Is it the end of cash?

[Polar Bear]

Anybody who evades taxes is a slimeball of the greatest order but I do find it a bit unfair that people always assume without evidence of any kind that a person receiving payment by cash must be a tax evader.  It is totally disingenuous and frankly people should be shamed for assuming as such.

Tax evaders exist at all levels of society and it is still all to easy to use more than one bank account and funnel a proportion of your income through an undeclared account.  I lost count of how many of my clients asked me what the price would be for cash and my reply was "Just the same.".   And, I always gave a receipt though of course they can be easy "lost" too.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's why the London Taxi Drivers Network (or whatever it is) are so against card payments (and why the card machine, if present, is so often "temporarily out of order") or smart Taximeters that track journeys, print receipts and (most importantly) are auditable. The usual deflection tactic is to point to Uber (the corporation) and say that they don't pay enough/any corporation tax - conveniently ignoring the fact that the individual Uber drivers can't easily avoid paying tax as they don't receive cash for fares and everything they earn is easily auditable.

I guess that's why they introduced "fiscal registers" in taxis in Poland back in 2004. In that case, it was joining the EU that provided an excuse ("union VAT rules"). Card payments not necessary.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Walked over the Clifton Suspension Bridge on Tuesday and noticed that it's now taking card payments only.

[mllePB]

Pubs and butty shops love cash and I prefer using cash in independent businesses because the card processing fees are a larger chunk of their profits. Always use card in chain stops, they can afford the hit.

Pre covid, I worked in central Birmingham and used to visit a lunchtime sandwich place regularly which was card-only.  The place was a tiny independent business with just one member of staff. Not having cash on the premises  made it a lot safer for the staff in a location between nice offices and less desirable inner city.

I've been missing their Portuguese custards and thinking about this now, I looked them up only to find out that they've permanently shut 

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Found out my mobe has no NFC(Near Field Communication). So I can't use Google pay.

[rafletcher]

Pre covid, I worked in central Birmingham and used to visit a lunchtime sandwich place regularly which was card-only.  The place was a tiny independent business with just one member of staff. Not having cash on the premises  made it a lot safer for the staff in a location between nice offices and less desirable inner city.

We have a gee-gaw gifts type shop who likewise prefer card payments.

I’ve hardly used cash since March, mainly using my phone to pay from my credit card.

[orienteer]

Fruit and veg stall in our High St only takes cash, but takings are mostly relatively small sums so probably not economic to take cards.

The only other place I've needed cash is for the (council owned) supermarket car park machines, but they've just installed new machines that accept card payments.

[ian]

Pubs and butty shops love cash and I prefer using cash in independent businesses because the card processing fees are a larger chunk of their profits. Always use card in chain stops, they can afford the hit.

Pre covid, I worked in central Birmingham and used to visit a lunchtime sandwich place regularly which was card-only.  The place was a tiny independent business with just one member of staff. Not having cash on the premises  made it a lot safer for the staff in a location between nice offices and less desirable inner city.

I've been missing their Portuguese custards and thinking about this now, I looked them up only to find out that they've permanently shut 

I'm often conscripted to man the doors and collect money from punters churning up for my wife's orchestra's gigs. Or I was, when such a thing was a thing. They all have little PoS terminals that plug into a phone. Fees are pretty minimal and there are no cash hassles or risk of having the cash box nicked because you've entrusted it to a conscripted halfwit.

I saw cash for the first time yesterday when the magic pub man opined the last two pints of dank beer from the bottom of the barrel that he'd bottled up for me might not be entirely drinkable, so he gave me £11.20 in cash back (he's not figured out card refunds yet) and wished me luck. I've not tried drinking it yet, but now it's free beer there's no way I can't not drink it.

[mllePB]

Fruit and veg stall in our High St only takes cash, but takings are mostly relatively small sums so probably not economic to take cards.

The only other place I've needed cash is for the (council owned) supermarket car park machines, but they've just installed new machines that accept card payments.

Veg stall on our local market starting offering a card machine in lockdown#1. I sense reluctance though.

[Polar Bear]

News item on the interwebs today about tech issues affecting stores taking card payments recently.   How do you do business in a post cash tech appocalypse?

[Kim]

News item on the interwebs today about tech issues affecting stores taking card payments recently.   How do you do business in a post cash tech appocalypse?

Large shops closing during electricity/comms/computer outages because it's less hassle than the stock control system getting out of sync isn't really a new thing.  The smaller businesses who might have carried on for cash transactions with a pen and paper and some rusty mental arithmetic would be more affected.

Things could get very interesting if some prolonged catastrophe meant that cash was needed now people are getting out of the habit of holding any.  The core infrastructure's pretty reliable, but it wouldn't take much for everyone in a geographical area to lose access to it.  I'm thinking New York flooding sort of events.

[Cudzoziemiec]

People used to say that every long-distance or off-road cyclist should hide a fiver (this was a long time ago) inside a bar end or the seat post, ICE taxi fares. And we've been reminded in the last year or so that some people recommend we all keep a fortnight's supply of basic foods at home. Perhaps there's an argument for keeping a similar cash stash somewhere (under the mattress? ). Trouble is, a fortnight's supply of cash at 2021 prices is a) impracticably bulky b) a theft risk c) possibly attracting the attention of authorities (cf India and Russia large denomination note bans).

[Kim]

The problem (or possibly feature, depending how the shit hits the fan) with my emergency cash stash is that it's in Euros.

[Cudzoziemiec]

USD is the traditional currency of last resort, at least before we get to gold bars, art works and the like. I would expect that to remain the case outside Europe. Within this continent, I guess it depends on whether the EU continues as a thing.

[Polar Bear]

I may have a stash somewhere in the Bear-o-drome.  I regularly recycle the notes to avoid any issues with them going out of date but with these plastic ones it is probably not necessary.

Other than paying the utility bills we could probably survive for a few months if we could fight off the mutant hoardes.

[Jaded]

The only stash I ever had was in a place we borrowed for holidays. One time I was there I realised all the notes and the £1 coins were no longer in circulation 

[ian]

We have a pile of cash stashed in a drawer in the kitchen, mostly pounds and dollars, plus random travel currency that never got changed back because it's probably worth 35p. I should probably check that any of it is still legal currency. When I travelled a lot, especially in places like Africa, I'd always take a stash of dollars.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A hidden store of cash has to be a cache of cash.

[Adam]

I've found that my local Nat West where I have my business account has installed a whizzy spinning cash counting machine.  Open up the lid, pour a bucket load of coins into a circular sieve, shut the lid, and then it spins round very fast so all the coins get distributed out, and then it gives you a printout for the amount paid in, which you then take to the desk to get added to your account.

That way, the staff don't have to handle dirty money.

And it takes the old pound coins.

Much better than those Coinstar machines that some supermarkets have, to exchange coins for notes, which charge about 7.5%.

[Jaded]

We have a pile of cash stashed in a drawer in the kitchen, mostly pounds and dollars, plus random travel currency that never got changed back because it's probably worth 35p. I should probably check that any of it is still legal currency. When I travelled a lot, especially in places like Africa, I'd always take a stash of dollars.

Ah, foreign money, that's different. I have Serbian Things, Euros, Canadian Dollars (managed to get rid of the Dollar Dollars).

As you say, good to make sure it is still legal. I'll never forget the look on the face of the shop assistant in Muizenberg when I proffered some Rands I'd found in a drawer before our holiday.

[Kim]

Much better than those Coinstar machines that some supermarkets have, to exchange coins for notes, which charge about 7.5%.

I prefer the self checkouts which will exchange large quantities of small change for, well, shopping.

[robgul]

I've found that my local Nat West where I have my business account has installed a whizzy spinning cash counting machine.  Open up the lid, pour a bucket load of coins into a circular sieve, shut the lid, and then it spins round very fast so all the coins get distributed out, and then it gives you a printout for the amount paid in, which you then take to the desk to get added to your account.

That way, the staff don't have to handle dirty money.

And it takes the old pound coins.

Much better than those Coinstar machines that some supermarkets have, to exchange coins for notes, which charge about 7.5%.

The NatWest machine I used a few years ago when we were handling a lot of charity bucket cash managed to recognise the dud old pound coins and chuck them back (it usually took 3 or 4 goes to get the machine to take them  )

[Polar Bear]

We have a pile of cash stashed in a drawer in the kitchen, mostly pounds and dollars, plus random travel currency that never got changed back because it's probably worth 35p. I should probably check that any of it is still legal currency. When I travelled a lot, especially in places like Africa, I'd always take a stash of dollars.

Ah, foreign money, that's different. I have Serbian Things, Euros, Canadian Dollars (managed to get rid of the Dollar Dollars).

As you say, good to make sure it is still legal. I'll never forget the look on the face of the shop assistant in Muizenberg when I proffered some Rands I'd found in a drawer before our holiday.

We still have a small amount of Moroccan from the last time we took a plane.  March 2005.

Some folk will choose to misinterpret that statement.  😃

[Adam]

Much better than those Coinstar machines that some supermarkets have, to exchange coins for notes, which charge about 7.5%.

I prefer the self checkouts which will exchange large quantities of small change for, well, shopping.

I hate to think how long £175.84 would take me to feed into the self service checkout!  I only do 1 big supermarket shop every 10 days or so.

[giropaul]

One implication of almost universal card use is how one handles tips. I don’t like adding a tip onto a card payment as I suspect that it won’t end up with the person I intend it for.
At the moment ( well, in normal times) I’ll pay by card but tip in cash. If cash virtually disappears that’s going to be more difficult.

I also use cash on the bike. I’m sure that it’s just me being old , but I don’t like carrying cards or a posh phone as I’ve seen to many drop out of pockets whilst riders are looking for their gels, cape etc.