Cashless conspiracies

Noticing this gaining traction in that it isn’t just random posts on Facebook groups anymore but actually people I know.

Has this taken over now all the nonsense around COVID has lost momentum?

Anyone got a load of £20 notes shoved under the mattress? I feel that if the global online banking world collapsed I’d be better off with beans and weapons…

I’ve probably got about £100 in cash, mainly because I sold some bike bits and haven’t had occasion to use it yet!

Nope. Mainly because I have no idea what you’re asking about. Probably a social media phenomenon as you say.

As a shop keeper we are charged when you use your credit card.
When there is no cash YOU will be charged to use your card.

I’m not a fan of the cashless society drift myself but no idea what conspiracies you speak of?

It’s mad the sort of things people that you assumed were fairly sorted and intelligent get sucked into these days. Recently in the pubs with some cycling friends and mentioned that I’d seen some bonkers cloud seeding/ contrail rubbish on social media and one person sticks their hand up and says that’s not rubbish, we’ all being duped. Within 5 minutes one who’s a successful businessman with kids in public school and a wife who’s a gp says he’s voted remain and is a bona fide trump supporter, thinks trumps record on the economy is better than Biden and that truss was misunderstood! Another outwardly sensible guy I know says the world health organisation are taking over the world and need stopping. I’m half expecting a flat earther to come out soon!

The only conspiracy I can believe in is that the Chinese / Russians et al are spreading conspiracy theories via a largely unregulated social media ecosystem to seed general discord and mistrust of governments in the West.

I’ve not even seen cash for ages. It’s just a PITA and something extra to carry about and lose. Don’t miss it at all. As for shopkeepers being charged, how long did cashing up used to take compared to now? Taking the bagged up cash to the post office, messing about with small change etc.

The only conspiracy I can believe in is that the Chinese / Russians et al are spreading conspiracy theories via a largely unregulated social media ecosystem to seed general discord and mistrust of governments in the West.

That’s a really valid point. They are constantly and consistently up to all manner of **** in the digital space.

There’s also an irony sitting within their disinformation as a cashless, digital currency would play to their desire to control their populations even more.

To create a large group of morons, first start with a small group of morons.

I took €200 across to France in case I needed cash at any point. And came back with €200.

I carry an “emergency” £10 note in my bike saddlebag and I think it’s more likely to be used as a tyre boot.

Cash just doesn’t feature in my day to day life whatsoever.

As a shop keeper we are charged when you use your credit card

Aha. Found someone I can ask…. Can you tell us what rate the card sharps charge please.   Been dying to know if the local takeaway has a valid point or is just dodging tax.

It does the rounds every now and then. Usually it’s the pile of £50 notes and nonsense about it still worth £50 when various shops and trades have used it. Completely ignoring the fact it has to be declared and it costs money, time and trust to take the cash to a bank.

There’s a reason many places are now card only, it eliminates the risk loss, people spend more, practically everyone has a card or device to pay with and you don’t need to worry about having the right amount.

The bar I occasionally helped in sales rocketed when we added cards, it costs very little to run and use. The card sales or at least 90% over cash and people rarely even mention cash.

There’s also an irony sitting within their disinformation as a cashless, digital currency would play to their desire to control their populations even more. ?

Also, particularly with places like China, I can see crypto (as in a digital yuan rather than for example bitcoin)  becoming a thing so that every single transaction ever is traceable. Here I think it will be a bit less of an issue but again I can see the government pushing cashless as a way of helping cut down on tax evasion, without considering what a pain in the arse getting rid of cash will be for a lot of people.

There are loads of different card companies out there.

Since covid, the competition has really squeezed the rates.

The bank charges me a very similar amount to pay cash into a business account, as the card companies charge me in fees.

However, a lot depends on your turnover, if you are turning over £100k+, then the fees are very low.

Debit cards are cheaper than credit cards. I pay 2.5p on each transaction, then about 0.8% on the amount of the transaction.

So £20 will cost less than 20p in fees.

There are a number of places round here that are cash only. They don’t get my business.

I don’t even take cards out with me most of the time.

surely the card fee thing is offset by cashing up/banking fees, unless it’s not being declared?

The generalist..
We have an exceptionally good deal ..
1p transaction fee
0.8 credit card
0.6 debit
Business cards and some foreign are 2%
We probably pay around 3k a year in fees.

@zippykona Who’s your card provider?

Genuine question, before card payment was the norm, how much of your time did cash handling take? Cashing up, taking it to be deposited, getting change etc. what would that be in terms of an hourly rate over a year?

“I carry an “emergency” £10 note in my bike saddlebag and I think it’s more likely to be used as a tyre boot.”

I used my emergency  £10 from the bike last week as the pub was affected by the big outage and was cash only.  I was in a cash only pub last year. No cash no pint.

I use a mixture of cash and card. I get annoyed at card only places. Only use them when no choice like a local wedding venue for example or the SEC.

“surely the card fee thing is offset by cashing up/banking fees, unless it’s not being declared?£

Mixture of not declaring and using cash to buy stock I suspect.  At Costco I see many people paying with a huge roll of  £20 notes.

Been dying to know if the local takeaway has a valid point or is just dodging tax.

Tax dodge pure and simple. Cash also costs as you need to float the till and carry small denomination change as well as cash up and bank the cash.

There’s a small group in society who genuinely rely on cash to budget but when 85% of transactions are card its not many. I manage hundreds of payment points, even on the ones that give change 85% is still card. When the cash part goes out of service (not uncommon lots of complex moving parts) we see almost 100% switch to card so for most people using cash is a stubborn choice not a necssity.

When there is no cash YOU will be charged to use your card.

I’d rather pay the fees than piss about with coins.

The card reader I use charges 1.75% on each transaction but I have to wait 2 working days for the cash to reach my account.

Aha. Found someone I can ask…. Can you tell us what rate the card sharps charge please.   Been dying to know if the local takeaway has a valid point or is just dodging tax.

I have a little launderette and two methods of contactless payment

SumUp I use for face to face payments only take 1.79% and will pay out daily if you like

The system I have installed for self service use charges 3% plus £12 per month per terminal (that I had to buy at around £450 each) and does not pay out until half way through the following month.  Somewhat more pricey

I like the convenience of card payments but wouldn’t like to see the fees increase.

Cash handling creates costs for banks as well.  The more business cash being banked the more staff etc needed to handle it.  Those costs are passed onto customers of the bank one way or another

I prefer cash.  Research has shown that us oldies need to use our mental faculties regularly or we lose them.  Working out what notes and coins to use to make up the price does this.  So I have science on my side!

But I would use a card in a busy bar as it is less hassle for the staff, so my friendly local bar person tells me.

Do you take cash to the bank every day? If not that also takes at least 2 days to reach your account.

… Personally I don’t take a wallet with me most of the time – only take a wallet/cards when it would be a massive ball ache if phone payment wouldn’t work – on a big night out etc.  I just use my phone.  I have an emergency couple of tenners in my climbing bag tho – and when I’m out on my bike

I got my van serviced last week and did a bank transfer to Dave them the charges for using a card. I’m happy to pay cash when using small businesses. My friend owns a cafe and their income is shockingly low. They rarely take holidays and provide a really good service to the community so if paying in cash helps then it’s not a big deal for me. I like using cash as it helps me keep track of what I’m spending, especially on holiday.

@gobuchul we are with Worldpay

and in checking we pay

1p transaction fee

0.73 credit

0.44 debit

I use a mixture of cash and card. I get annoyed at card only places.

Why do you get annoyed about card-only when you use cards?

As a shop keeper we are charged when you use your credit card.

When there is no cash YOU will be charged to use your card

As a shop keeper you are charged to bank cash.

When you don’t take card we are charged a hell of a lot more to withdraw cash.

So your point is?

This isn’t a cash vs card thing, it’s just another path to the enshitification of everything.

I’m not convinced that there is a master shadowy cabal ruling the world, I do believe that a lot of nefarious stuff is covered up.

As already said above, whether you pay by card or cash, there is a cost in processing that payment, be it a cash centre or data centre.

We have loads of local shops that flat out refuse cards even though they have the facilities. Some of them I’d use on a regular basis but I don’t go at all because I don’t carry cash, and even if I had notes on me, I’m not breaking into them in return for a pocket full of 20p’s. I’d happily have the card processing cost passed onto me for the convenience.

Shop owners must be aware they’re losing customers and that that must greatly outweigh the cost of processing, so I can only assume they’re way too far gone down the conspiracy rabbit hole, or it’s a tax dodge that might have some financial benefit to them.

Big business, government and tech companies like electronic money. Its easy to track, provides plenty of data and is extremely easy to charge fees on – basically very easy to control.

For the customer there are also advantages but also disadvantages – the prime one being its easy to lose control of your spending and get into debt. This is also an advantage to business, a massive massive massive one.

Its also easier to be defrauded – people seem to take much less care with electronic transactions than if they were handing over a wad of notes.

I’ve not read any of the conspiracy theories but I suspect there is a grain of truth in them – there is a huge push towards a cashless society whilst this may suit some people others will be marginalised – probably those who are already vulnerable. It will create more fraud (already at an all time high I saw in the news the other day) and ultimately it will make fin tech companies even more money. Huge outages will also happen to the detriment of consumers data etc etc

I think we have gone slightly too far down the electronic money route and would prefer the situation about 5 or so years ago when we didn’t have quite so much untested ‘innovation’ and cash was accepted everywhere if desired.

Cant remember the last time i used cash

I pay everything by card, under £100 pay on debit card, over £100 i pay on the credit card and clear the balance come pay day, been doing that for nearly 20 years

The ex girlfriend’s mum always used to pay pretty much everything with her credit card and thats over 30 years ago

Even at work we now have a bank account that we can pay money in to for collections etc… as everyone was fed up of taking £10 out of a cash machine, then having to spend some to split it down to stick £2-£5 in a collection and then be left with the change

@squirrelking we don’t pay to deposit cash.

Takeaway near me is cash or PayPal only… Has to be a tax thing.

I’m at a festival all weekend and everything is card only, must surely be easier for them as you’re not having to carry and count out change.

… disadvantages … the prime one being its easy to lose control of your spending and get into debt.

Every transaction is recorded and itemised for you. Maybe this applies to some people, but personally I feel the opposite is true.