imutual.co.uk

Had to go to Nationwide yesterday and told DH to ask for 8 £1 coins and 4 50p coins. Some of our local parking meters are £1 but others are £1.50

The lady had £6 in her till and no pound coins. Not to worry we will go to Lloyds say I. DH puts down £10 note and asks for the change. "Do you have an account here?" "No, but my wife has". Then I had to rummage for the case holding my bank card etc. Always kept hidden at the bottom of the handbag for safety's sake. More for my peace of mind than actual chance of pick pockets I guess.

So with so many bank branches closing and so many shops not accepting cash (especially the supermarket tills and self checkouts, hard to find one that accepts cash) it is going to be so hard for people.

And do not tell me we can use Ringo to pay to park. That means one more site would have our bank details. Pay online by paypal or credit card for security but where possible tick box for non saving of card details. Prefer to waste time putting in the details every time.

To me cash is king. It is easy to know how your money is going if you use it, not so easy when you are swiping your card in every shop. We have enough in the bank to spend more in a month than we receive. Not every month of course but others are living from one pay packet/benefit payment to the next.

I don't want cash.

Handling is costly for businesses (has to be counted, has to be kept securely, security risk when banking).

It's easy to steal. And easy for criminals to use untraceably.

Yes some people may it harder to do without cash. So let's put the effort into helping them rather than clinging on notes and coins.

Many banking apps ping transactions immediately and update your balance. Just as easy as having to count out cash. Easier even. Some apps will even analyse your spend for you.

pabenny wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03 2021 5:28pm

I don't want cash.

Handling is costly for businesses (has to be counted, has to be kept securely, security risk when banking).

It's easy to steal. And easy for criminals to use untraceably.

Yes some people may it harder to do without cash. So let's put the effort into helping them rather than clinging on notes and coins.

Many banking apps ping transactions immediately and update your balance. Just as easy as having to count out cash. Easier even. Some apps will even analyse your spend for you.

Sorry, are you actually suggesting that NOT using cash makes transactions cheaper or safer?

All the electronic alternatives do is to introduce middle-men to skim off some value and gather data on your potential value as a consumer, your interests, etc. Cash is anonymous, something no "app" can emulate....

macliam wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03 2021 5:49pm

Sorry, are you actually suggesting that NOT using cash makes transactions cheaper or safer?

There are certainly sources that say yes; although also others that dispute that. It's not always clear which costs are being considered or disregarded and studies are often many years old or published/funded by vested interests.

Here the "Myth: Cash is expensive" headline uses references from 2009 and 2012 amongst others, which surely would be less favourable to cash in 2021:
https://www.atmia.com/news/myth-cash-is ... ive/11139/

Here's a contrasting article that makes some good counter-points, enumerating lots of potential savings in time and fees for electronic payments, but perhaps overstating the case since they have a product to sell:
https://squareup.com/gb/en/townsquare/t ... l-business

macliam wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03 2021 5:49pm

Sorry, are you actually suggesting that NOT using cash makes transactions cheaper or safer?

Absolutely.

- Banks charge fees for cash deposits - for Lloyds - 0.9%-1.4%;
- There are collection/delivery fees from the likes of Loomis.

Internally, there are hidden costs of cash:
- it has to be counted the end of the day
- till floats have to be made up
- notes and coins on the premises have to be managed to ensure there is sufficient change - but not too much.
And so on

Card payments have an inherent cost advantage because the whole transaction flow is automated, allowing the intermediaries to charge a fee and make a margin. There is a misapprehension that cash transactions are somehow free for businesses. Just not true.

i don't handle much cash at all... pay for almost everything with credit cards and they're paid by DDs, and all income streams are coming in by bank payments. only cash is if i sell something and the buyer wants to pay that way, but that isn't very often. i'm comfortable with that. but those who aren't are going to find things frustrating, as ref the Bitcoin thread, Central Bank Digital Currencies are coming, including for us in the UK. big changes ahead.

Do the majority of parents still give pocket money to their children in cash? I imagine so, while presumably some kind of pre-paid card or smartphone e-cash might provide an alternative.

Pre paid cards are a con. Put £10 on the card but if you end up with some pennies and nothing to spend it on then you lose those pennies.

If someone was going to do that for pocket money then Visa or MasterCard would obviously be good choices, so they're easy to spend. Selecting a reloadable card would pretty much eliminate the kind of 'breakage' that you mention, however fees could be an issue.

blythburgh wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 04 2021 11:23am

Pre paid cards are a con. Put £10 on the card but if you end up with some pennies and nothing to spend it on then you lose those pennies.

You could always reload it and then spend it rather than lose the pennies. Or load to Paypal and transfer the balance to a partner or a second account if you have one. However the con if there is one is the charges they make when you reload it and at various other times of interaction with them.