Feed into MPs' inquiry - share your views on society becoming more 'cashless' with Coronavirus

Bizzywizard

My mother is arthritic in her hands so cannot use the small devices banks use, so you can check things online. So my brother does it for her (which I don't like, but I am miles away so cannot help).
So she rely's on the cash machine (bigger buttons) and uses cash in the shops, again she struggles to press the small buttons on the card reader machine. If they were touch screen it would be easier.

On another point - I could not deposit £45 in cash from 3 different relatives into my 13 year old's account with Santander (this was birthday money). She had to be with me! As she was at school and the bank closed at 2pm what do they expect? They said I should deposit in my own bank account and transfer it. In the end I kept the money and bought my daughters things on line....I still have the cash. Santander were worried about a £45 FRAUD!!! 

I like to tip (the waiters and hairdressers) in cash too! I do not tip on the machines in restaurants etc...you never know if the waiter gets the money!

I like to collect and buy my ebay purchases in cash as the vendor does not have to pay paypal fees, which are a rip off along with ebay fees.

I do like internet banking, but when the bank has a BLIP you need cash! CASH still has a place in our society.

MattMattMattUK

MSE_Thiri said:

• What are your attitudes to cash? 
  

It is an outdated method of payment, superseded by digital transactions. 

MSE_Thiri said:

• Have your attitudes to cash changed over the last 10 years? If so, why?

I have thought it was outdated for many years, the only area where cash was previously more efficient was paying for drinks in a bar, but now with contactless, or even normal card, cash is no longer the easiest method.

MSE_Thiri said:

• Have your attitudes to cash changed in light of Coronavirus? If so, why?
  

Not mine personally, although I do know some people who it has meant have finally stopped using cash.

MSE_Thiri said:

• Have you been negatively affected by society becoming more ‘cashless’? If so, why?
  

No, I have been largely cashless where possible for years, using credit or debit card for the vast majority of transactions. In 2019 despite spending £23k on "in-person" transactions I only used £350 cash all year, in 2020 to date I have used no cash at all.

Cash is now outdated and largely pointless when there are other more efficient and cheaper alternatives (overall cost, rather than individual cost). Cash handling is expensive for businesses, with transaction fees being less than the cash fees from banks, cash also presents a theft risk. When most of Scandinavia is now virtually cashless and their elderly have easily adapted to life without cash I do not see why our elderly or "vulnerable" would not also be able to do so. I do not feel that there is a need to directly abolish cash, but just allow it to die out over time as it's usage becomes less and less. However as they are a cost and largely useless as you are unable to purchase anything with a 1p or 2p coin they should be phased out, with the 1p, 2p, 5p and possibly 10p coins phased out within the next five years. Transactions processed digitally would be charged as is and any cash transaction could be rounded down to the nearest whole coin. 

mdr86

• What are your attitudes to cash?
  I avoid using cash as much as possible. Much of the time I have literally no cash with me – if you don't take card, you don't get my business. I recently bought one of those pound coin shaped tokens for trolleys/lockers so I don't have to even have a pound coin any more.
  
• Have your attitudes to cash changed over the last 10 years? If so, why?
  Not really. I didn't use cash much back then either. I've barely used cash since I first opened a bank account when I was 18.
  
• Have your attitudes to cash changed in light of Coronavirus? If so, why?
  I'm glad if it has accelerated the move away from cash!
  
• Have you been negatively affected by society becoming more ‘cashless’? If so, why?
  No.

I've always found it bemusing that some people find it easier to manage their spending by using cash. On card, you get a statement with everything you spent and where. Super useful for keeping track and working out where you could save. With cash, you just have to...remember? Keep receipts? Doesn't make any sense to me.

DiamondLil

I fundraise for a local charity and we'd be stumped if we couldn't deal with cash. We raise thousands every year and it's 95% cash.

LauraKingsey

I buy everything I can using cash and only use my cards for large or online purchases.

I think it would be horrific to use the right to use cash. Those in control of our cards could cut us off whenever they felt like it, charge us for every transaction and those in poverty would be plunged into even deeper poverty and would find themselves unable to budget properly.

Everyone would lose all sense of what things are worth and whether they were getting ripped off or not.

With the world on the brink of economic collapse, losing the only liquid asset many people have would be a disaster!

It is our human right to use cash and it should be the LAW that all businesses have to accept legal tender.

I don't accept that cash is in any way dangerous. Shop workers handle stock all day long with no problems. This is just an excuse to force us into a cashless society.

Kids also learn about money and how to manage it through having pocket money. They can't do that with a piece of plastic or a microchip!

Many Swedes have spoken out against a cashless society and say that their banks cut them off for up to two days at a time now Sweden is almost entirely cashless. I myself have been in my local Waitrose when the POS system goes down and have been among the few customers able to still pay using cash.

MoneySeeker1

Not to forget that it's shall we say more than a little coincidental this question is being raised at a time when interest rates have already gone down from "proper" levels to "not even enough to match inflation" levels and I have a nasty feeling "They" will be trying to push us into what they are calling "negative interest rates" (them charging us to store/have the use of OUR money). If they try and do that stunt to us - we will have an increasing need to keep our money ourselves (ie as cash) to ensure we can't be charged (aka - stolen from) for having any money. 

Money kept in accounts might be vulnerable to "theft by so-called negative interest" and being stolen off us by our Government/banks/building societies dribble by dribble being whipped off us.

themarkyofbath

I work helping anyone accepting cash to use automation to accept it safely. Speaking to many retailers there are significant numbers of customers who still only use cash. Making the country cashless won't happen in the next 30 years and will exclude some people from society. 

Littlehampton

What are your attitudes to cash?

Cash is King, to remove cash you removes choice & options. Cashless yes does work in bigger areas or businesses such as London or the likes of Tesco but what about the rest of us? The rest of the country, the world even?

Sometimes I might have no money on my card but I can fill up £10 in my car with some cash, same applies to buying food. A money box can be a lifeline! 

Have your attitudes to cash changes over the past 10 years, If so, why?

If anything ive embraced it more, Ive set up a small business and I rely on cash to keep my charges small and I don’t have to overcharge my customers. I’m not sure how the business will grow and although I have PayPal and and i-zettle I still pay fees on these (per transaction!), why would I pay fees when I can get 100% profit money? Yes ease is one, but put yourself on a lower salary before you answer that. A £5 on top for fees can lose me a customer!

 

Have your attitudes to cash changed in light of the Coronavirus? If so, why?

Absolutely not; it’s a gimmick, you think bacteria is only on money? What about a steering wheel, a computer keyboard, a mobile phone. Coronavirus is one of many virus’ currently active,  it has come and it will go, another will take its place, that is as Mother Nature intended, it’s what controls the human population and its just a horrible lottery.

But to use this as an excuse is just playing into the hands of greed, dictatorship and ignorance, which are not the values we are built on, do not fall short of understanding the bigger picture, you have to learn to live and support each other because our economy will bring down the biggest long before the lowest. 

 

Have you been negatively affected by society becoming more ‘cashless’ If so, why.

Not directly but I am concerned of the way the bigger companies are controlling the situation, recently Banks in rural areas were closing, yes I appreciate the rent might be high, but it’s not like banks can’t afford it, on top of that why don’t the banks swallow their pride and team up so you have a section of banks under one roof. Independently regulated to ensure no games are played but so all areas can access services regardless of who you bank with. Win Win for all!

Being rash for the sake of profits will cost votes, lives and possibly British power!  To remove it, you must first have an educational system in place that ensures all pupils leave with understanding money, VAT & tax etc, and then technology that can support 70 million UK people using this option on a daily basis multiple times a day. As we dont have a railway in the UK that doesn't fail when we its 'adverse weather conditions - its drizzling btw', how do you expect this to work?

GaleSF63

What are your attitudes to cash?

Same as it has been for decades. That doesn't mean I don't use cards, bank transfer, etc. even a cheque once a year . I appreciate having the choice - different ways for different reasons or sometimes just how I feel on the day.   I don't like the way we seem to constantly be expected to come down on one side or the other. 

The countries which are virtually cashless must have more reliable electronic systems than we have. 

MoneySeeker1

Not to forget that many of us don't/won't do online banking. I'm not elderly - but I'm one of them for instance.

Right now - if a nearby friend found she had to put herself under house arrest (ie "isolate") because she suspected she had Covid - that's not a problem, as I'd do her shopping for her during that (and have told her to ensure she has cash in in case - so that she could pay me for it).

In return - if I were the one that had to put myself under house arrest - then someone else would have to do my shopping for me (I've got several possible choices about who/how) and I'd need cash on me to pay them.

It's not possible to just do a bank transfer if one doesn't do online banking.

I've found a suitable-for-me online supermarket if I needed it and there's always Amazon - but that doesn't answer the question of getting greengrocery, the weekly tv magazine, the local newspaper and cash would be necessary for them.