Cash

[Dawnstar]

Yes. OCD & Asperger's.

[n1david]

Apr 16, 2019 22:01:32 GMT distantcousin said:

I would not pay by card for anything less than £5 - utterly ridiculous.

With contactless it's faster than cash, so I've changed my behaviour over the last few years. I used to get grumpy at people in pubs paying by card when they had to go through the whole PIN rigmarole, but not any more.

Maybe if you know that (for example) a programme is £5, and you have a £5 note, that will be just as fast, but buy a selection of small items in a supermarket that comes to, say, £3.86, you're almost certainly slower either finding the right money or waiting for change than just tapping the card.

[shady23]

I always try to bring cast on nights out so I have some idea of what I'm spending otherwise I end up spending so much more than I had hoped.

Contact less in most bars now just makes it too easy for me to overspend.

[Deleted]

Apr 17, 2019 7:32:44 GMT n1david said:

Apr 16, 2019 22:01:32 GMT distantcousin said:

I would not pay by card for anything less than £5 - utterly ridiculous.

With contactless it's faster than cash, so I've changed my behaviour over the last few years. I used to get grumpy at people in pubs paying by card when they had to go through the whole PIN rigmarole, but not any more.

Maybe if you know that (for example) a programme is £5, and you have a £5 note, that will be just as fast, but buy a selection of small items in a supermarket that comes to, say, £3.86, you're almost certainly slower either finding the right money or waiting for change than just tapping the card.

Exactly. Sometimes (as a random example) I'm buying my lunch, and supplies for work in the local supermarket. Work is cash from the petty cash and take a fair bit of faffing with collecting change, getting receipt etc. So then my £3 meal deal being one 'beep' with a card is far far quicker. 

And anyway, while as above I do use cash for small amounts fairly often, actually 'under £5' isn't stupid or a waste of time, it's actually also a handy tracker of spending because it's already itemised in your account (or if you're super fancy an app you use). 

Being a true Millenial I also, shock horror use my phone to pay as well. Which is as handy a back up as cash should one forget a wallet or be out of cash (obviously yes phones run out of battery etc but it's still a handy back up!) 

[jamb0r]

Apr 16, 2019 22:01:32 GMT distantcousin said:

I would not pay by card for anything less than £5 - utterly ridiculous.

What’s utterly ridiculous is having to carry around a load of bits of random dirty metals and hand to shopkeepers like it’s medieval times with the hope that I might have enough of these metals to make the transaction. And if I don’t have enough, having to turn some of my notes into MORE dirty metal that I have to carry around until the next time I try and buy something. Alternatively I could just tap my phone (which is usually already in my hand anyway) on a reader for a split second and not have to worry about anything else, while all the time earning reward points which I turn into cash back to spend on theatre tickets 😀

[clair]

I find it easier to budget with cash - that's what I have and I can't overspend, far too easy to forget a contactless transaction. Don't get me started on the idiots getting on the bus to pay with their phone but then the phone isn't fully connected to wifi (but it was at home, they say) and the bus just sits there while I'm trying to get to work.

[Deleted]

People I know will often say that they prefer to spend cash because that way they feel like they're actually spending money, whereas spending on card doesn't feel like spending money at all so they spend more than they really want to. Making cash payments forces them to keep track of what they're spending and if they really want to spend it. But I'm the other way round; if I'm spending money on my card, I know my bank is keeping a record of my purchases, but once I've taken cash out of the machine, it's accounted for as a withdrawal with my bank and after that point it's basically free money in that I can spend it on anything without leaving any sort of record behind. So if I want a cheeky burger or a milkshake that I know I shouldn't *really* have and I have no cash, then I'll refrain, but if I have the coin for it, then I'm going to put SO MUCH secret junk food in my face! Also I try to walk everywhere in my home town, because it's not that big, but again, if I've got the cash, I'm going to treat myself to a sneaky bus ride and then that's forty minutes less exercise I'll do that day.

[Deleted]

Apr 16, 2019 22:01:32 GMT distantcousin said:

I would not pay by card for anything less than £5 - utterly ridiculous.

Fully agree, a real annoyance when someone pulls out a card to pay for a couple of small items but contactless payments have made this quicker.

[kathryn]

At food markets and small shops when it's a small amount I sometimes ask whether cash or card is better for them - it's surprising how often they prefer a card!

Always worth asking it on bank holidays as they may be struggling to make change.

[sophizoey]

I'm a young person (20) and pay for literally everything on card, however I don't have contactless. If I'm going somewhere on a bus I usually have to add 5 minutes onto my walk to the bus stop to get cash out, I don't like having cash on me, having more than £10 cash makes me feel very vulnerable. I use cash for buses, nights out and very little else. While I don't have contactless I do have Google pay set up on my phone for those tiny payments (I used to use this for the bus until I got a new phone which currently doesn't work)

I like the idea of a cashless system, however I know it's unrealistic for many years to come. As it stands my bank don't even issue contactless cards as standard.

[daisy24601]

I can't imagine not using cash at all. I find it easier when paying for something with other people, for example, my friend gave me £10 the other day to buy something, I gave her £3 change. So much easier than faffing with bank transfers.

[missthelma]

It's interesting to see the many places that are phasing out cash. London buses won't accept it, the tram system stopped last July and given that most tube and rail ticket offices at non major stations are a wasteland for staff I wouldn't be surprised if it comes to all transport methods across London before long. Vodafone shops also refuse to take cash. Maybe that's linked to their refusal to pay tax but I digress....

Many small businesses do not accept credit card payments due to the charges from the company, am not sure if debit cards have a similar charge? Does anyone know? People with bad credit can also sometimes have problems getting new accounts so cash is their only alternative

A definite drawback for me is that use of a card, is also a way of tracking you and your purchases, I know that for a generation raised on smart phones and posting everything on social media this perhaps is fine but something doesn't quite feel right about it to me. And before anybody says, if you're not doing anything to be ashamed of etc etc, that is really not the point.

The magic word of course is convenience, so easy to tap on a contactless machine, so easy to forget I've done that, so easy to get into debt. People aren't even fighting against being led by the nose anymore as it's 'convenient'. It works very much in financial institutions favour if we get less observant with our spending. I've also noticed a trend against receipts too, under the guise presumably of saving trees but it seems an affrontery now to ask for a record of your spending in some places.

Anyway I shall now pop on a tin foil hat and work up a different conspiracy theory for tomorrow

[Tibidabo]

Apr 17, 2019 7:38:43 GMT shady23 said:

I always try to bring cast on nights out so I have some idea of what I'm spending

Well, this. How on earth do we teach kids (5,6,7,8,9 year olds) the value of money if they can't take £5 to the shop and work out what they can spend it on? If they don't have something physical in their hand to count out?

It will end up like telling the time - so many kids now can't tell the time because they are surrounded by digital clocks. If they can watch until the long hand gets to the 6 they end up with a far better concept of time. We are going to have a generation of people who have no concept of money if we lose cash altogether.

[Deleted]

Wow, imagine having to get your 8 year old a debit card so you can start letting them make their own financial decisions with their pocket money. I mean, if we did go completely 100% cashless, it wouldn't *matter* that children don't understand coins, because they'll be as meaningless to future 8 year olds as shillings are to the post-decimalisation generation, the society will adapt and kids will learn the value of non-physical money some other way, but I stand by my statement that cash will always have a place, around the edges of society if not directly in the mainstream. Look at the 200 million rural Chinese who are still using cash, 14 million of whom don't even have the internet.

[Backdrifter]

Apr 17, 2019 10:27:36 GMT @theatremonkey said:

... yes, looking at you Waitrose... queue for 20 minutes at your understaffed till, or use the self-service...

... wait (rose)... the self-service, unlike every other supermarket's self service, doesn't take cash.

That's right. But one thing I do like about their self-checkouts - at least at my local branch - is they don't have the system that badgers you incessantly and bleats about "unexpected/surprising/shocking/unbelievable/incredible item in the bagging area." You just scan and bag it without the thing feeling the need to address you at all. I'm happy to go card-only for that. Not Amex though. People are mentioning they do have Amex so I thought I'd just drop in that I don't.

[nick]

Apr 17, 2019 10:43:01 GMT daisy24601 said:

I can't imagine not using cash at all. I find it easier when paying for something with other people, for example, my friend gave me £10 the other day to buy something, I gave her £3 change. So much easier than faffing with bank transfers.

Yes I agree but I’ve had a huge increase in friends using PayPal friends and family to do this. I find it quite convenient because that cash fuels my eBay addiction.

[nick]

Apr 16, 2019 22:01:32 GMT distantcousin said:

... wait (rose)... the self-service, unlike every other supermarket's self service, doesn't take cash.

I thought both the Coop and M and S didn’t take cash either. Certainly the Coop across the road from me has card only machines.

[Deleted]

One thing I definitely don't miss about cash is the weight. My debit card weighs 5g. A 2p piece weighs 7g. It's so nice not to have that weight wearing holes in my pockets.

[Backdrifter]

Apr 17, 2019 12:56:46 GMT @thematthew said:

One thing I definitely don't miss about cash is the weight. My debit card weighs 5g. A 2p piece weighs 7g. It's so nice not to have that weight wearing holes in my pockets.

Oh wow, were you a change-in-pockets man?

[Deleted]

Oh my goodness, if a cashless society means we'll never again have to tolerate gentlemen of a certain age rattling their change in their pockets while they speak to you, then I'll be first to sign the petition against coins.

[Backdrifter]

Apr 17, 2019 13:25:34 GMT @baemax said:

Oh my goodness, if a cashless society means we'll never again have to tolerate gentlemen of a certain age rattling their change in their pockets while they speak to you, then I'll be first to sign the petition against coins.

I bet men digging warm oh-my-god-is-it-slightly-moist change out of their trouser pockets goes straight to the clammy crux of the issue for those who dislike the ingrained-muck aspect of cash.

[Deleted]

Apr 17, 2019 13:23:24 GMT Backdrifter said:

Apr 17, 2019 12:56:46 GMT @thematthew said:

One thing I definitely don't miss about cash is the weight. My debit card weighs 5g. A 2p piece weighs 7g. It's so nice not to have that weight wearing holes in my pockets.

Oh wow, were you a change-in-pockets man?

Not loose change — I always kept it in a bag of some sort so it didn't rattle and so I could get to it more easily — but the weight still caused friction.

[Deleted]

A good point made by Miss Thelma above about TFL phasing out cash payments gradually. I'm based in Birmingham and have talked to people who are on travel passenger committees and they have said if cash payments were stopped in our area then the locals wouldn't like it. I'd imagine it would be met with even more resistance in other towns.

[daisy24601]

In Edinburgh you have to have the exact change for the bus, such a pain. Having a card does make it easier but I always wonder how many visitors to London are caught out by this.

Apr 17, 2019 11:59:02 GMT Backdrifter said:

Apr 17, 2019 10:27:36 GMT @theatremonkey said:

... yes, looking at you Waitrose... queue for 20 minutes at your understaffed till, or use the self-service...

... wait (rose)... the self-service, unlike every other supermarket's self service, doesn't take cash.

That's right. But one thing I do like about their self-checkouts - at least at my local branch - is they don't have the system that badgers you incessantly and bleats about "unexpected/surprising/shocking/unbelievable/incredible item in the bagging area." You just scan and bag it without the thing feeling the need to address you at all. I'm happy to go card-only for that. Not Amex though. People are mentioning they do have Amex so I thought I'd just drop in that I don't.

Omg have you ever used the ones in Poundland? They have an Elvis impersonator talking to you with random phrases like "Elvis has left the building, please take your shopping". The staff in there must be losing their minds.

[Deleted]

Apr 17, 2019 13:40:44 GMT @theatremonkey said:

Apr 17, 2019 11:59:02 GMT Backdrifter said:

People are mentioning they do have Amex

Only for National Theatre priority booking and bookshop discounts, plus airmiles, on this board, I think.

Mostly the bookshop discount, but I do occasionally take in a free backstage tour too.