Cashless society......problem for many.

[Drago]

Its funny how some folk might not use a chippy in case the purvery of fried spuds and spam fritters is not decalring every penny, but then happily buys products from companies that funnelmprifits around the world in a manner designed to reduce the amount the revenue receives, such as Apple, McDonalds, etc.

I don't condone it, but successive governments do bugger all about the massive cormporations sidestepping their liabilities, so Im not going to care if the local chippy cheats the same government of a few hundreds or thousands.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Round here I still need cash in some places.
Since the pandemic a lot of places have got a new contactless system that previously were cash only

Current places that only take cash are
a) the chippie
b) My wife's hairdresser - funnily enough the barber I go to has contactless! so her £60 has to be in cash but my £6 can by by CC!!

Even the window cleaner prefers to be paid via bank transfer

I think a lot of it is because cash requires having enough cash on you to give change plus having to count it all and take it to the bank then record it all properly
But if you pay by card or bank transfer then there are systems that will just pick up the payments and record it all properly so you accounts are simple.
Based on the language used by a friends father many years ago when he had just finished his company's accounts and VAT - all on paper - and their Bassett Hound managed to cover the whole lot with Chilli-con-carne - doing book is a right pain in the neck - having it all done by a computer is a massive saving in time and stress - and accountancy fees!

 

[cyberknight]

I suppose for some small businesses the cost of these machines could be a factor ?
looking the most popular one is 1.75 % of each transaction which seems about the going rate

 

[Alex321]

I doubt it very much.
Our local chippy will only take cash or debit cards, but not Credit cards. Is there a higher bank charge for CC transactions?

Yes, there is a higher charge to the retailer for CC transactions than for DC transactions.

There was a time when retailers would add an extra percent or two if you wanted to pay by CC but not when paying by DC, in order to compensate for this, but that practice was outlawed a few years ago.

 

[markemark]

There are a number of costs to a terminal. Device purchase/rental, receipt rolls, phone line or Ethernet (phone line ideally is dedicated). But the greatest is the bank charges which vary widely depending on your level of business. A small cafe will pay significantly more than a chain of restaurants.

there is also a few data delay in receiving funds and restaurants often have to deal with spurious refund demands. A restaurant owner I know often gets people who were too drunk to Remember being there. He often had to spend time proving the transaction.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

LBS says they seldom see cash these days
Just been down the high street and everywhere was using cards
except the butchers, which is part of a small chain, who only accept cash
the main butchers I use have a card machine that they started using during the first lockdown but 'the other one' do not

looking closely as I walked past it looked like both hight street chippies were dealing with cash only

On a different note I never pay by phone. I am not even sure if the relevant apps will work on my phone as it is getting on a bit - I know the NHS Covid app won't load on it
and as Samsung make their phones so that the operating system won;t update to new versions then using a banking app seems like a risk too far to me!

 

[cyberknight]

My local chippy takes cars but preffered cash as their suppliers were a cash business

 

[Drago]

It does feel strange buying a pint in the club with a slap of the debit card.

 

[Alex321]

My local chippy takes cars but preffered cash as their suppliers were a cash business

The local chippy here (Cowbridge) not only takes cards (including contactless), but you can order online.

As is also the case with the other takeaways in the town.

The only place I have been this year that didn't take cards was the beach café in Llantwit Major.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Weirdly our chippie also does a lot of on line orders - which are paid for by card

but in the shop it is cash only

 

[vickster]

My local chippy takes cars but preffered cash as their suppliers were a cash business

Jeez how much do they charge for a small chips and fish?

 

[vickster]

Weirdly our chippie also does a lot of on line orders - which are paid for by card

but in the shop it is cash only

Mine prefers PayPal online, makes sense. No card machine in shop but business has a PP account (although mine takes cards in store too, takeaway and eat in)

 

[byegad]

I've just seen that the contactless limit will be £100 from October.
I suspect that will make cash even less commonly used.

 

[oldwheels]

I've twice found contactless cards recently. Once on the train, once in the street. As I too am a pillar of society, I phoned the bank in question and destroyed the card as instructed. I'm sure a less upright citizen (or even me in my less affluent youth) would have been tempted to dash off a couple of transactions before binning it.

Our local FB page has regular reports of cards found and subsequently returned to the rightful owner. People seem to be incredibly careless.

 

[oldwheels]

I give the grandkids cash at birthdays and christmas rather than probably useless [to them ] presents.
So far as I know they do not have bank accounts so how else to do it?