Cashless Society

[rainbowlemon]

They’re not just talking of getting rid of cash there- they’re talking of making the pound a digital currency. I suspect most countries are looking at that but don’t think anyone is doing it

China is already ahead of us:

China has given away millions in its digital yuan trials. This is how it works

The People's Bank of China has been developing the digital yuan, a so-called central bank digital currency that aims to replace some of the cash in circulation.

www.cnbc.com

America also launched pilot schemes.

Digital Dollar Project to launch five U.S. central bank digital currency pilots

The U.S. nonprofit Digital Dollar Project said on Monday it will launch five pilot programs over the next 12 months to test the potential uses of a U.S. central bank digital currency, the first effort of its kind in the United States.

www.reuters.com

Gear Up and Stay Tuned for the USA’s Digital Dollar

The digital dollar will reform the future of money. The United States of America is progressively working towards creating its own central bank digital currency

www.analyticsinsight.net

I personally don't think it's a good idea going 100% digital given the number of recent cyber attacks that have occurred recently in this year alone.

 

[Captainmouse]

At work the in-house cafe outlet and canteen is now permanently card only. My colleage keeps going to buy food and forgets they don’t accept cash, and she’s left her card at home. I’ve had to bail her out with my card a couple of times But, they should accept cash rather than have food plated up only to find the customer hasn’t got their card…

Years ago I worked at a very prestigious London firm that had in house cafes and restaurants, you had to use your staff card and the money came out of your salary at the end of the month. I was a contractor, so no staff card, no food or drink

 

[Yel]

I remember on the 1/6/2018 visa went down for a day, just 24 hours. I will never forget that day it’s etched on my memory, because I work in financial services and we just call it Hell.

Doesn't that show that for most people as far as they're concerned we're already in a cashless society?

I bet virtually all those people that complained about the visa downtime don't now carry cash and quickly forgot about it all.

For most things these days there isn't an alternative for when the tech fails. I remember Google docs being down for a morning or cloudflare being down for an hour and most of the internet didn't work.

It's not realistic to have a non electric system for things. What is viable is having better backup systems for when things fail.

 

[openbook1]

I don't care really. We pay for most things on card, whether debit or credit.
I never carry money on me. It's easy to keep track of what you're spending with the app.
I recall when I moved to Canada I was shocked at the fact a credit card was actually required to pay for some things - rental car, hotel, gym membership... Some of them would just not accept debit. I have one with a very small limit on it.
Also if you're worried being tracked then I hope you are not on Facebook, Instagram etc.

 

[Ensay]

I think the closure of local bank branches and the cashless society are two different things. In my closest town, a bank branch has recently closed - which didn't please many people and I can understand why. But their cash machine has remained and it's one of four in the main high street alone.

As others have said, you can also withdraw cash from the Post Office, so that would be a fifth option. I see plenty of people at most of the cashpoints and when I've had to get cash out it's very rare I haven't had to queue.

Obviously we'll all have different experiences, but I just think we're so far off cash ever being seen as redundant. It will likely continue to decline, but I think that decline will slow, given cards can't really be any more widespread than they are now (ie almost every adult has one).

That tweet above is the classic scaremongering I was talking about previously with its dark warning of "it's happening" - despite the fact someone who lives in that country is directly contradicting the tweet's content with their experience (the thing we're told not to discount).

 

[rainbowlemon]

The clip below seems relevant. At least Mr Corbyn is doing something.

"But you didn't do anything. Did you walk out. Did you write letters of complaint? Did you shop elsewhere? No you huffed and you puffed, but you put up with it. Now all those women are gone"

To those mocking and clearly blind to implications of having a cashless society, what exactly ARE you doing?


---
I always have trouble with the Halifax banking app. It's always down because of "technical issues". It means I can't access my accounts, even when I need to pay someone.

What if it was a prolonged? How will YOU pay for food if the computer is down and says no?
---

 

[Polythene Pam]

This is what annoys me, when they only accept one form of payment - when wifi goes down, but they don’t accept cash, do they WANT our money/custom or not?! I bet most shops/restaurants don’t have the cash drawers/infrastructure to hold cash now. I’ve seen many tills replaced with ipads on a stand and a wireless SumUp machine.
---

Very good point, cashlessness relies on power which we should never assume will always work.

Funnily enough Wagas now takes cash again

 

[AllSeeingEye123]

Let us pay with cash! Why the purge of notes and coins must end

It is now more than two months since non-essential stores opened their doors, but since then, one in five of us has been stopped from paying with cash, according to our survey.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Too many companies still hiding behind covid when the risk is low. Where I live I have been surprised at the amount of cash only shops.

 

[Captainmouse]

I wanted some breakfast this morning all of £2.00 card only so no breakfast for me

 

[Deeznutslol]

Bellend with a camera attempts to pay for petrol with a £50 special edition collectable coin which isn’t normal circulating currency and threatens to drive off without paying if the staff don’t accept it.


Basically just making retail workers lives difficult to try and prove some point about a cashless society, when in reality, the staff are just rightfully concerned that it might be fake! Cringe.

 

[emmer_moans]

Our local Wagamamas decided it wasn't taking cash anymore last year (not sure if this was a chain wide decision or not).

Their wifi went down so they couldn't take card and asked us to pay using the QR code on their menu. I had no signal to use the QR code and asked to pay in cash. They repeatedly asked me to join the free WiFi for the shopping centre and then use the QR code. This is a WiFi that tells you when you join it's not secure. We had a bit of a Mexican stand off and eventually they took cash. It's so stupid for a restaurant not to.

I find cash stuffing really good for reining in my spending so I do use a good amount of cash. I try to use cash my default and only use card if its not taken.

We absolutely are sleep walking into a cashless society which they will plough on with despite not having the infrastructure for it.

This is what annoys me, when they only accept one form of payment - when wifi goes down, but they don’t accept cash, do they WANT our money/custom or not?! I bet most shops/restaurants don’t have the cash drawers/infrastructure to hold cash now. I’ve seen many tills replaced with ipads on a stand and a wireless SumUp machine.
---

Where I live at the moment all the shops ( there aren't many to be fair) have joined together and put notices in the window that while they happily accept all forms of payment they would prefer and be grateful if people paid in cash. They all have the petition to sign on their counter.
I was in a big city Premier inn restaurant for breakfast last week and the woman was stood at the door turning everyone away as their machines were down and they couldn't take payments. It was 9.99 each so my husband gave her a £20 note and said keep the change. She was utterly flustered and nearly turned us away but the manager came and said " great, welcome,enjoy".
Wtf is wrong with people sleepwalking into cashless. Having lived in an area with regular power cuts I can tell you cash is king. Businesses and customers are fooked without power. I recently was at a garage where the shop was full of customers unable to pay for their fuel as the card payment machine wasn't working. They couldn't leave, it looked very inconvenient for everyone involved.

Very good point, cashlessness relies on power which we should never assume will always work.

 

[Notworthy]

Well nationwide texted me to tell me I was overdrawn, but I don’t have an account with them. Computer problems, guess all of their members should check their accounts and have cash to hand

That'll be a scam, not Nationwide

 

[AllSeeingEye123]

Punters furious after 'disgusting 'Big Brother' pub BANS cash

Punters hoping for a swift one in a quaint cathedral city pub have branded the management's decision to go cashless 'disgusting' and warned Britain is 'sleep-walking' into a Big Brother-esque society.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Good to see people fighting back more. It shows the pub badly that they didn't comment.

 

[Captainmouse]

Some people work cash in hand, so it’s more effort for them to go and put money in the bank.

I’m quite traditional in that I lift out my money once a month that I believe I’ll need and then pay for everything cash. i split it all up into envelopes for each type of spending eg food shopping, things the kids need that arise, fuel, gas, electric etc I find it helps me keep to my budgets if I’m handling actual cash whereas when I use my card I feel like I forgot I spent the money because it’s just typing in a pin and then I’m horrified when I check my balance and realise.

I don’t trust wireless because my card paid for someone else’s shopping in Tesco one day and the card was in my bag at the time! So I got the wireless function removed from my card as it scared me how sensitive it was.

I too have a non contactless card having had my shopping paid for on more than one occasion

 

[IngressUK]

I get the cash argument, but it's getting harder to find ATM's around our area. We did have maybe 5-6 banks in the local town - I think we're down to 2 now. The 4x ATM's at the local supermarket have been reduced to 1 machine, and the supermarket doesn't take cash in almost half of the shop-n-scan points. I don't know what the answer is?

I find it easier to budget with cash. If I go out with £20 in my wallet, I know that is what I have to spend for the day. The change in my wallet the end of the day allows me to see how much I have spent.

With card and app payments, I find it harder to keep track of what I've spent. Especially as many apps allow you to pay through them for a coffee, beer, or food. It is easy to spend too much and lose track.

Natwest have announced more Bank closures. Two are in areas not far away from me. Not everyone banks by App, yet the Banks still don't grasp this.

 

[Captainmouse]

Wouldn't try it with petrol but the other ideas are good:


View attachment 2355789

The parking machine was not working, there is now only one, I took pictures emailed the company stating I was unable to buy a ticket. They suggested I downloaded an app to pay for parking, I said I was unable to do that, and had cash. I haven’t heard any more

 

[Ensay]

I was at a cafe yesterday and they had a sign that said: "Cards accepted, but cash preferred". I had enough cash on me to pay, so that's what I used and I noticed plenty of others doing the same when they went up to pay.

I've also seen similar signs at lots of small businesses because they understandably want to avoid the card transaction fees. I honestly don't think cash is going anywhere. Yes, it's being used less, but there's still a big need for cash and it's still used widely. 'Card only' businesses are rare in my experience.

 

[emm]

China is already ahead of us:

China has given away millions in its digital yuan trials. This is how it works

The People's Bank of China has been developing the digital yuan, a so-called central bank digital currency that aims to replace some of the cash in circulation.

www.cnbc.com

America also launched pilot schemes.

Digital Dollar Project to launch five U.S. central bank digital currency pilots

The U.S. nonprofit Digital Dollar Project said on Monday it will launch five pilot programs over the next 12 months to test the potential uses of a U.S. central bank digital currency, the first effort of its kind in the United States.

www.reuters.com

Gear Up and Stay Tuned for the USA’s Digital Dollar

The digital dollar will reform the future of money. The United States of America is progressively working towards creating its own central bank digital currency

www.analyticsinsight.net

I personally don't think it's a good idea going 100% digital given the number of recent cyber attacks that have occurred.

exactly, in the wake of all this hacking from russia etc this just seems like a ridiculous idea. I think a 100% reliance on technology is just a bad idea

 

[Captainmouse]

People should always carry some cash for emergencies, but I'll still primarily use my cards/phone to pay because 99% of the time it's quicker and easier.

Can’t say I’ve noticed it being quicker when you are stuck behind someone who can’t get it to work

 

[AllSeeingEye123]

Why a move towards a cashless society should concern us all - GP Taylor

One of the hidden symptoms of the Covid pandemic is that as a society we are using less cash. Being locked away in our homes meant we had to find other ways of buying the things we needed.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

That explains it very well. Imagine being completely cashless already knowing we could have blackouts over winter. We'd have the extra worry of knowing we no longer had cash to pay with.