kids pocket money, via an app that you pay for… wow.

This always makes me laugh. My lad has a nationwide account with debit card, so we can just pay pocket money or bus fares in there and he can use it contactless with no fees.

I hardly use cash these days, annoys the hell out of me when we need to pay for parking somewhere that doesn’t use an app these days!! need to remember to leave some change in the car…

Amex charges for me are around £1.5 to £3 a month! I’ve had bills for 19p in the past and they send an invoice and a seperate DD notice from France in the post!

That’s because it’s the law. If you asked them, you could do it all online. A lot of the issues that you’re raising about accepting cards could be addressed if you wanted to do something about it. Switch to a cheaper provider, online servicing etc

You can still support local businesses by shopping with them and paying by card.

Also 2.5 is my ‘worst’ card on Amex – to be fair it’s usually around 1.2 < 1.5 for most debit cards.

I have a corporate Amex, and loads of people refused to accept it. Then one day I pointed at the Amex sticker on the door and they said that they could accept it but would rather not because they lose too much money. Which is fair enough on their part as I had another option.

Amex are crap. However my new card is contactless which makes me wonder if the charges are different. Contactless is a different scheme generally.

Thought it worth picking this post apart

online banking, yeah all great till your laptop picks up a virus, bad one, scan ongoing, and half your ‘access’ is cut off (same for power or BB outages) with the extra paranoia in the next few days that anything i have accessed in recent days is potentially compromised and needs securing

I hardly ever use my laptop for banking, I use an app which always works. My watch pays for things without any sort of network connection. Bank branches are closed more than they are open and much more frequently than internet banking services are down. Cash machines run out of cash or are offline more frequently.

take cash out of the bank and shop local, else soon you wont have those options… someone mentioned lazy stereotyping earlier, well to say that any local business that likes cash/has a broken card machine is tax dodging….

I shop local using contactless and, as I said before, more likely to spend money if I can do it instantly and not have to have my wallet on my or go to cash point. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest if I do not have the option to use a bank branch, I don’t agree with you connecting this to loss of local shops.

– kids pocket money, via an app that you pay for… wow.>

I know, it great isn’t it? I give my kids a app which helps them to budget, plan and spend using the same type of technology that will be essential to their daily lives as they become adults. I have complete parental control so I can keep them safe. Why do I apy for it? Because the main banks seem woefully behind the curve here and only offer stripped down versions of adult accounts, nothing smart at all.

It certainly is dying out driven by banks to make more profit. Still happily use cash and I’m not even a coke dealer. But if you interested Instagram is a hive of dealing and most happily accept bank transfers or so a friend tells me.
Edit: PayPal not bank transfer

However my new card is contactless which makes me wonder if the charges are different. Contactless is a different scheme generally.

No it isn’t. It’s a different form of acceptance (as are wallet transactions), but the underlying payment method is still the card.

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

Coin trolleys are so they don’t have to pay people to collect trolleys.

– online banking, yeah all great till your laptop picks up a virus

Can’t remember the last time I had any virus and it would be very unlikely to compromise bank security. If it was an issue I’d just use my phone, tablet or one of the other laptops.

Plus, as mentioned, most bank use some kind of two-factor authentication such as a physical card reader.

– kids pocket money, via an app that you pay for… wow.

Your paying for the bank account, card services and app.

Cash is dying for kids too: pretty hard to spend cash in online games, amazon etc. My daughter isn’t allowed to carry more than £10 cash at school, but a card is fine.

It certainly is dying out driven by banks to make more profit.

I thought it was being driven by a combination of improved convenience and a global pandemic. Silly me.

the charges for using contactless are generally the same as traditional card, however the amex discount rate has dropped significantly in recent years – its now mostly on a par with visa and mastercard, as they’re trying to gain acceptance rates (which in the US are again, mostly on a par with both of them)

incidentally, card fees as a whole are trending down as an attempt to stop market disrupters stealing all the card business (as they have in a lot of markets). They will over time effectively trend to zero, and banks will have to make their money in other ways

Not really, by paying in cash your keeping 100% of that money local. Paying by card/phone/watch a percentage goes to the international conglomerates.

You’ve said on this very thread that you take the cash to the bank daily? If you grabbed wadges of 20s out the till to pay cash directly to the drivers that deliver your stock I would change my mind, but I’m pretty sure you dont.

I do feel for someone in your situation, as a small business, where you are getting charged on your income, not your profits; and more importantly you are having to do both things in parallel (cash and card) to keep all customers happy, and thus you must deal with the disadvantages of both systems.

Consumers/customers are free to pick the one they want, and the vast majority of the people on this thread seem to like the benefits of card payment.

Cash is also dying in schools – I have to put dinner money on Parent Pay for my kids.

Even back in the 1980s in my school dinner money was used to buy a dinner card once a fortnight. Children on free school meals just got the cards without handing over cash, so no-one knew.

Really interesting reading about the kid’s pocket money/school lunch things with cards and apps etc. As I don’t have kids I hadn’t thought about that angle! It does make sense on a few levels: parental control, teaches financial budgeting (a very good thing IMO), reduces theft issues and the free school dinners angle is interesting too. I was a receiver of free school meals for a short time back in high school and got bullied for it (more than normal) when I was spotted going to the reception hatch for my weekly vouchers and using them at the till, when everyone has a digital card that issue disappears completely.

@monkeyboyjc – your situation sounds very unique and if it works for you then great but the vast majority of businesses don’t have that option so have to either make a special trip to the bank to deposit their cash or pay a security company to collect it from the premises on a regular basis. the cost of either of these is a direct cut to the bottom line not to mention the security risks involved.

@reluctantjumper I’ve 10+ buisness within a mile all who accept cash, all rarely bank it with me at the PO, most if not a come in the shop regularly (daily). They could bank it but decide not too… Various reasons, but mainly because they pay suppliers with it rather than Bacs.

I’ll be awkard. Cash is so handy.
Easiest way to transfer funds. Even more crucial if internet banking is not wanted. What a complete ball ache that is. Switching on computer, looking for passwords, wondering why the hell the buttons don’t do what you want.
Less traumatic to lose than a card as you don’t have to wait for a bank to send you a new one. So you lose a few quid. Just how often does it happen?
Easier to keep track of. It is in you hand or not.
More reliable when dealing with strangers.
Easier to carry. A fiver wraps nicely around a light battery and just buys two pints. You can screw a note up into your sock or under an insole.
Don’t even mention phones. I have a mobile but god knows where it is. Haven’t tried to use it since going to France in May 2019.
Of course not talking about thousands or even hundreds.

Personally I’d be quite keen to go down the Swedish route of eventualy phasing cash out entirely and ensuring everyone has a bank account and the skills to use it.

Cash just seems like imperial weights now, something archaic which should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

I’ll be awkard. Cash is so handy.
Easiest way to transfer funds…. etc.

Wow!!

Easier to carry. A fiver wraps nicely around a light battery and just buys two pints. You can screw a note up into your sock or under an insole.

Where is this pub? Must have been 10 years ago I was annoyed when my local cricket club bar (the cheapest places, generally) went from 2.50 to 2.60 and left you with loads of stupid change.

You know what else is convenient, and has less foot smell? A smart watch (they literally wrap around your wrist) or mobile phone (nicely pocket shaped, and diificult to lose), and you dont have to remember to replenish your stash after each use either.

Just another attack on the poor. Not accepting cash should be illegal – as it is in New York (ISTBC).

Fine for the stereotype STW member, but out in the real world there are plenty of financially compromised people who find budgeting far simpler with a given amount of real cash for the week.

Good Devil’s Advocaat @mattsccm but..

internet banking is not wanted. What a complete ball ache that is. Switching on computer, looking for passwords,

In the 90’s maybe. These days I just log into the app on my phone using my fingerprint. Done. Damn sight easier than searching for my deposit book and/or making a trip into a branch.

Less traumatic to lose than a card as you don’t have to wait for a bank to send you a new one.

Online banking app allows me to withdraw cash from an ATM without a card. And Apple Pay allows me to pay by card.. without a card.

More reliable when dealing with strangers.

Paying by card gives you certain guarantees and a proof of purchase Cash doesn’t.

Don’t even mention phones. I have a mobile but god knows where it is. Haven’t tried to use it since going to France in May 2019.

You are my dad and I claim my £5.

Also.. please come home.

Just another attack on the poor.

Several people have mentioned that universal free banking should be a requirement of a cash-free society. That seems more forward looking than trying to insist everywhere takes cash.

Would be interesting to see what happens with drug dealers if cash was to die out.

I genuinely can’t remember the last time I used cash for anything, so from a personal point of view it would make no difference to me if it disappeared.
There are definitely plenty of people out there to whom it is important though, particularly the less privileged.

Would be interesting to see what happens with drug dealers if cash was to die out.

Well they might end up paying tax on their earnings, although the low level guys probably don’t cross the threshold anyway.
Just need to set themselves up as a ‘barber’ or ‘home cleaner’ or something that gives them a plausible reason to have many payments.
Plus they’ll be able to charge a price commensurate with the goods, rather than splitting their product into amounts worth 20/50/etc pounds.

Ive got no real issue with drug users or their dealers; unless they steal from other people to pay for it.

Attack on the poor is only if you want it to be. Do you know what is an attack on the poor? Cash.

One of the best ways to tell how nice an area is, is by looking at the cash machines. If it gives out fivers, it’s a bad area. If it claims to give divers but never has any in stock it’s worse. If it charges you for withdrawals, it’s a really bad area. People with little access to transportation are stuck with their only access to cash being atms that charge, and when they only take out a small amount each week because it’s all they have, they get a lot more of the fixed charges.
Got £9.82 in your account and go to a machine that doesn’t do fivers or has run out? No food for you.
Poor but in work? Most likely to have a job where you can’t just nip to the bank at lunch time
Not to mention being poor often means living somewhere with a higher chance of being victim of burglary or mugging. Keep your months wages in the sock draw in untraceable and uninsurable cash?

If any thread was to be nominated as the one which demonstrates what STW is all about, this one would be a front runner…

There are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people across the country who use cash everyday, who don’t have access to internet banking, who get paid in cash. They might be older people, they might not be as mobile as most, they may not have a local bank, they might not have a smart phone.

Cash works. It has continued to work for many, many years and should have a place in society regardless of the tech savvy…

Fortunately here in the Vaterland people are very cashless averse.

I very rarely use my card (partly because the banks charge 31c for each transaction…. regardless of whether I’m buying something, taking money out or even funds being deposited into my account!). I’ll only use it if I’ve not got the cash on me. Generally I’ll go to the bank (my specific bank as using other ATMs costs me about €6… it’s like banking in the UK 1990s style) and draw out a grand and visit the bank again once it’s depleted.

Have recently been getting lots of cash jobs. I like cash jobs.

Fortunately here in the Vaterland people are very cashless averse.

I very rarely use my card (partly because the banks charge 31c for each transaction…. regardless of whether I’m buying something, taking money out or even funds being deposited into my account!). I’ll only use it if I’ve not got the cash on me. Generally I’ll go to the bank (my specific bank as using other ATMs costs me about €6… it’s like banking in the UK 1990s style) and draw out a grand and visit the bank again once it’s depleted.

Have recently been getting lots of cash jobs. I like cash jobs.

Sorry – to me all that sounds like a advert as to why I’m all for not having to bother with cash!

Sorry – to me all that sounds like a advert as to why I’m all for not having to bother with cash!

When I was back in the UK I used my card for everything as it was so easy. Coffees, beers, the tube, everything…. Say 5-10 transactions a day.

My bank statement for one month was three pages long!

If I were to use my card for all transactions here in Germany the charges would be crazy!

Just to pick up on the internet banking point, not everyone can use it. I used to be able to but now can’t.
I eventually joined the modern world and got it set up, used it for a couple of years.
Then recently my bank changed the login procedure, instead of just a password I now put the password in and it then sends a code to my mobile telephone.
I have no phone signal. By the time I can get anywhere to get one and got back again the bank website has timed out. I can use it at work, signal in town, but there must be loads of people in rural areas who just can’t do it.

Anyway, I pay for most stuff by card but cash is just so useful for small, non-business transactions. For example my running club, put a quid in the pot each training session. Simple. Sold something on Ebay or whatever? Cash on collection, pretty secure, you’ve got the cash, very hard to do any scams. And no you can’t do a bank transfer (see above)

These days I just log into the app on my phone using my fingerprint. Done. Damn sight easier than searching for my deposit book and/or making a trip into a branch.

Serious question.
Say you get mugged. Mugger takes your card and demands PIN. You have the option to tell him rather than be stabbed. Once everything uses fingerprints what’s to stop the real nasty muggers chopping a finger off to use it? Sometimes less secure is safer

Cash is so handy.
Easiest way to transfer funds.

Is it bollocks.

Buy something expensive for cash, see how convenient that is. A car or something.

I think there is one of those divides on this issue. Those who work in corporate environments seem ecstatic and can’t wait (OMG money is such a pain blah blah), the rest not so much.

It’s a favourite telly box news feature thing about every fives years or so with jubilant reporters, banking people and government officials claiming a glorious new dawn is imminent.

They seem so desperate to get the public on side.

Digital cash can be traced by authorities.

Cash will always be popular among certain groups.

Last time I used cash was November 2019

GrahamS if you report the card missing to your bank it ceases to work and won’t allow Apple Pay either.

Once everything uses fingerprints what’s to stop the real nasty muggers chopping a finger off to use it? Sometimes less secure is safer

I don’t have a fingerprint scanner on my phone, maybe they’ll just cut my face off instead…

Retina scanners are the way to go but it’s felt that folk would be less keen to put their face up to an ATM/Card Reader than to use their fingers so it’s always been ruled out.

Once everything uses fingerprints what’s to stop the real nasty muggers chopping a finger off to use it?

I think you’ve been watching too many Guy Ritchie movies 🤣

if you report the card missing to your bank it ceases to work and won’t allow Apple Pay either

Not claiming that hasn’t happened, but there is no reason (either technical or fraud) for that to happen, just poor quality systems at a given bank