discussed on here before but the whole thing has definitely accelerated throughout 2020. Lots of places have removed limits for card/contactless payments over the last year and a few places have trialled experimenting with cash-free tills, usually bars and restaurants in bog towns and cities, so wondering what everyone else’s experience is with it all. My old job was delivering the stuff so I have a slightly distorted view of it all but I was doing it long enough to see the decline from everywhere swimming in the stuff back in 2009 with ATM’s everywhere, lots of bank branches around and even lots of the country still paying in cash for their weekly shop down to the last few years where that has mostly gone.

Have you or family/friends embraced or resisted the switch to digital payments?

I genuinely can’t remember the last time I had cash on me! Slightly distorted by the fact I’ve hardly been anywhere recently tho!

the only thing I ever need cash for these days is parking. (although I have about 15 different parking apps on my phone, there is always one that doesn’t)

and the chinese takeaway.

i have noticed a lot of the smaller businesses down here (South Devon) are only taking cash , usually saying there is a problem with the card reader. Make of that what you will.
I don’t think its going away in a hurry

People still use cash?

Most of the time i use a card (or phone) mainly due to ease. I’ve had the same £30 in my wallet since March ’20. I only really go into a bank 3 or 4 times a year, but i’d hate my local branch to close.

When I used to work on site all day i’d always stop and buy a paper for lunch time. Since my job has changed and i’ve been 50:50 on site with no set hours and WFH I’ve also stopped buying a paper too (which i miss)

Only time i have had cash in my hand for the last year has been when selling stuff through facebook and someone turned up to collect.

That and my barber was cash only but i have been once since start of lockdown.

I think its essentail for older people and for private sales of goods but in 20 years I see it gone almost completely.

I always preferred using cash for small purchases as I knew how much I had left that way. Over the last 10 months I’ve probably used cash twice. Partly because of everywhere going card only, partly because the places I used to use cash (coffee shops, street food vans) haven’t been open.

the few places i used cash pre-covid now accept card :0)

positive and negatives, i feel sorry for those on lower income who use cash to budget.

but as a PAYE tax payer, bring it on, those who scotch and dont report income will soon have to.

brexit / covid and this change, will mean higher prices for all :0(

I have £10 in my wallet. It has been there since Dec 2019. I have not honestly used cash for over a year now, happy to see it disappear but would want to see a ‘public’ bank for everyone.

My mum and dad… still get out cash every week from the ATM to spend in the supermarket (where the ATM is).

Cash is just annoying. The sooner it goes, the better. Parking is my biggest gripe, who carries £6.50 on them?

My local chippy has recently got a card machine and started free delivery. I feel like I’m living in the future! 🙂

Yip same here, £30 in my wallet for months and months. We were discussing last night where is all the cash that usually floats around the economy? The ATM’s wont be getting filled as regular as they usually do and majority of cash economies pubs, takeaways will have been shut or gone online.

Last time I spent cash was in November to get a haircut (rapidly approaching overgrown hedge currently) and a parking spot in North Yorks back in December.

It’s a terrible end for a formerly great tennis player.

As a small business I still take cash. And I still pay for things in cash on a regular basis.

Occasionally I’ll get paid (for small jobs) in cash but I think I’ve had a total of £30 in cash in my wallet over the last six months, about a quid in small change there ATM (sic). The last time I had to use cash was for the “pop and shop” parking bay in town, 20p for quarter of an hour or whatever. So it’s really just very small value transactions like that.

In previous discussions the things that I can see staying cash based (legally) are events like fell races – a lot are turn up on the night, pay a couple of quid and grab your number. Your average race organiser isn’t going to have a card reader of any sort (no idea if they are rentable or how much they cost anyway) and some of these races are 50 people max in a good year. They could go on-line pre-booked but being so low key it takes away the ad-hoc nature of them. But increasingly things like this are the exception rather than the rule.

Cashless is, probably, fine for the likes of us, it’s the less advantaged that are likely to struggle.

Saw an article last year about Sweden being all but cashless so it will come.

Pre covid I’d only keep a fiver or tenner in the back of my phone for the pub round after the night ride, and I’d use it for a haircut if I went to the local barber rather than using the family hairdresser when I took the kids.

It’s a shame that just as they got sensible and did waterproof polymer notes I don’t have reason to carry them any more.

Card for everything else, even tradesmen tend to either do email invoice I can pay by card straight away or have one of the little Square or similar readers.

Have even managed to go to the shops a few times now without my wallet at all and decided to trust Apple Pay – no issues so far, no practical limit to how much you can do (unlike contactless cards) and avoids touching a keypad.

I’ll be glad if/when it goes completely.

My gripes:-

Parking machines that don’t take chip and pin or ringgo type services.
I can have it on my phone but they do allow Apple Pay.

Pre covid I’d only keep a fiver or tenner in the back of my phone for the pub round after the night ride,

Fiver or Tenner for a round of drinks!? Was this back in 1982!? 🙂

People unwilling to handle, well anything during a pandemic is hardly a shocker, but cash has always been something a lot of people think is ‘dirty’ because it passes through so many hands.

As for the gradual decline in cash, it’s just one of those slow-changes that is only going one way, some people associate cards with debt, some people like to use cash as a way of managing their spending and yes, some people like to use it as a way to keep their financial affairs private, which for some means private from the Tax Man.

I think cash will still exist for at least another generation (30 years or so) but it will be less and less useful. I suspect within a decade cash might only be issued and accepted by banks and between private individuals.

Cards are more convenient for 99% of people, 99% of the time. I believe you can’t even withdraw your state pension in cash anymore, and if you can use an ATM you can use an EPOS machine.

Only use cash for parking – could use a mobile app, but it is a work phone – and when want to send one of the kids to a corner shop rather than go myself. Could get rid of both of those if needed.

Cannot remember when I last used or needed cash tbh. Maybe a year or so ago. Everything is google pay on my phone and hopefully Garmin pay soon on my watch type thingy.

If a business only takes cash, I don’t use them.
Nowadays tax avoidance is the most likely reason to only take cash.

Actually I keep a tenner in my Evoc waist pack for when Peel cafe can’t get WiFi lol.

People will get all concerned about cash going as card/electronic payment isnt ‘real’, but really, cash isn’t actually something physical, its just a representation of ‘money’ and has no more value than the electronic bank balance.

Less and less people don’t have bank accounts now, and wage payments, purchases going electronic help prevent fraud/spot money laundering/tax evasion etc etc.

I wont loose much sleep when cash goes….

People still use cash?

Local butcher and chippy is cash only, and they’re both the best around, so it’s a necessary evil. I still forget every time though!.

Could get rid of both of those if needed.

Bit harsh on the kids …

Cash dying out certainly won’t stop fraud or tax evasion! There are far cleverer ways for that now – just ask Jeff Bezos!

Some interesting comments on here

I only really go into a bank 3 or 4 times a year, but i’d hate my local branch to close.

Why? I think branches are a relic and the only time I go in to one is when the bank hasn’t brought in decent tech to avoid the need to do so (RBS still don’t allow you to scan that cheque that you elderly aunt sends to the kids at Christmas). Didn’t bother me in the slightest if branch closes

I think its essentail for older people and for private sales of goods

Why do you think that? So many alternatives to cash available. My parents are mid 70’s and never use cash. How old to you have to be to qualify for cash being essential? I sell lots of stuff on Facebook, always ask for PP or transfer payments, no issue.

I regard cash as a pain and happy to see the back of it.

It’ll die a slow death like cheques. Back when I started at Midland Bank all the clearing banks had their own cheque processing systems. As the volume dropped they moved to a single shared service with multiple sites. Now they’re down to one site.

Sweden used to have the most ATMs per capita in Europe in the 90s. Now they’re way down the list as cash is almost dead. No cash = cash van robberies, reduced tax avoidance etc.

Why my dumb as **** credit card provider (Tesco, I’m looking at you) don’t allow Google Pay so you can have it on my phone but they do allow Apple Pay.

Because Apple are hard as nails and use both carrot and stick to get people to do what they want. See the fight that the Australian banks put up to not support Apple Pay before giving in.

It’s useful to pay for parking especially in Anglesey where the pay to park app doesn’t work as there is no mobile or any type of G signal. Grrr Anglesey council

We have a 6 year old who is losing her teeth.
Trying to find a coin to put under her pillow is becoming more difficult as we haven’t had any cash for almost a year.

Does Bezos own the chippy?

100% against it – every time you don’t use cash your paying for it.

This is a HUGE issue for me and has been a big worry over the last year.

I run very small village shop, we have banking facilities on site (post office). Pre 2020 80% of our transactions were cash. Now we are lucky if it’s 10%. What’s the issue? The card machine costs and charges have increased with the card use (predictable) – so I’m now paying upto 2.5% per transaction to the card machine / banks. It’s costing me around £1500 extra. We are a tiny buisness, multiply it across every shop, cafe, etc across the country and it’s a HUGE issue.

On top of that cash withdrawal is massively down, I make a commission when ever someone take cash out, I have to pay every time someone uses the machine.

The banks are taking it in, they ultimately want you to use your card – it keeps cash in the bank rather than your pocket and every time you use your contactless or pin they make a small amount of money.

Regards banking, the postoffice has 12,000 branches where you can bank cash, cheques etc.

Virtually dead here in Sweden. Everything is with card, mobile phone or an app called Swish, in which you can send a fiver (actually slightly more here :)) to a mate for the beer he or she brought, or buy stuff secondhand for example. It’s instant and you can ‘see’ it transfer on your phone.

The only people who want cash are old people or technophobes. But ever they have mobile phones and bank cards.

Totally for it, makes pocket money for kids a little bit tougher though

It’s useful to pay for parking especially in Anglesey where the pay to park app doesn’t work as there is no mobile or any type of G signal. Grrr Anglesey council

i have similar in some of the beaches I surf at in cornwall. now (well, not right now) just pay for parking before I leave the house.

I’m sure that for middle-class people sat on furlough ordering their online shopping from Waitrose, they can’t remember the last time they used cash.

But we’re about to enter the biggest recession this country has ever seen

let’s see how those predictions of our move to a cashless society are looking in twelve months time once the real economy has re-opened, there’s mass unemployment and everyone is skint

Cash is about to make a bigger comeback than vinyl

And a lack of open bank branches won’t be an issue because none of it will be going anywhere near a paying-in counter at the Natwest

ninety something percent cash (by number of transactions)
card only used if i really have to and would genuinely consider the requirement
i haven’t had to touch googlepay etc.

ive no issue with electronic money not being ‘real’ i pay a mortgage, council tax, phone/BB, insurance, mot, bills etc. my income is taxed/NI’d and placed in a bank account. i dont need my personal pattern of life to extend beyond that.

as per monkeyboyjc above, most of the smaller, local retailers appreciate cash

@franksinatra,

I suppsoe it’s a bit of sentimentaility and bit of keeping it open for everyone (the old and technophobes).
I suppose i see it as aprt and parcel of the demise of the high street. For a variety of reasons the high street in teh town i live in is pretty much a ghost town.

Monkeyboyjc, that is interesting view from the other side.

Not questioning your version, just genuinely curious. Do you not have costs associated with cash handling as well? Time spent counting, travel to bank, fraud etc. Not suggesting these offset the card charges completely but they must count for something?

FWIW I wouldn’t notice a 2.5% increase in price on anything, appreciate this isn’t the same for everyone but I would happily pay that for convivence of not having to use cash.

I’ve used Monzo as a cash replacement for the last 5ish years, I send it some money and I can easily monitor how much I have spent or used on a weekly basis. It also does roundup, so it’s like the change pot I had before building up some savings with no effort.

Cash is less useful than it once was but I doubt it will go completely in our lifetime. Lots of Cambridge based restaurants on the Mill Road (one of our most popular roads to find food on) for example are cash only, whether they still exist later this year remains to be seen. I haven’t noticed any dealers with a SumUp machine, but maybe that’s just because I don’t have a dealer.

As for people sending me cheques, what the hell, I’m miles from a place that opens in office hours only where I can pay it in, for the amounts involved is it rude to just shred them?

How do you 100% cashless people transfer your shopping from supermarket to car boot?

As for people sending me cheques, what the hell, I’m miles from a place that opens in office hours only where I can pay it in, for the amounts involved is it rude to just shred them?

barclays app lets you just take a photo of a cheque to pay in now. I assume others are similar.

How do you 100% cashless people transfer your shopping from supermarket to car boot?

go to a supermarket that doesn’t expect you to steal the trolley…