The end of cash?
- Thread starter danny la rouge
- Start date
PR1Berske
Alligator in chains by the park gates.
Not rotten, just grown up perhaps.
Surely nobody should be "forced" into anything.
Businesses should be allowed to accept whatever form of payment suits their business. And customers should have the right to take their custom elsewhere if they are unhappy about that.
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
In my native Crewe back in the 70's/80's the third biggest employer after the BREL works and Rolls-Royce was the Post Office who had a massive sorting office there next to the train station. I had loads of mates who worked there.
The Post Office also did cash delivery/collection back then as well though I have no idea if they still do. One day I bumped into one of my mates in the middle of town stood outside the Natwest with a helmet on and what looked like a cash box.
I stopped to say hello and it turned out that the cash box was fake and just contained an alarm that would go off if it was snatched. He was basically a human canary to fool any would be thieves before the van with the actual cash box arrived.
He was big enough and probably more importantly dumb enough to put up a impressive fight if anyone did try to snatch it even though it was fake and his orders were to not resist. I have a feeling that even if Royal Mail still do cash delivery/collection that job would deffo be banned under Health & Safety.
Who are these people that only have cash? How did they get cash? I mean working off the books, black economy. You can get a basic bank account I thought at the post office. The number of people who only have cash and nothing else I would think is vanishing these small Much smaller at least than those for whom using an ATM is a hassle for various reasons and often not practical at all.
Makes sense to me
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
I imagine that older folks like my old Mum who have people to get cash out for them is quite common. She does have a bank account and a card, but only has confidence to use real money. I get her cash every couple of weeks and she writes me a cheque. Her contactless card is practically useless because she'd never use it.
lazythursday
Averagely-Known Member
My mum is only slightly better than this - she will use her card to get money out of a cash machine, but that's all. She goes to town once a week and draws cash out for the week. She then locks the card away (terrified of losing it / having it stolen) and walks around all week with a purse full of cash. She won't be convinced that she's got the risk the wrong way round.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
But you do release that using the card would be a lot easier and remove some of these problems. Sure she may not want to and this is fine and her choice, but a contactless card is the easiest possible way to pay for something.
I don’t like to spell out the obvious but uncomfortable truth, but it’s worth recognising that at some point in the coming decades, all these old folks who are terrified of anything but cash will not be in the picture any more. Part of the way that society changes is that the ones used to the old ways pass on and the ones left behind are the ones who grew up with the new ways.
weepiper
I fix the machines that fight climate change
The coffee shop down the street from my work had a break in overnight at the weekend. They're card only payments, so the only thing of value that got stolen was the business credit card which the owner put a stop on immediately he got a notification it was being used.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
Won't someone think of the non-IT literate criminals.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
I may or may not realise that, but in the case of my old Mum that's irrelevant. She has expressed that, aged 90, she has no confidence in the contactless system. Rightly or wrongly she dos not believe that the transaction will conducted correctly, (or at all), and also that she'd have no way of knowing where she is with her weekly budget. Those are her perceptions; that's it.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Obviously true, but cash use for budgeting is not limited to the very old.
andysays
Love and solidarity
But by the time that happens and we are that age, banks will doubtless want to change the current system which most of us are fairly comfortable with and introduce some new-fangled system which makes it easier for them but which many of us currently saying that cards are OK will find it more difficult to adjust to.
At the age of sixty, I already find it significantly more difficult to adjust to technological change than I did at the age of 40. The issue of older people finding it difficult to adjust to things they're not familiar with isn't going to go away when all the current old people are no longer with us.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Genuinely don't remember that tangent. But maybe I'm guilty of this as I do assume from my (old Mum's) specific issues that there is more general resistance to contactless amongst the very old. I have no evidence for this, so maybe it is just her?
What about the ones who had don’t have anyone to get them cash?
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Genuinely don't know; I suppose the most likely would be that they take their card to the PO to pull cash out?
PR1Berske
Alligator in chains by the park gates.
I'll struggle to search for it, I remember that some took exception at all elderly people being grouped together in the "baffled by technology" bracket.
Anyway, I'm just wondering out loud.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
I wouldn't cast my mother's position as one of being baffled; more that she just doesn't trust or believe in the invisible/intangible technology. She's seen other people use contactless and seen it work, but she just won't go there; simple as that.
PR1Berske
Alligator in chains by the park gates.
Oh don't misunderstand, I'm on your mother's side, as it were. I'm just badly remembering a tangent from months ago.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
Well yes, my dad is 75 and happily pays for things contactless with his iPhone.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
My issue is more social than technological. I have no problem understanding how something like tiktok works, but understanding the shit people use it for. Not a clue.
I would not get too worried about banks' desire or ability to enforce changes to current systems.
In practice changes have consistently been imposed on them from the outside. For example, the Faster Payments initiative, which allows near real time online payments was pushed by the UK Treasury and by the Office of Fair Trading. Similarly the Open Banking initiative (which neither the banks nor their customers seem all that keen on) originated from an EU directive.
Conversely, one initiative that did originate from banks was the attempt, a few years back, to do away with cheques, announced in 2009 with a target completion date of 2018. This triggered a blizzard of complaints from businesses and users that led to a Treasury Select Committee inquiry. In 2011 it published conclusions that killed the initiative in its tracks.
Source here: Cheque elimination in UK
InArduisFouette
Well-Known Member
which is why i often point out that today;s 80 year old retired in 2009 when peopel talk about 'old people' being unfamiliar with email / websites / using electronic forms of payment
equally today's 80 year olds were listening to skiffle or rock and roll as young people not Vera bloody Lynn ...
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Maybe old news and I’m showing my ignorance here, but came across this retail monstrosity today. Had to have an app and swipe your contactless on entry, FFS. Was interested in looking at their Oktoberfest German beers, but fuck’em. I worry that this is the future of shopping.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
Why is that Dalek waving a Union Jack?
Can you explain what they are requiring customers to do? I’m not being sarky, I can’t discern it from the screenshots. Are they saying you need to present an app or contactless card just to be able to shop? Before even paying for anything I mean. If so, yep I’d be with you I’m against that. As much as contactless is my preferred way of paying. I’m against businesses the only accept cash, I mean I don’t use them. but against supermarkets only accepting electronic payments.
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