Cashless conspiracies

I’ve grown up using primarily cash and will continue to do so 🙂 Personally find it easier to budget the old fashioned way. However cashless is easier at busy bars/gigs ect.

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

There are four local places that are cash only, who I’m perfectly happy to deal with. One is the kebab place at the entrance to the business estate at the junction of the A350/A420, ‘cos they’re the only place open late at night, The Chinese chippy along the road, the little shop in town who do clothing repairs and adjustments, and my tattooist. They get my money because they provide a service that’s convenient and friendly, and I’ve often got some cash available, if not, there are these things called ATM’s that take a bank card.
Any loose change I happen to aquire goes into a chewing gum pot in my car ready for an after-pub kebab.

Oh, and the bloke who clears out my gutters takes cash, he’s cheap, local, and he’s prepared to go up a ladder, which I won’t – he’s also going to put up some Swift boxes for me, and some sparrow nest boxes as well.

… 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.

Filling up my car using my phone is possible, the pumps only take a card – I could go to the counter and pay using my phone, but why, when I’ve always got my wallet which has my driver’s license, Nectar card, bank card, bus pass, and my RSPB and National Trust membership cards in. I wouldn’t dream of going out without my wallet, while I mostly use my phone, I was in Wales at the beginning of the week, and I had zero phone reception.

You don’t need phone signal to pay by phone. I reckon I take my wallet out once a month at most now. Just no need.

I do still take my wallet out but its been downsized, holds 5 cards and a tenner, rarely off ever get it out. Think I’ll transfer the tenner to inside my phone case.

Finding a working ATM can be an issue these days, the number in my local town has dropped by half, some charge and last time I needed cash the 2 closest to the Chinese were out of cash! Ended up doing cashback in Morrison’s. So no cash isn’t very convenient.

I agree in some respects with the conspiracies. I object to anyone knowing how I spend my money. S*d off. A card tells someone where I am. Mind your own….

I’ll take it to a greater scale . Big brother is……

So you presumably don’t own a mobile phone then.

Or a PC, smart TV, connected car, smart speaker or anything else with access to the web.

Or walk down your average street full of ring doorbells. Or visit a town centre with CCTV. What exactly do you think people are going to do with your spending information. Ooh Derek shops at the local kebab shop and goes Tesco. Occasionally buys bike bits from xx. There’s no conspiracy, just paranoia. Other than marketing firms nobody cares.

I reckon I’ve got several £20 notes lurking in various jacket pockets, top tube bag, rucksacks etc. from trips when I’ve thought a bit of cash might be wise but never used it.  When I come across one I usually just give it to MrsSalmon because I don’t want the change from spending them and I can’t be bothered to take them to the bank.

So you presumably don’t own a mobile phone then.

Have location turned off

Doesn’t stop the cell towers tracking you though.

Have location turned off

That’s what THEY want you to think. They’re coming for you because you spent £500 +VAT at a woke shop!

Have location turned off

I’m not sure who you’re trying to shake, but it won’t help!

Doesn’t stop the cell towers tracking you though.

Depending on what you’re doing, rather well.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/gps-alternatives?utm_source=tldrnewsletter

Have location turned off

A rather superfluous comment. Cute you think it makes any odds though.

Cash is easy to watch. When you have bought your two pints that tenner is mostly gone and you don’t spend more. A card means three!

Cards make credit easier. The last thing we should want surely?

where are you getting 2 pints for a tenner these days? Anyway, better for the bar, better for the consumer (as I presume it’s an enjoyable time you are having). If someone really can’t control themselves there are means to restrict your spending on cards.

making credit easier – is absolutely something we DO want. The ability to pay (and obtain goods and services) based on the ‘trust’ that you will pay it back; rather than limiting you to what you can pull out of your pocket right now is a key part of modern society. Whether you choose to use it or not (and I’m a big fan of only buying what you can afford, only ever bought cars in ‘cash’, etc) the fact that others can do so benefits us all.

there are these things called ATM’s that take a bank card.

So you can either

a) present your card to a retailer

or

b) schlep down the road, present your card to a machine, then return to immediately hand over all the cash you’ve just pulled out.

Seems efficient.

why, when I’ve always got my wallet which has my driver’s license, Nectar card, bank card, bus pass, and my RSPB and National Trust membership cards in.

When do you need those things day-to-day? My driving license is safely at home so I don’t lose it, should I need to produce it I have 14 days to do so; my Nectar card is on an app on my phone along with a host of other store cards, loyalty cards and membership cards; the only reason I’d ever need a bank card is to pull money out of an ATM in order to deal with stores still operating in the 20th Century.

while I mostly use my phone, I was in Wales at the beginning of the week, and I had zero phone reception.

What do you need reception for, other than to make phone calls?

I take your point, but you seem to be going out of your way to make things more difficult than they need to be.  I have a wallet three quarters of an inch thick, I can’t remember the last time it left the house but it’s easily months and likely in the order of years.  I don’t even carry stamps anymore because christ only knows what postage costs for a large letter vs a small packet, if I have to post something I go to a post office and ask them to do it.

where are you getting 2 pints for a tenner these days?

Hello from the North of England.  If I handed over a tenner for two pints I’d expect change.

I very rarely go to the pub it’s too expensive. I have been an early adopter of new tèch including cashless payments. However I have recently started to use cash more.  The reason being it’s not so long since I lived from month to month by robbing Peter to pay Paul. Many of my friends still do and I see that the cashless society significantly reduces their ability to do so.  So I have started to use cash more.

V slightly off topic. Google pay on my phone has recently starting asking for a pin every time I use it when it never used to. Is there a way I can stop that?

As much as I’m happy not to use cash, I’ve not adopted my phone’s wallet app for making payments. I’m happy to carry a slim wallet with my bank debit card, driving licence, bike club membership card and BC membership card in it.
For some reason, I’m not feeling comfortable adding my bank card details to the Wallet option on the phone.
I’ve got it linked to my Garmin watch, but that never gets used as I have my wallet with me (and is linked to my holiday bank card which has less than a quid in it!).
Happy to ditch the cash, not ready to ditch the actual wallet.

It’s been shown that the rise in cashless transactions leads to increased impulse buys (who hasn’t got a shed full of online impulse bike bits)  and an increase in fast junk food consumption.

Shown where?

“Consequently, consumers are more likely to buy unhealthy food products when they pay by credit card* than when they pay in cash. Results from four studies support these hypotheses.” https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/38/1/126/1798815 for one. That paper is from 2010 when fast food deliveries weren’t as common (invented, even?) to leave that “convenience” complication out as well (*includes debit cards)

Cashless transactions also cause problems for the vulnerable in society who might not have the necessary card, app, memory for a PIN number, etc. I’ve lost count of the times that my mum has had her card cancelled/PIN renewed

Cashless transactions causes problems for those to whom it is new.  The kids growing up with this system today, it’s always been this way.

Cashless transactions cause problems for those who don’t have the mental capacity to remember PINs, don’t understand cashless “magic” and can’t track their money, the disenfranchised who can’t access bank accounts, etc.

How do you get cash in the first place without the necessary card?  A cash machine requiring a necessary card is 1960s technology.

Maybe banks aren’t a thing for you, but for many they’re a lifeline. My mum goes in, the human beings know her and sort the cash out for her, she doesn’t need to do much at all. She could tell you everything about her wedding day 60+ years ago, identify everyone in the photos, but today’s PIN number? Dodgy at best

If you can’t remember four digits, you probably shouldn’t be out shopping unaccompanied.

Suggest that to her, she still packs a left-hook at 90 🙂

Shops will go the way of banks, reduced staff because one person can look after ten tills. Who benefits? Not the staff and not the customers

It’s been shown that the rise in cashless transactions leads to increased impulse buys (who hasn’t got a shed full of online impulse bike bits)  and an increase in fast junk food consumption.

Shown where?

“Consequently, consumers are more likely to buy unhealthy food products when they pay by credit card* than when they pay in cash. Results from four studies support these hypotheses.” https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/38/1/126/1798815 for one. That paper is from 2010 when fast food deliveries weren’t as common (invented, even?) to leave that “convenience” complication out as well (*includes debit cards)

Cashless transactions also cause problems for the vulnerable in society who might not have the necessary card, app, memory for a PIN number, etc. I’ve lost count of the times that my mum has had her card cancelled/PIN renewed

Cashless transactions causes problems for those to whom it is new.  The kids growing up with this system today, it’s always been this way.

Cashless transactions cause problems for those who don’t have the mental capacity to remember PINs, don’t understand cashless “magic” and can’t track their money, the disenfranchised who can’t access bank accounts, etc.

How do you get cash in the first place without the necessary card?  A cash machine requiring a necessary card is 1960s technology.

Maybe banks aren’t a thing for you, but for many they’re a lifeline. My mum goes in, the human beings know her and sort the cash out for her, she doesn’t need to do much at all. She could tell you everything about her wedding day 60+ years ago, identify everyone in the photos, but today’s PIN number? Dodgy at best

If you can’t remember four digits, you probably shouldn’t be out shopping unaccompanied.

Suggest that to her, she still packs a left-hook at 90 🙂

Shops will go the way of banks, reduced staff because one person can look after ten tills. Who benefits? Not the staff and not the customers

Cashless transactions cause problems for those who don’t have thE

Access to bank accounts or access to the internet these days. Finding an open branch or even a working atm these days appears to be a Challenge

When do you need those things day-to-day

National trust card is the annoying one, no digital version offered. I’ve an image of mine on my phone which works for carparks but isn’t accepted for houses etc

I’ve an image of mine on my phone which works for carparks 

Do you need it for carparks….. They just look at the sticker in the window round here make sure it’s this year’s colour.

Maybe banks aren’t a thing for you, but for many they’re a lifeline. My mum goes in, the human beings know her and sort the cash out for her, she doesn’t need to do much at all.

Banks aren’t really a thing, the last 2 banks in the town I live will be gone by January. They are opening hubs a few days a week but that’s all. They’re just not used even older folks don’t as they use their cards or devices. No need to remember you PIN as it’s contactless.

No need to remember you PIN as it’s contactless

Even though your periodically asked to insert card and pin after x transactions ….

Last time I went to the back for cash they asked me to insert my card and PIN.

End of month syndrome. Cards get declined – especially when on a low income. Emergency cash reserves came in useful yesterday for that coffee I needed after a raft bike combo on the Forth.   Roll on Tuesday.

Funny thing about the PIN – Tesco’s system always asks me for mine.

Was your iPad broken ?

Only used banks in last 10 years  for large withdrawls but never been asked for a pin – formal identification yes but not a pin.

The local post office does some good basic banking for bank accounts – withdrawals and deposits, they also offer a cheque pay in service ( that takes a day longer for funds to clear)…I thought it was good news when the contract the post office has with banks got extended for another few years as more places have a local post office than bank branch.

I don’t understand small businesses that blank refuse to take card..

You can buy a sumup/zettle machine for very little, and I’m 100% certain they will have SOOO many more customers by taking card..

I live on the south coast, and there’s a little ice cream booth that doesn’t take card… I would probably be tempted to get a cone practically every time I go past…but all I have is a phone on me.. so they lose out each time. And there must be hundreds of people after a coffee/cone that simple don’t have change in their swimming trunks, but do have an apple watch etc!

DrP

Work in banking and cash is massively expense to manage from an equipment, locational, fraud, security and logistical point of view which is a significant driver towards contactless. It’s not far removed from the demise of telephone boxes as nearly everyone has a mobile phone.

Always be outliers who can’t or won’t accept change but that’s true of nearly everything in life. Internet has been around 25 years plus so difficult to accept old folk argument.

Hello from the North of England. If I handed over a tenner for two pints I’d expect change.

I live in the far North of England.

Apart from the CIU Club, you are not getting change from a tenner for 2 pints.

Went out with the Mrs for drink the other night, it was about £17 for a pint and a large glass of wine.

Bloody hell were at Beadnell Towers? I can get 2 pints for £10 easily but also not have enough in other bars.

Anyway. I did a few hours behind the bar again yesterday, took over £100 all but £4 on card and it cost only a few pence in fees for the rest. Straight into the bank, no having to count up the takings and no shortages.

Where are all these folk who can’t remember PINs getting their money out, 1989 with their pay in book? All the banks in town are shut, the post office is heading the same way and cash machines are spotty at best (and expensive to withdraw from at worst).

I can’t remember the last time I was asked to enter a PIN for contactless either. Then again I use Google pay connected to my account which allows me to overdraw just as much as the cash equivalent so another argument that makes no sense.

@gobuchul head over to Lancaster, £4.50 a pint even in the station. Spoons is about £2.80 a pint tops around Glasgow.

Only used banks in last 10 years  for large withdrawls but never been asked for a pin – formal identification yes but not a pin

Paying cash in at Lloyds, Santander or a Post Office I always have to insert card and enter my PIN.  I don’t know about withdrawals as I’d go to an ATM

I can pay in cheques via my phone, on the rare occaision some luddite gives me one.

I had a mobile mechanic come out to me on Friday, removing a snapped glow plug.

He had a portable card machine. Twenty minutes wandering around in a field waving it about with a signal dropping in and out and still failed to pay. I didn’t have that much cash on me, I do have a chequebook in the van, but he wouldn’t take one, pain in the bottom paying someone where there is no signal,

Had to phone the office later when I had a signal and pay by card over the phone.

This is, from the customer point of view, not an improvement on cheques, which would have taken me thirty seconds to do, and it would have taken him much less time to pop into a post office to bank it next time he passed one than it took trying to get a signal on his machine.

This is, from the customer point of view, not an improvement on cheques, which would have taken me thirty seconds to do, and it would have taken him much less time to pop into a post office to bank it next time he passed one than it took trying to get a signal on his machine.

Not even that long if he can pay it in his app.

But assuming he was cash only, what would your solution have been then? Same problem.

I can’t remember when I last owned a chequebook.