MSE Poll: Are you part of the cashless society? How often do you use cash?

penners324

I'm surprised when anywhere is cash only these days. Card transaction companies exist that only charge 1.7% of all transactions so it's a no brained that shops should have one of those card machines.
Only use cash now in kebab shops and taxis (probably indicates something about how much revenue they declare to HMRC).

JayEssGee

I've been shopping for friends during the Covid epidemic.  They can't pay me by card, so use cash.  They also need cash to pay the gardener or for deliveries of milk, bread etc.  And what about small gifts of money to relatives at birthday or Christmas.  I can't do that by card and I'm not going to ask them for their bank details to make a transfer!

Mickey666

Cash is never going to disappear, at least not in our lifetimes.  Nor will bartering, of which I’m a big fan . . . but I think that’s more of a thing out in the sticks than it is in towns and cities.

Having said that, I stopped for a tea and a bacon roll at one of those lay-by food vans the other day and was surprised to see they had a card reader and I could pay by CC.  

jon81uk

JayEssGee said:

I've been shopping for friends during the Covid epidemic.  They can't pay me by card, so use cash.  They also need cash to pay the gardener or for deliveries of milk, bread etc.  And what about small gifts of money to relatives at birthday or Christmas.  I can't do that by card and I'm not going to ask them for their bank details to make a transfer!

Why not ask for bank details? I've done it with friends I owed money to, and to/from my parents for gifts.

maisie_cat

When I lived in a village with shops I used cash all the time as I popped in all the time, now I tend to only shop in the supermarket or online so rarely have cash. We took £100 out of the bank in March and still have some of it.

Stompa

I doubt I use cash more than maybe 4 times a year.

JGB1955

I've only taken out £20 in cash since March....and that's to put into the honesty box at our local farm (for eggs).  I also 'lost' a couple of £1/€1 coins so needed a replacement for my gym locker and supermarket trolley.  I haven't taken my handbag out of the house since lockdown - my phone has 3 credit/debit cards in the phone case.  No need for anything more (and I get cashback on my cards... so cheaper than cash)!

Blue_Doggy

I prefer to use cash, (and still use cheques when I can), as I find it easier to keep track of my spending, especially as many shops no longer give a till/card receipt as a matter of course. I don’t do online banking because I don’t want to risk getting scammed.
 

I always use cash to pay for the Parish magazine as the cost (50p) Is too low for the faff of using the cc. Same for other small purchases.
 

I also like to support small local businesses, and prefer not to lumber them with card-providers’ charges unnecessarily.

gizmosmum

Surely most of us here live by Martin's advice and have credit cards that reward us?! He has taught us well :-) 
I collect points on several cards so I have one each of Amex / visa / mastercard, all with rewards; even the small amounts add up. I draw cash out occasionally as I always have £20 on me but rarely use it now, roadside fruit / veg / plants / eggs is about it. Paypal is useful too.

Mnoee

Blue_Doggy said:

I also like to support small local businesses, and prefer not to lumber them with card-providers’ charges unnecessarily.

I hate to break it to you, but banks charge businesses accounts both for depositing cash and getting change. 

I use a card whenever I can. I can't for busses in my town, so pre-pandemic I'd be breaking a tenner for the fare every now and then. I can't wait til I can just tap my card like on the tube!