Are You Still Using Cash?

Given that I work for a company who's main thing is making cash processing machines then I should use cash, but apart from my monthly trip to the barbers, which is cash only, I really don't. Contactless or Google Pay from my phone wherever possible. Have two current accounts, one for bills and one for spending and both are with online only banks. Cash is just a faff these days and more and more places are going card only. Cash use is already in huge decline, although it has seen a slight uptick in the current economic situation as people use cash as a form of budgeting. But I'd imagine in 10 years or so it will be very rare to use cash, same as cheques are not really used at all now.

boogie man said:
A knock on effect of cashless society: I was talking to a neighbour yesterday, who organises the local Poppy Day collections in our village. He was saying donations this time are really down on previous ones, mainly because a lot less people are carrying cash to put in the collection tins. I mentioned that next time they’d maybe have to get card readers for the collectors to carry? Unfortunately he thought they might not work because the mobile signal where we live is all but non existent.
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Surely something like a Square card reader, which is linked to a phone doesn't need mobile signal to function, just a bluetooth connection to a phone? Or set up a just giving page and get people to donate there? That's how we do charity donations at work now.
 
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RichardC27 said:
Surely something like a Square card reader, which is linked to a phone doesn't need mobile signal to function, just a bluetooth connection to a phone?
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Well, yes BUT the phone still needs a signal to act as the intermediary between the card reader and the card processing company.
 
Marc said:
Mrs F had to pop to the bank yesterday and she had to hunt around for coins. The multi-story car park is 50p for half an hour. You can pay by card, but the minimum is £3. She was only parked for 20 minutes!
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Our local street parking machines always needed an extra level of security when paying using the app on a phone. By the time the code arrived, the app had timed out.
 
Nod said:
Our local street parking machines always needed an extra level of security when paying using the app on a phone. By the time the code arrived, the app had timed out.
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I started using apps like that last year - what a revelation. So many times I have had the wrong or not enough change. Now I literally can pay for parking within 30 seconds, and get a reminder when due.
 
I have a coin pouch in the car for paying parking and dumping any coins I get. I ain't carrying those around in my pocket!

Happily, I found increasly I can pay for it via contactless or via an app (pay by phone and ring go seems to be accepted at most places). Latter is great, see above post.
 
RichardC27 said:
Given that I work for a company who's main thing is making cash processing machines then I should use cash, but apart from my monthly trip to the barbers, which is cash only, I really don't. Contactless or Google Pay from my phone wherever possible. Have two current accounts, one for bills and one for spending and both are with online only banks. Cash is just a faff these days and more and more places are going card only. Cash use is already in huge decline, although it has seen a slight uptick in the current economic situation as people use cash as a form of budgeting. But I'd imagine in 10 years or so it will be very rare to use cash, same as cheques are not really used at all now.


Surely something like a Square card reader, which is linked to a phone doesn't need mobile signal to function, just a bluetooth connection to a phone? Or set up a just giving page and get people to donate there? That's how we do charity donations at work now.
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Thanks, I’ll pass that info on. The neighbour is in his mid 80s and probably doesn’t know much about modern tech. I’m not much better to be honest! And Nod may have a point…don’t you need the mobile carrier signal for the Bluetooth connection bit to work?
 
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wyx087 said:
I have a coin pouch in the car for paying parking and dumping any coins I get. I ain't carrying those around in my pocket!

Happily, I found increasly I can pay for it via contactless or via an app (pay by phone and ring go seems to be accepted at most places). Latter is great, see above post.
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I have started keeping change just for car parking now. Every car park here takes card or can be paid by app, but the council and other private operators have started introducing card payment fees, or minimum parking durations for card payment. It is becoming much more expensive to park unless you use cash, not that I have much call to used paid car parks very often.

The only other places I can think of that are cash only these days is the chippy which we use only a couple of times a year, and the milkman which we are considering knocking on the head (not literally) for other reasons.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
I have started keeping change just for car parking now. Every car park here takes card or can be paid by app, but the council and other private operators have started introducing card payment fees, or minimum parking durations for card payment. It is becoming much more expensive to park unless you use cash, not that I have much call to used paid car parks very often.

The only other places I can think of that are cash only these days is the chippy which we use only a couple of times a year, and the milkman which we are considering knocking on the head (not literally) for other reasons.
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Not round here, although Cambridge is expensive for parking anyway so you would need an actual money box to carry the cash around in. Last time i used the station car park it was over £9 for the day and coins only (if using cash).
 
boogie man said:
Thanks, I’ll pass that info on. The neighbour is in his mid 80s and probably doesn’t know much about modern tech. I’m not much better to be honest! And Nod may have a point…don’t you need the mobile carrier signal for the Bluetooth connection bit to work?
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No Bluetooth is a direct connection between the two devices, no need for a mobile signal. I just can't image you need a mobile connection to take the payment. I'd think the app would store the payment data and send it to the bank when the phone had signal. I don't know this, I just can't fathom that it hasn't been thought of and dealt with by the people who make these little mobile card readers.

Like when you pay by card on a flight, the payment isn't actually processed until after the plane has landed and all the mobile devices can get signal again.
 
RichardC27 said:
No Bluetooth is a direct connection between the two devices, no need for a mobile signal. I just can't image you need a mobile connection to take the payment. I'd think the app would store the payment data and send it to the bank when the phone had signal. I don't know this, I just can't fathom that it hasn't been thought of and dealt with by the people who make these little mobile card readers. Like when you pay by card on a flight, the payment isn't actually processed until after the plane has landed and all the mobile devices can get signal again.
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Ah right, yes that makes sense.
 
I went to a country park yesterday, the parking ticket machine had a notice: Cash & Card not working, please pay using the app. I tried but could not download the app so I went into the visitor centre. The lady told me that most people could not get a signal as we were in a valley :)
She took the cash and wrote my car reg number down.
 
Suvv said:
The lady told me that most people could not get a signal as we were in a valley :)
She took the cash and wrote my car reg number down.
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Gotta love technology :D

The "old ways" are often the best ;)
 
I think our local economy would collapse if there were no cash. What would the drug dealers use? What about all the tradesmen doing cash "foreigners" - local shops are used to tracksuit-clad hoodied blokes unfurling rolls of notes to buy their girlfriends expensive gifts etc.
 
Fish and Chip shops are invariably cash only, very suspicious especially given how expensive they are now.
 
My local chippie takes everything, I’m sure if you asked just before holiday time they’d take Euros too.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
I realised today that I haven’t actually used cash for months. I use Apple Pay for general purchases, a credit card for online, bus and parking are paid using apps.

Is this a general trend or are people still holding folding?
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I use debit card all the time, but that does not mean I stopped using cash.

I will use cash if and when needed. For example: At stalls (ie: market, funfair, outdoor events, etc.,) if they don't have a card reader or WiFi is not reliable. At a shop where they tell you there's a minimum spenting of £5 if using cards, and all I wanted was something that's like only 99p! Or when meeting up with a model I booked for a photo-shoot.

I would say nowadays, the general trend is mainly cards, with cash as back up in case of emergencies (ie: broken card reader, WiFi not working, etc.,)
 
Nod said:
Well, yes BUT the phone still needs a signal to act as the intermediary between the card reader and the card processing company.
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Not at the time of purchase. It will be an offline transaction like when you are on a plane.
 
Are you sure? I know that Mrs Nod's reader wouldn't take payments when her internet went down and she wasn't close to a window - the walls block mobile signal (which is a PITA!) Being a sole trader, she hasn't got the same systems in place as an airline.
 
Nod said:
Are you sure? I know that Mrs Nod's reader wouldn't take payments when her internet went down and she wasn't close to a window - the walls block mobile signal (which is a PITA!) Being a sole trader, she hasn't got the same systems in place as an airline.
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Yep. A frequent query at work is from customers who query offline transactions. Sometimes they take a while to be debited, a people forget about the purchase in the meantime.
 
That’s why when I use my card I always ask for a receipt, I can barely remember what I did yesterday let 30 days ago, still if purchase are only £200+ they do tend to stick out.
 
Got caught out the other day. I rarely have any cash on me these days. My wife used to get a fair bit from my old mum, who always insisted on paying her in cash when we did any shopping for her. Now my mum’s in a residential home my wife doesn’t carry much cash either. It’s never been a problem until we went to a pub quiz and they were collecting the entry fees…. err, do you take cards? Nope!! Luckily another team member paid up for us, but there obviously are times when cash is still king.
 
Very rarely now. The one place I have to use it is the Chinese Takeaway in the village we visit in NW Scotland and sometimes I end up having the change I get for months.

Dave
 
I went to my Barbers last week and he takes cash or card but particularly asked if I would pay by cash which I did. He said that when he takes cash to the bank, they complain if the amount is small.:confused:
 
We had a family crisis last November (sister died, was carer for my dad who has advanced dementia). He is in a care home near us and apart from the fees, they require a cash float of around £50 for a couple of months for odd items. They will not take a bank transfer. Now, given that they charge over £1K per month for care, this seems a bit dodgy to me.
 
A grand a month sounds dodgy to me. We looked at a place that was a grand a week for Mrs Nod's Mum and we wouldn't want to home a rat there.
 
Nod said:
A grand a month sounds dodgy to me. We looked at a place that was a grand a week for Mrs Nod's Mum and we wouldn't want to home a rat there.
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My mother passed away last year, she had been in a home for several years, at the end we paid £3400 a month, total value for money, home was part of a charity group set up so no shareholders/owners to support, it came highly recommended by workers in the care sector and she loved it there. Maybe it depends on where in the country you are, mum’s home was not the cheapest/dearest we inspected but certainly one I have recommended to others who after inspecting it agree.
 
Nod said:
A grand a month sounds dodgy to me. We looked at a place that was a grand a week for Mrs Nod's Mum and we wouldn't want to home a rat there.
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Apologies, just seen what I posted. I should have said over £1K a week, this is my long covid brain fog affecting me.
 
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andya700 said:
Apologies, just seen what I posted. I should have said over £1K a week, this is my long covid brain fog affecting me.
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Meant to say that I used to put £100 a time into mum’s ‘incidentals account’ it covered hair do’s, chiropodist, toiletries etc, they were happy to take cash as it meant less bother when someone nipped to the shop for her, or, hairdresser etc liked paid that way.
 
mj4456 said:
Meant to say that I used to put £100 a time into mum’s ‘incidentals account’ it covered hair do’s, chiropodist, toiletries etc, they were happy to take cash as it meant less bother when someone nipped to the shop for her, or, hairdresser etc liked paid that way.
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Well, I for one, cannot afford a £100 a time for unaccountable cash inputs to their system. I have worked in accounts for the best part of forty years and petty cash accounts should ALWAYS be written up, because if they are not, they become "black holes" of fiddling.
 
I received monthly statements of how the cash was spent, if I trusted them with my maw, i trusted them with a few quid.
£100 was the amount I used, it could been a tenner is I wished, it just meant the amount lasted longer without worrying about going into a minus.
 
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I came across this today re cash.
Give you something to think about.

Why should we pay cash everywhere with banknotes instead of a card?

- I have a £50 banknote in my pocket. I go to a restaurant and paying for dinner with it. The restaurant owner then uses the note to pay for the laundry. The laundry owner then uses the note to pay the barber. The barber will then use the note for shopping. After an unlimited number of payments, it will still remain a £50, which has fulfilled its purpose to everyone who used it for payment and the bank has jumped dry from every cash payment transaction made..

- But if I come to a restaurant and pay for dinner digitally - Card bank fees for my payment transaction charged to the seller are 3%, so around £1.50 and so the fee will be £1.50 for each further payment transaction or owner re laundry or payments of the owner of the laundry shop, or payments of the barber etc..... Therefore, after 30 transactions, the initial £50 will remain only £5 and the remaining £45 became the property of the bank thanks to all digital transactions and fees.


PS: it’s now 4 months since I used my card and I love it. More human interactions, more questions, more conversations about why cash needs to be everyone’s priority. No one needs to know where I shop, how much I spend and what I buy ‍♀️. I am not okay with a digital currency - no way #CashIsKing #Cash #smallbusinesssupport #think #interact #keepcashalive
 
We should all use more cash. Don't give them the opportunity to scrap hard currency for smart money and social credit.
 
Plain Nev said:
We should all use more cash. Don't give them the opportunity to scrap hard currency for smart money and social credit.
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What is convenient for some, will not be convenient for others.
I, for one, have no intention to use cash.
 
I just came back from riding around Switzerland, that also took me through France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and into Italy.
Not only did I not use cash, I literally didn’t take any.
 
I still use cash but less and less and do use Apple Pay, my bank card on my phone anywhere that takes it
only thing that is of concern is what happens if something goes wrong, I don’t always see the amount that’s being charged when I pay in a pub for example
if I get a couple of pints and give the barman a tenner if the change is wrong it doesn’t matter so much but if the amount put through is wrong when I pay with my phone then it could in theory be seriously wrong
maybe I don’t fully understand the system I’m not completely tech savvy :oops: :$
 
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