Going Cash

Madbat60

I should also add I have walked out of shops with no one on the till and no staff to assist you, just cameras watching.  I left my purchases in a basket and left.  Businesses where I live have closed down as locals have boycotted them for not taking cash.  I really don't like people telling what to do.

Rosa_Damascena

Madbat60 said:

I will walk out of premises that say card only.  I refuse to be dictated to by companies.  I get around £100 out of the bank weekly and buy food with that  and other bits and pieces.  It gives me better control over my spending.  I'm retired so I have time to  shop around.  I won't use my phone either.  I refuse to have credit card. I have a debit card for larger purchases.  I use cash abroad.   

I don't understand this at all. Buying a larger purchase on a credit card affords protection that cash doesn't. If there's a problem, let the cc company deal with it.

General_Grant

Rosa_Damascena said:

Madbat60 said:

I will walk out of premises that say card only.  I refuse to be dictated to by companies.  I get around £100 out of the bank weekly and buy food with that  and other bits and pieces.  It gives me better control over my spending.  I'm retired so I have time to  shop around.  I won't use my phone either.  I refuse to have credit card. I have a debit card for larger purchases.  I use cash abroad.   

I don't understand this at all. Buying a larger purchase on a credit card affords protection that cash doesn't. If there's a problem, let the cc company deal with it.

But Madbat60 does use a debit card for "larger purchases" and that does give some "voluntary" protection with charge back, unlike the Section 75 statutory protection with credit cards.

JIL

I use my Halifax clarity credit card when abroad. I think on our last holiday we spent less than 14 euros using cash.  I have a stash of 300 euros in my holiday purse. Which also has the clarity card in it.  First night back I pay the whole bill off. Works for us. 

hugheskevi

Few comments from a more international perspective, having spent the last 16 months traveling through most of the countries in the Americas. We took no foreign currency at all with us, using 4 current accounts (2 joint, 2 single) and 2 credit cards (both with secondary card holder).

• In the US some places thought they accepted international cards, but they didn't. Although the vast majority of Walmarts were fine, and all those in more touristy areas worked fine, we came across 3 Walmarts where none of our cards would work. There was no alternative but to always ensure we had enough cash to cover the transaction if necessary. In some places the buses are cash-only and do not give change.
• In Central America the amount you can withdraw on a single card in a single day can often be preposterously low. Perhaps not so much for a local, but when you are traveling and paying for everything, even accommodation in cash, you burn through cash quickly. Several times we would spend about 5-10 minutes at an ATM using each card in turn to withdraw money. The ATMs are notoriously temperamental too, often refusing transactions for no reason and later in the day accepting them.
• The need for cash is massively reduced by AirBnb taking payment in advance. Oddly, places using Booking.com almost always were pay on arrival - usually either card or cash, but some places were cash only.
• US dollars in hard cash is king (once upon a time about 30 years ago you might have been able to take pounds to many countries, those days are long gone, it is either dollars or euros, the pound doesn't even get a mention at the vast majority of exchanges). You can always exchange dollars in any country, or use them directly. Carrying a reserve of them is the most reliable option. We topped up our reserve from ATMs in the countries using dollars as their currency (notably Ecuador) and you can also withdraw in local currency and buy dollars at very good rates in several countries - Peru was good for this.
• Any card in any country can be a bit hit and miss about whether it will work in ATMs and for purchases. Visa is more reliable than Mastercard in all circumstances but won't always work.
• ATMs fees vary wildly, from nothing up to about £8 per transaction. Countries with high charges usually are the ones with low withdrawal limits, making use of ATMs an extremely expensive option.
• Taxis in many countries are cash-only. This is a particular nuisance when arriving into a country by land that isn't covered by your mobile phone roaming package and so you cannot use Uber due to no signal until you get a local SIM, making the need for cash imperative.
  
• It is always cash-only for the many small purchases you might make, eg, buying a snack or coffee at a bus station from a hawker. It is common in many countries for hawkers to come on board buses with food and drink, and that will be cash-only.
• In Argentina, you don't want to be holding cash beyond a de minimis amount for small purchases - its value melts away every day. Western Union and US dollars are your friends there, with VISA for purchases. ATM withdrawals are prohibitively expensive.

It is always great when a country has a large number of free-to-use ATMs that are reliable with decent withdrawal limits, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Using credit cards is so much more convenient than cash, especially when you have just crossed a border and haven't had an opportunity to get local currency.

It would be impossible to travel without having cash, even just in the USA alone. Cards are by far the most convenient, but cash is always the most reliable option, and carrying hard cash was essential in every country we visited.

MattMattMattUK

Madbat60 said:

I will walk out of premises that say card only.  I refuse to be dictated to by companies.  I get around £100 out of the bank weekly and buy food with that  and other bits and pieces.  It gives me better control over my spending.  I'm retired so I have time to  shop around.  I won't use my phone either.  I refuse to have credit card. I have a debit card for larger purchases.  I use cash abroad.   

That would appear to be irrational. Do you also walk out of premises that are cash only, or refuse to accept cheques, barter, BitCoin, foreign currency? All businesses dictate payment methods to a greater or lesser extent. 

Madbat60 said:

I should also add I have walked out of shops with no one on the till and no staff to assist you, just cameras watching.  I left my purchases in a basket and left.  

Which would appear to be cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. You want the items, using a self service till, or waiting a minute whilst someone comes over would be inconsequential compared to the time taken walking around the store filling the basket.

Madbat60 said:

Businesses where I live have closed down as locals have boycotted them for not taking cash. 

That sounds utterly insane, locals are destroying otherwise liked businesses because they have, likely for economic reasons (accepting cash can be expensive for businesses) stopped accepting outdated payment methods.

Madbat60 said:

I really don't like people telling what to do.

Accepting only a payment method that you appear to have an irrational dislike of is not "telling you what do do". Do you also not buy milk because it must me sold in multiples of pints, not buy bread because it is sold in loaves, not buy cereal because it must be bought by the box, drive on the wrong side of the road because you do not want to be "told what to do"?

Madbat60

@MattMattMattUK it's my money and I have a choice how I spend it.  You're missing the point about why I want to use cash, it gives me more control over my spending.  It's my choice.  I got out of crippling debt by using a cash pot.  I am now completely debt free including mortgage free at the age of 62.  I did that by watching every single penny.  I rarely shop online.  I spend my money in shops that take cash.  It's my choice.  I grew up in an era where my parents had nothing, I got into debt and I learnt the hard way.  When the cash is gone, there is no more spending.  Yes I do use my debit card, but I prefer cash.

MattMattMattUK

Madbat60 said:

@ MattMattMattUK it's my money and I have a choice how I spend it. You're missing the point about why I want to use cash, it gives me more control over my spending.  It's my choice. 

No one is denying that you have a choice what payment method you choose to use and I am not missing the point, but that choice does not make your position rational.

Madbat60 said:

I got out of crippling debt by using a cash pot.  I am now completely debt free including mortgage free at the age of 62.  I did that by watching every single penny.

I also track how I spend every penny, not because I need to, but because I keep a very tight eye on my finances, I can analyse every part of my spend as it is fully digital, so you could also evaluate alternative methods.

Madbat60 said:

I rarely shop online.  I spend my money in shops that take cash.

Those two things contradict wanting to watch every penny, shops that do not accept cash and/or buying online could well and often are cheaper than shops which only accept cash. 

Madbat60 said:

It's my choice.  I grew up in an era where my parents had nothing, I got into debt and I learnt the hard way.  When the cash is gone, there is no more spending.  Yes I do use my debit card, but I prefer cash.

Again, no one is denying that it is your choice, but it is the way you are trying to portray it as a rational choice and some kind of moral crusade, with talk of boycotts, walking out, not being "dictated to" etc.

Many of us on here have been in debt at one point or another, I ran up debt in my late teens and early twenties and then worked 60-80 hours a week to pay it off, I am now debt averse and the only debt I would ever consider is mortgage debt, but using digital payment methods is irrelevant to that. I either control my spending or I do not, the payment method is irrelevant. Cash is expensive for businesses to use, quite a bit more expensive than cards, it is a dying method of payment, just the same as cheques or barter died out before it. By choosing to limit yourself to businesses that only use cash you will be increasing your costs and reducing your convenience, neither of those are very MSE.

Katiehound

 

Madbat60 said:

  just the same as cheques or barter died out before it.  

Just to point out that cheques haven't died out.

I recently had a cheque from Swansea with refund from vehicle excise duty.

MattMattMattUK

Katiehound said:

 

Madbat60 said:

  just the same as cheques or barter died out before it.  

Just to point out that cheques haven't died out.

I recently had a cheque from Swansea with refund from vehicle excise duty.

Not entirely, but I think you would be very hard pressed to find a shop/retail operation that accepted them, one certainly not do their supermarket shop with them anymore.