A Cashless Society A Good Idea Or Not

[gordiescotland1]

I went to Vodafone today in the High Street in my town to buy a new phone. I had the cash on me but I was told they could not accept cash as it was a cashless store. I have never heard of anything so ridiculous. I had to pay by debit card. They said they were moving with the times as they think in 10 years time society will be cashless. Really? Behind me was an elderly woman who wanted to top up her phone with a £10 note they couldn't help her. What do others think ?

[sherrardk]

I think he uses cash at home for the bus and some village pubs.

[Vagus]

I draw out a bit of cash about once a month, maybe £30, if I need to, just so I have some cash on me, but could perfectly happily exist without any.
It’s the way to go.

[Tuvok]

Our buses now have contactless facilities, but since my ticket is over the contactless limit of £30 I still have to (and want to) pay cash.

[Atheist]

Teacher; penny machines in my day!

[ummmm]

I always have cash. Might take me a while to spend it but it makes me feel better. A few times my card has been declined due to a fault with the machine. One time my card crashed the till in Morrisons.

[Buenchico]

Lots of places have been cashless for ages. You can't use cash (to buy tickets for onward transport) at many airports. (The first time I encountered it was at Charleroi Airport in Belgium several years ago). You can't use cash on buses in London. There are quite a few restaurants and bars that no longer accept cash. (The first one I saw was in London, at least five years ago). The majority of people who order food in McDonald's now seem to use the self-service ordering points, where only cards can be used. The Asda filling station in Bury St Edmunds is 'pay at pump' only, with no kiosk, so that only card payments can be made.

I do my best to avoid all businesses that don't take cards, preferring not to patronise dinosaurs. The only times I use cash are in the launderette, at the local burger van (although most of the other burger vans around here take cards), at the barber's and when using on of the very few car parks where card payments aren't yet accepted. I withdrew cash from an ATM earlier today (because I was going to pick up my washing from the launderette) and realised that several months have passed since I last used an ATM.

Many of the problems which seemed to prevent barriers to moving to a wholly cashless society (such as how to give kids their pocket money) now seem to be getting ironed out, so hopefully cash will be a thing of the past within not more than a year or two.

[douglas9401]

Epic fail in not patronising dinosaurs, right there.

[ummmm]

What if the system goes down?

[Old_Geezer]

Have no desire for a cashless society. Puts power into the hands of those who control the computers/network/servers/software/etc.. Ultimately governments and corporations. Any seller who will not trade in cash needs avoiding like the plague. Take your custom elsewhere for the sake of all citizens.

[woofgang]

I think that the answer is that probably will happen but hasn’t yet...and as someone who expects that the customer is king (or queen), any store that wont let me pay the way I want to won’t get my custom.

[ummmm]

Look at how many problems some banks have had with their systems going down.

[alavahalf]

Why the reluctance to move with the times .. a hundred years or so ago, people were against losing their horses and carts, because motor cars with their engines might cause the demise of all who relied on horses and the associated trades and suppliers for their livelyhood.
How many of you still use your horse and cart for everyday travel ?
Just checked my bank a/c for cashpoint withdrawls .. they amounted to two in the past three months.
The only reason I might need cash is to have a few quid in my wallet. It's only their should I need it .. as a rule I dont !
Absolutely everywhere takes a card .. it's not a 'credit card' .. it's a debit card. I only spend money I have in my current account. My phone improvises for payments if I should choose to use it.
About a month ago I got involved in an emergency ... the worst situation arose, I was in the pub and the card sytem went down and I couldn't use my card to buy some beer. I can hear the groan ..
Dont panic the situation was soon rectified ... I had my cash in my pocket ! .. That reminds me, I never withdrew any cash to replace it ..

At this point it is now 2 cash withdrawls in 4 months !

[ummmm]

So that's why cash shouldn't be phased out. Systems break all the time.

I mainly use my card. My OH prefers cash.

[alavahalf]

Ummmm .. Being turned away after queuing at the bar is a situation that nobody should experience. We do need cash, but we rarely need to use it.
I doubt that we will ever be a cashless society as long as we have drug dealers and window cleaners.
They all need their tenners.

[Tuvok]

Gordiescotland1 - have you read todays Sunday Post?