How would these shops know how much to charge you? I don’t know any shop that puts price stickers on items these days; even small corner shops scan the bar code to get the price, which they obviously can’t do if there’s no electricity.
There wouldn’t be any light on in the shop either, so if the window was completely covered with posters, like many shops I know, they wouldn’t even be able to see you.
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Wouldn’t that just mean you’re in a Hollister?
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Missing the safety points entirely. No power=
no CCTV/Alarm system
no electronic till functions
no internet connectivity
no lights
no heating/cooling
no Fridge storage (stock degrades to useless)
no Freezer storage (as above)
Staff are placed in a predicament. Temperature-controlled stock is a write-off. Possibility of looting is high. Cash is the last thing on a shop’s mind - locking down as soon and as much as possible is.
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They forgot to stock up on toilet rolls. The water is pumped using electric so chances are the loos would stop working after not too long. In NI one of the biggest electricity users is the water company and I imagine that’s the case in most countries.
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Having experienced the 2003 debacle, when we lived in Manhattan, I know exactly how things ‘go south’ quickly. Especially with no elevator power or water pumps for high-rises.
Not to mention cell-phone towers - which had battery back-up - but only lasted 8 hours at best. The demand was so high, cell-phones disconnected in about 4…
But every cloud - bars basically gave beer away before it went off. Free beer and food and an amazing community spirit too. Memories.
On the bright side, psychology students will be studying this for years. Junior #2 is still studying the riots in London in the 80s.
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This news is a few weeks old but I don’t think its been posted on here: Drivers to be able to pay for parking using just ONE app under new Government plans.
Will be glad if this comes to fruition.
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We visited New York for a week at the end of May. Didn’t take a single US$ note/coin & never withdrew cash while there.
Almost everything went on Flex-via-Google-Wallet. Contactless almost everywhere. Even when an out-dated payment/swipe terminal was encountered with the physical Flex card needed, any the initial refusal was worked around by force-paying in-app. Once I had to enable magstripe on my Personal card to get the physical Flex card to be accepted at a swipe-terminal, but that took 10 seconds max.
Of note:
- On the AirTrain on the way into NYC from JFK, the payment terminal didn’t like multiple taps on the same card. We had to use 4 different entrance pay-terminals to get us all in using Flex-via-GWallet
- On the subway, sometimes a single tap-to-enter terminal would spit out its dummy when I tapped more than twice consecutively (I was tapping each family member in one after the other) - simply switching entrance terminals fixed that too (still using the same Flex-via-GWallet payment method) - this experience differed at different stations. Some worked with 4 taps at a single terminal, some with 3, some with 2…
- The CitiBike app was problematic when submitting the Flex card details to multiple members. I had to use a combination of Flex, Joint and Personal Account to get 4x Citibike accounts to work properly.
All-in-all, considering we visited the US - a service-culture - with no local currency, we had almost no issues at all. Selectable tip amounts on almost all payment terminals and some rather hi-tech POS hardware in effect in modern places like coffee shops for contactless purchases.
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Same for me a few months ago. Made the whole tipping thing less awkward too 
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I don’t know where else to put this but Greece 
while we did have cash for tips, each card machine had a selectable tip option too.
It changed how much cash we’d consider taking on a future trip for certain.
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I’ve not been to the US for a while - I take it they’ve stopped doing that thing in restaurants where they take away your card to process the payment, then return with a receipt with a space for you to fill in your tip (which gets processed at a later date)?
On a similar note, we just did a nearly cashless trip to the Netherlands. My youngest had €20 of spending money in her purse from her granny, but when it came to spend it we ended up at a till that was card-only - so I paid by card and ended up with more cash than I started with (none).
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A few places still did this - older Irish bars for example. The initial charge (bill amount excluding tip) was a hold/pending amount. Then a day or so later, the actual amount (initial charge plus tip) was charged. Flex worked in almost every case of this payment method.
The only thing I need cash for these days is paying contractors, a lot of them turn up their nose when you ask for a bank transfer or card payment. Some have modernised somewhat, I paid an electrician a month or two back who had a card reader from SumUp I think.
I tend to find the ones that send you an invoice with the company logo on tend to offer bank transfer
But the rest demand cash. It’s so irritating - but you can’t really do anything about it if you want the work done.
I’ve had to pay plumbers and electricians and decorators over the past few years.
None would accept cash; all wanted bank transfers.
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Same.
They ask for you to transfer it there and then once the job is done. If you want an invoice they’ll send it later
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A strong reason for this is making tax digital, it’s making it a lot harder I suspect for the whole “what’s the price for cash” I.e. not going on the books.
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As others have said, a lot of the trades I’ve used recently have all wanted payment via bank transfer. All of them have generated invoices which contain the bank details.
I think cash usage will continue to steadily decline but certain groups will prefer to use cash.
I think it will still be many years before cash goes and it will probably require the government of the day to end the use of cash.
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Round here, even the window cleaner wants payment by bank transfer.
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Window cleaner, cleaners and gardeners all provide invoices (2 VAT registered) and none accept cash.
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Interesting perspective, and thanks for sharing that article—it raises a point many of us probably don’t consider day to day.
Personally, I’ve gone mostly cashless too. My phone pretty much handles everything—from groceries to transport. But I agree there’s a bit of a blind spot when it comes to vulnerability. Whether it’s tech failure, a cyberattack, or just being in an area with patchy service, it reminds me that having some kind of backup, even if it’s not cash, might still be wise.
Curious to hear how others are balancing convenience with resilience.