History of payment methods

JasonSmart2022

Just wondered with the rise in contractors and card payments.   Prior to this, for example from the 80s and 90s up to present day what were the most popular payment methods in retail and hospitality for example cash, cheque, credit or debit card.   Asking out of interest only.

Farway

Cash was king, except for large amounts, like a builder, then a cheque was used

mamashaz

Builders preferred cash too, in my experience

Floss

Cash or cheque for me - didn't have a credit card and debit card payments only became a thing in 1987.

Sarahspangles

When I first had a bank account in the mid 80s you got a card and chequebook. To get cash you went into branch and wrote a cheque to ‘self’ or ‘cash’. Every single time. The hole-in-the-wall cash points weren’t introduced until 1987, I can remember the first time I used one in a larger city, they were few and far between at first.

Most transactions were cash, but you could use a card with a card imprinter at a till. When I was a supermarket till girl as a student, it was a pain when someone wanted to use either a cheque or a credit card, as it slowed down the queue. The introduction of ‘Cashback’ also slowed down the transaction - you used to be able to ask for a few £10s with your receipt. Nowadays supermarkets have cash tills instead.

I wrote cheques up to the mid 00’s but increasingly to self-employed people who couldn’t take card payments. A couple of years ago I needed to write a cheque for a payment to a Government body for a legacy process and the previous cheque in the book was from more than a decade earlier. Of course the bank then decided I must need a cheque book and sent me one!

goldfinches

I remember using a cash point at a Lloyds branch near my school in 1981 or 1982, it dispensed pound notes which was unusual even then as other cash machines locally contained 5 or 10 pound notes so you couldn't withdraw less than £5. I used that machine a lot because I could withdraw £1 at a time and I was very reluctant to take out more than I needed because the money used to dribble away, very MSE of me before Martin ever started thinking about personal finance etc. 
Before that machine and the other ones locally were installed I used to write cheques for every transaction and if I needed cash had to go into the branch and write a cheque at the counter. The main branch in the centre of town used to keep paper records of the cash transactions in one part of the room behind the counter and you could see stacks of record slips in baskets and piles on the desk top of that section. Bits of paper used to get knocked or blown off the tops of the piles regularly so you had to keep a careful record yourself and scrutinise your statements very carefully. I also remember that the bank and the cash machine often didn't agree about the amount of money in your account, there was a significant delay in updating the machine network so some people used to manipulate that to their own advantage and spread the word to others as well. 
Looking back I think 82 or 83 must have been a year when cash cards came in because I never needed to go into a branch during my university years and had a card for the cash machine as soon as I deposited my grant cheque. I managed everything with a cash card and a cheque book all the time I was there and don't recall any problems at all with things like rental deposits and shared bills and so on. 

PipneyJane

I didn’t move to the UK until 1989, but I remember how backward banking seemed here when compared to banking in Australia.  We’d had cash machines and integrated banking systems since the late 1970’s.  (By “integrated” I mean that I could view my cheque account, my savings account and my credit card statement all in the one session at the cashpoint, by using my bank’s card.  Also, if I deposited a cheque within the branch, I could walk outside to the cashpoint and access the cash immediately.)

My first employer in the UK paid me by cheque, which took a week to clear and cost me a fee when I banked them.  I was always broke and always frustrated that I couldn’t bank the way I had in Australia.  It was 1992 before I found a bank with half-decent systems.  That was the TSB.  Their machines would print you a statement.

- Pip

Floss

Sarahspangles said:

When I first had a bank account in the mid 80s you got a card and chequebook. To get cash you went into branch and wrote a cheque to ‘self’ or ‘cash’. Every single time. The hole-in-the-wall cash points weren’t introduced until 1987, I can remember the first time I used one in a larger city, they were few and far between at first.

Most transactions were cash, but you could use a card with a card imprinter at a till. When I was a supermarket till girl as a student, it was a pain when someone wanted to use either a cheque or a credit card, as it slowed down the queue. The introduction of ‘Cashback’ also slowed down the transaction - you used to be able to ask for a few £10s with your receipt. Nowadays supermarkets have cash tills instead.

Cashpoints were a thing back in 1980 when I was working at weekends & being paid into the bank.
And you can still get cashback. Never seen a cash-only till though.

Floss

goldfinches said:

I remember using a cash point at a Lloyds branch near my school in 1981 or 1982, it dispensed pound notes which was unusual even then as other cash machines locally contained 5 or 10 pound notes so you couldn't withdraw less than £5. I used that machine a lot because I could withdraw £1 at a time and I was very reluctant to take out more than I needed because the money used to dribble away, very MSE of me before Martin ever started thinking about personal finance etc.... 

Oh the joy of £1 notes!

MrsStepford

Haven't used cash for many years. Even my milk deliveries are paid for online ! I do think that cheques seem more secure than contactless cards. 

sheilavw

I remember hand writing cheques in Sainsburys, then at some point I just needed to sign because they printed them in a machine