We went through this back in 2001 or so when the banks wanted to charge customers for ATM usage.
I very rarely use ATMs these days and rarely carry cash. I know this isnāt doable for everyone but itās the way things are going.
I think the only time I need to draw out money is for the hairdresser who still hasnāt got a card machineā¦
Neither does mine.
Charging for ATMs would reallyā¦concentrate the mind. I think it would pretty much kill cash.
ā[There are] 5,000 more [ATMs] than three years ago and the usage of cash by consumers is going down,ā he said.
Data from industry lobby group UK Finance showed that the number of cash payments decreased by 11% between 2015 and 2016,
Yes Iād read that somewhere else actually. Iāll try and find the source - but something to do with cash being king when it comes to fraud.
Edit: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/14/hard-cash-makes-a-comeback-in-hard-times
Apparently, in Sweden, only 20% of transactions are in cash, and only 1% by value (probably excluding the black economy).
I rarely need cash. When I do, itās for small, local transactions. My newsagent takes cards, and he is quite happy to do so, but it costs him Ā£0.50 for every transaction. It doesnāt seem fair to me for him to lose what could be 25% of the transaction to his card processor.
So losing free ATMs wouldnāt be an issue for me in London, but I can see that it could be a quite a problem in other parts of the country.
I doubt this very much.
15 years ago, it used to cost me 1.8% of transaction value on a credit card transaction and Ā£0.50 for Chip&PIN or cardholder not present debit card transaction.
This was before Contactless was introduced that was specifically designed to replace cash for small value transactions.
Unfortunately, many traders have maintained, for cheaper Contactless transactions, the 50 pence charge for transactions under a tenner thing that they previously had with Chip&PIN.
I suspect some are just mistaken but many know that itās a great way to fleece customers for a bit more.
Yeah, either they are on some ancient price plan or theyāre lying cos theyād rather cash, or they want to persuade you into grabbing some impulse purchases to make it worth their while to run a card transaction.
At the moment you can buy an izettle card reader for Ā£25 and then pay 1.75% fee for any transactions up to Ā£2000 a month, after this amount is exceeded the fee goes lower.
So if I had that it would cost me about 2p to process a Ā£1 card payment.
I was in a coffee shop recently that had no notice of minimum spend for Contactless payments. Went to pay for my overpriced coffee, albeit priced at less than a fiver, and was told that it was going to be an extra 30 pence for Contactless.
That told me two things:
- They were using it to fleece customers
- They didnāt have the courage of their convictions to charge an additional 50 pence on a coffee
I refused as there was no prior notice of this charge and suggested to them Contactless was meant to be an alternative to cash transactions.
They waived the additional charge as Iād had to wait 20 minutes for my coffee.
Iāve not been back.
Just to be clear, he wasnāt trying to push me one way or the other. Iāve always used cash there, because i had always assumed (incorrectly, perhaps) that it helped to support small traders.
When I asked him which he preferred, he said it didnāt matter. It was only when I asked him if he got charged for taking cards that he mentioned the 50p.
Fair enough. If that was my shop keeper buddy Iād definitely let them know there are much cheaper options 
50 pence is for Chip&PIN. Iām sure Contactless is cheaper.
I donāt think Iād have waited 20 minutes for a coffee. But then I am really bad at standing in queues.
I had time on my hands that day. Normally Iād have left and found somewhere else. But Iām able to queue 
There is a new pub near me and the charge 40p per card transaction regardless of the amount, needless to say I walked out even after they had poured the drinks.
That wouldāve cost them more than 40pā¦
Indeed, there was no signs either and it wasnāt until I took my card out that she told me. I even said I have no cash and was there no way she could wave it and she said no and said there was a cash machine next door I said nah forget is and walked off.
Came to about Ā£20 as well
At which point I would have screamed āIāll waive it mate!!ā
A normal person would have done yesā¦