The cashless society is a con – and big finance is behind it
Saw this article in the Guardian this morning.
What are everyone’s thoughts on it? I can understand it (almost) for the big legacy banks, but not sure it applies for the likes of Monzo and Starling!
That feels like it’s written by someone who really did not like their bank closing nearby lol.
I personally can’t wait for a cashless society - Card makes my life easier!
I don’t know if I’ve come across anyone recently, who has said “I prefer cash”.
Any of you “prefer cash?”
To be fair, I am a huge fan of being cashless, and don’t mind it going completely that way in the future.
We live in a time when the consumer now notice issues with the old ways banks used to generate revenue, e.g. bounce charges, account fees etc… And many often claim back these in their masses, so I guess they are diversifying into ways to keep staying in profit without trying to directly introduce new ways of charging fees?
Maybe I’m just falling into the category of people that have been “tricked” to think it’s good. 
I’m a huge fan of cash for one it’s universally accepted and for all amounts. Can’t say the same for card transactions.
Currently been cashless for 2 months… life hasn’t been simpler… although saying that, was in a pub the other day and they wanted £10 minimum charge… so bought more beer… so only good things have happened… right? 
I guess this can be really dependant on where you live, Im city centre of Manchester based and there is a growing trend of places that are the opposite, and actively refuse cash…
If you had the choice of places taking ONLY cash, or ONLY card, which would you go for?
I get your frustrations right now (about card not being accepted at some places), but for me, that just tells you those businesses need to seriously update their payment systems, and get on board the card society!
Guess so, I live in Edinburgh and i’ll actively avoid places that don’t take card.
ATM’s are few and far between unless you’re in the city centre.
Don’t know of anywhere that accepts bit coin right enough (although I believe there’s a cafe in Glasgow which does)
I work in retail. We get a fair few elderly customers who mention they’ve just been to the bank/ATM to take out money to buy whatever they’ve brought to the till. I never have the heart to tell them they could just eliminate that step and pay with their card.
I guess cash always had the benefit of knowing how much you had to spend because that’s physically what you have in your wallet/purse. But now that it’s getting easier to see changes to your balance instantly (or fairly instantly) on your phone I don’t really see the need to go to an ATM.
I’m genuinely excited for the day we finally go cashless, I just don’t really have a good reason as to where cash could be more useful.
unfortunately I don’t exactly live in a big town so there are still a few local locations that cash is still required even though there are plenty of inexpensive card readers available. It’s really one of the real reasons why I love the big cities, no matter where you are or what you’re buying 99% of the time cards will be accepted.
And yes there is always a problem with service outages that will cause a few hours at an inconvenience but it happens.
Oh, slightly off topic, are ATMs still displaying the messages as they think Monzo a a foreign/ credit card?
To add to this discussion… I have to use cash to pay for sports club subs (weekly).
I hate it with a passion - The sooner there is a simple way for small clubs to accept card payments the better.
I’ve tried to get them to go down the bank transfer route - But there are too many different people on a weekly basis to make that work!
This has always been my parents argument towards going cashless, I genuinely think it’s more of a trust issue than anything else. I always ask them If they know their balance when they say that but they never do.
My Hairdresser is the same, I know for a fact that they are making plenty of money to purchase a card reader but nope cash every time.
Then there’s people who think it’s illegal/not proper to use your card to pay for something that’s only 10p - so they hand you a £20 note.
I don’t prefer cash, but I certainly don’t want it to disappear. It requires no battery, or complex payment system.
I’m generally quite supportive of merchants who refuse cards or have card transaction limits.
Aha - My hairdresser has just added a card machine! Huzzah!
Amazingly, it’s also saving me money! It cost’s £10, and I’d never ask for the £1 back previously (I’m nice like that).
Now I just pay with card, and it’s £9!
This is being fixed with Mastercard in the coming months.
Ha exactly the same where I go, it £9, always thought that was intentional, as most prob do the same!
Really? Oooooof, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one! 