Cashless High Street

Was walking through the high street today and saw this on the front of the Vodafone store! Do you think it be long before we see more cashless shops?

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Vodafone shops have been cashless for a long time. Maybe even before Monzo current accounts were a thing.

Yes, I think more and more shops will go cashless in the years to come.

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I meanā€¦ how many people were really using cash in a Vodafone shop?! Accessories maybe, but handsets?!

Cashless places are starting to take off now. Finallyā€¦

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Iā€™ve seen quite a few ā€˜Card payments preferredā€™ signs, too. Handling cash is expensive :man_shrugging:

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I suspect we will, yes. The cost of handling cash is higher than people think. More expensive than card transactions in a lot of cases. Factor in:

  • Staff time to count a float, cash up, and prepare money for banking
  • Insurance for storing large amounts of cash
  • Secure cash collection costs

If I ran a store Iā€™d seriously consider going cashless for my own convenience, regardless of savings.

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I have heard about some pubs in London that have gone card only.

I personally hate carrying around any cash.

O2 Academy Brixton posted this up yesterday and the comments are ermā€¦ interesting. My views are in the comments but in summary I think theyā€™re doing it wrong. Reduce cash payments to one bar only for now and change behaviour slowly but still allow those who want to use cash the opportunity to do so.

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Cashless would be great, but the only thing is how a transaction would be handled in the event of a connection error?

I always remember about 10 years ago I tried to pay for petrol and the card machines were down so out came the old card imprinterā€¦

Im just wondering what the modern equivalent would be in the event of a major outage?

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Interesting read. The new Tottenham football stadium is completely cashless now too

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Not just London, thereā€™s a village somewhere whose last free ATM was removed, and a few businesses (including a pub) went cashless.

Thereā€™s some weird stuff in that thread. Some mad comments.

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It definitely feels as though the cashless revolution is speeding up. Every day somewhere near me is going cashless at the moment!

I know this is an old thread, but Iā€™m surprised by those stores that still only take cash. I really thought, by now, theyā€™d have given in and caught up with the times.

There are a few shops in a row that I pass most days. One, I donā€™t use because they only accept cash. Another I hadnā€™t tried, but assumed they took card. I went in the other day to browse, and someone else walked in and asked questions about their products. I overheard the conversation as he asked what they sold and then said ā€œAnd do you take card?ā€, she said no and he replied ā€œThanks, Iā€™ll leave it thenā€, and walked off.

I looked up ready to also leave, and caught the shop ownerā€™s eye. She gave me a questioning look and I said ā€œAh, Iā€™m going to leave it as well. I donā€™t use cash.ā€ She replied ā€œThereā€™s a cash machine next doorā€, and I said ā€œNo, thanks though.ā€ and followed the other customer out. When I went to a third shop that I knew took card, the man from the previous store was also in there buying his lunch.

I just donā€™t understand how people can be losing so much money, watching it happen, and not bother to just get a card machine.

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It is not even that complicated or expensive to do so what with iZettle and the like

There was one hold out pub near me. The landlord is a bit traditional, but turns out from a conversation on their Facebook group that he mainly did not take cards not due to some sniffy objection or technology phobia, but worries about effort and cost. Corrected on that they now take cards! Yay

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https://www.bigissue.com/latest/social-activism/the-big-issue-goes-cashless-with-the-help-of-izettle/

Haha, blimey. Bit late to reading them, but some folk are in totally different world

A few pubs in London have gone card only and as a result save something like Ā£15-20k a year in insurance as no cash on site to steal so even if they put a few punters off, itā€™s still better financially.

I know a few of the shops in my local highstreet which are cash only wont move because ā€˜weā€™ve always done it this way and dont want to move overā€™ aka more than likely to be tax related.

To be fair these shops are mainly hairdressers/barbers so they donā€™t lose much custom doing this

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