Cash

[Stephen]

When I worked at Troubadour White City they were a completely cashless venue. It worked for the most part but not surprisingly the *how to put it politely* more annoying customers didn't like the choice of payment method being taken away. At the time I didn't personally see the point but think this pandemic is a great reason to do away with cash payments. It's quite rare now, especially in large venues like theatres, not to be able to tap your card. It's efficient and clean.

[sf]

Jun 29, 2020 11:43:14 GMT Stephen said:

When I worked at Troubadour White City they were a completely cashless venue. It worked for the most part but not surprisingly the *how to put it politely* more annoying customers didn't like the choice of payment method being taken away. At the time I didn't personally see the point but think this pandemic is a great reason to do away with cash payments. It's quite rare now, especially in large venues like theatres, not to be able to tap your card. It's efficient and clean.

I think the Black Sheep Coffee chain is completely cashless, isn't it?

[theglenbucklaird]

Love Johnny Cash me, the last American hero

[kimbahorel]

Its all well and good everyone saying they can live without cash payments but the world doesn't work like that. Not everyone can get cards there are people who have trouble with cards and payments so is everyone happy for those people to be wiped out because they think it's better? If you are reduced to one payment method in today society that lets face it can change over night and it only takes something like mass fraud or complete outage of technology then what is everyone to do?

[basdfg]

Bank branches were busier than many of the other shops at Westfield today.

[daisy24601]

Saw this tweet thread today, she makes some good points. Especially I think about children learning the value of money, much harder to do if it's invisible.

[kimbahorel]

I am commenting on peoples posts online when they invision some dystopian digital future. I wont lie if anyone sees value in a completely digital society are they prepared to get rid of a lot of society. This question the person I asked isnt answering. Just they shop online so apparently everyone else can.

[Deleted]

Going cashless I think is inevitable at some point, but it isn’t coming anytime soon because we just couldn’t support it yet. To go cashless you have to have confidence that that the internet would never, ever go down - over the last year that’s happened quite a bit in the UK.

You’d need a brand new banking system in place really - I don’t know that current model supports (or works well) for a cashless society. It works for transactions in shops, but not very well on a personal level, where you have to mess around with account numbers and sort codes. I know there’s systems out there at the moment that overcome this, but you’d need something centralised and universal.

Once the decision has been made I imagine we’d get rid of paper cash but keep coin circulation in play for transactions under £5. No one wants to send their kids to the local for bread and milk with access to a full bank account!

Plus the sheer number of machines around the country that rely on coins.... there’d need to a phasing out really. I mean, do all buses accept cards now?

So to be honest, if Parliament ever decided it was the way forward (and I’m not sure they should - it should be a referendum for such a fundamental change) I really could see a 10 year transition period.

But I’m all for it. I’ve always hated cash and just think plastic is much safer. It’s very, very rare I have any sort of physical money on me and I rarely even take a bank card with me - most places are contactless now and I’ve never come unstuck in my day to day. The wallet only comes out the drawn nowadays if I’m going somewhere new and unknown.

[Jon]

Jul 9, 2020 18:28:58 GMT @kevinuk said:

Going cashless I think is inevitable at some point, but it isn’t coming anytime soon because we just couldn’t support it yet. To go cashless you have to have confidence that that the internet would never, ever go down - over the last year that’s happened quite a bit in the UK.

You’d need a brand new banking system in place really - I don’t know that current model supports (or works well) for a cashless society. It works for transactions in shops, but not very well on a personal level, where you have to mess around with account numbers and sort codes. I know there’s systems out there at the moment that overcome this, but you’d need something centralised and universal.

Once the decision has been made I imagine we’d get rid of paper cash but keep coin circulation in play for transactions under £5. No one wants to send their kids to the local for bread and milk with access to a full bank account!

Plus the sheer number of machines around the country that rely on coins.... there’d need to a phasing out really. I mean, do all buses accept cards now?

So to be honest, if Parliament ever decided it was the way forward (and I’m not sure they should - it should be a referendum for such a fundamental change) I really could see a 10 year transition period.

But I’m all for it. I’ve always hated cash and just think plastic is much safer. It’s very, very rare I have any sort of physical money on me and I rarely even take a bank card with me - most places are contactless now and I’ve never come unstuck in my day to day. The wallet only comes out the drawn nowadays if I’m going somewhere new and unknown.

I think for a cashless society to really take off, it has to be adopted globally and the infrastructure isn't quite there yet. 

I can envision payment by QR codes being introduced into the UK sooner or later. China already has it with AliPay and WeChat Pay and I wouldn't be surprised if we see companies like Facebook or Apple introduce their own version. 

[sf]

Jul 9, 2020 18:28:58 GMT @kevinuk said:

Once the decision has been made I imagine we’d get rid of paper cash but keep coin circulation in play for transactions under £5. No one wants to send their kids to the local for bread and milk with access to a full bank account!

There are ways around even that, though - in Japan, for example, you can pay for your purchases in a lot of convenience shops, coffee places etc using your Suica/Pasmo/Icoca (the local equivalent of an Oyster card). I got rid of the last of the balance on mine by buying stuff in a 7-11 at the airport before I left.

[kimbahorel]

I wouldn't hold any hope for any goverment to make banking fair and availble to everyone as much as we would all like that. As was said if you wanted that sort of society then you'd hope that it would be something you would have to have. But I look at what the goverment have done to the welfare system overhauled to such a degree that people are shut out of it through no fault of their own all down to targets and red tape.

If a goverment can treat its citizans like that I wouldn't imagine a cashless society were everyone is catered for.

[basdfg]

www.chad.co.uk/lifestyle/mansfield-gran-fears-shell-have-no-way-pay-cash-banned-2910163
www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18572873.samuel-smiths-pubs-still-wont-accept-bank-cards-despite-pandemic/
Interesting local stories on both sides of the argument.

[Phantom of London]

I am surprised that the government hasn’t made businesses that handle food cashless, you have the argument I made before with hygiene, Also with pubs and restaurants, it makes contact tracing a lot easier, especially as the system of people leaving their details have been abused, with people not taking the current situation seriously.

[kimbahorel]

Most places handling food don't actually touch food and then the money. In cafe and small places a lot of tong use and the end doesn't come in contact with the food. In one way I can understand it but from that completely selfish or view that a pretty large subsection of the UK either can't get a card or contactless card (for a lot of places). Where I work I don't get hours to go out and search for food on a lunch break. When I go back I have no where to go and get food. I ususally have to go to different places because I have digestion issues. My shop actually like most of the shops in stations there is no back of house or storage where you could fridge or that. In my shop we have a cupboard most of its stock. All I can bring from home is bread and vegemite. I can bring a coffee yeah when I am on like a full weekend 9 hour days some tines you need an extra shot. I'm going to have to beg someone staff or even customer to get me a coffee. All because pretty much all these places are contactless I can't get card.

[Deleted]

Jul 10, 2020 19:44:18 GMT basdfg said:

www.chad.co.uk/lifestyle/mansfield-gran-fears-shell-have-no-way-pay-cash-banned-2910163
www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18572873.samuel-smiths-pubs-still-wont-accept-bank-cards-despite-pandemic/
Interesting local stories on both sides of the argument.

What is an 80 year old woman doing in Wickes buying paint in the middle of a pandemic? I believe pensions are paid into an account and this particular lady opts to withdraw (‘collect’) it in cash. She argues she’d lose a card but you’re just as likely to lose the cash - and your money is safe if you only lose the plastic.

Any big business not accepting cards - such as the pub - is rather suspect if you ask me. I can understand if they had a minimum spend, but to be totally cash based in 2020? Silly.

[basdfg]

Jul 10, 2020 19:54:51 GMT Phantom of London said:

I am surprised that the government hasn’t made businesses that handle food cashless, you have the argument I made before with hygiene, Also with pubs and restaurants, it makes contact tracing a lot easier, especially as the system of people leaving their details have been abused, with people not taking the current situation seriously.

They do not want to upset various vested interests like the Daily Mail who are very pro crash.

[basdfg]

My dad's barbers didn't take any details, does not require appointments, and everyone pays in cash.

[NeilVHughes]

The cashless society will arrive without Government action.

Many small retailers are finding it is becoming cost effective to become cashless and especially in London where we routinely use contactless to move around people appreciate the convenience.

The banking costs are not that different when processing cash or cards through the banking system and the hours spent cashing up, reconciling and generating accounts are significantly reduced when electronic and the risk of being robbed even though small is removed.

Again we are moving to where the % who cannot join the cashless society due to access to the banking system will become second class citizens but believe now you have to have a bank account to access the benefits system and the banks have to provide basic current accounts.

May be slower outside the M25 but it is coming.

[sf]

Jul 11, 2020 13:38:04 GMT NeilVHughes said:

Many small retailers are finding it is becoming cost effective to become cashless and especially in London where we routinely use contactless to move around people appreciate the convenience.

And in London it's been driven by the transport system - or rather, by TfL's decision to stop accepting cash on buses and trams, and to make cash fares at ticket machines on the tube punitive compared to PAYG fares via contactless or Oyster.

[basdfg]

Many small business'ss in London are still cash only- it's only ones that target younger working people that moving to card only.

[Deleted]

I think cash will stick around but not as a regular form of payment. If we rely completely on electronic payment with no fallback then we're at risk of a breakdown in the system caused by something like terrorism or another Carrington Event, so we'd need to have a cash system in place to go back to if all else fails. But I can't see many shops accepting it routinely: they'd have the ability to handle it if they had nothing else but once they've stopped the regular process of counting up and taking the money to the bank they're not going to reinstate it as needed just for one or two sales a day.

[Deleted]

Businesses such as the Theatre Cafe only take exact change, and prefer for most people to pay by card.

[Jon]

Was reading that Apple are working towards adding QR code payments to Apple Pay for iOS 14 which could be a game changer if true because contactless payment most certainly increased once Apple and Google had implemented those NFC payment methods and in places like China and India, it's commonplace.

[basdfg]

Jul 11, 2020 19:35:32 GMT Jon said:

Was reading that Apple are working towards adding QR code payments to Apple Pay for iOS 14 which could be a game changer if true because contactless payment most certainly increased once Apple and Google had implemented those NFC payment methods and in places like China and India, it's commonplace.

But plenty of people of will never get a smartphone.

[Samwise]

I haven't got cash out from a machine since September 2018. I don't even remember my new debit card's PIN. I've occasionally had cash in my wallet when people have paid me back for things (tickets etc) with cash when they haven't been able to do a bank transfer, but other than that it's Apple Pay or online (I don't think I've used my card for contactless in a long time either). I was in a pub on Lower Marsh just before Christmas that didn't accept cash - bar service was so quick!