MSE Poll: How often do you use cash?

Former_MSE_Karl · 13 March 2018 at 11:39AM

Poll started 6 March 2018

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

For some, the days of pockets stuffed with cash are long gone. Contactless cards especially have meant now even small transactions can just be done with a ‘beep’. So we wanted to test how cashless our society is now, and who’s using it.

Please tell us which option is NEAREST to your situation.

Click here to vote in the poll

Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below. To see the results from last time, click here.

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

Thanks!

[purplesignup][/purplesignup]

telemarks · 13 March 2018 at 1:15PM

I use cash for small transactions out of habit, as in the past small cheques or card transactions were often banned in some places, and as all places were different, I never wanted to risk it.

However this poll has got me thinking, these days with all my cards contactless, I guess cashless is possible and maybe I should give it a try?

aj23_2 · 13 March 2018 at 11:54PM

Too many snowflakes getting sucked into the Contactless/virtual debit cards on their mobile phones. and playing into big brother tracking your every move and spending habits. It's doing so many people out of jobs.

Why you'd just want to tap your way through buying things I just don't know.

And I'm 25.

By the way, there's more cash being drawn out in branches than ever before, and more cash in circulation globally than ever before. Plus, the chief of the Bank of England (who's signature is on pretty much every banknote) said she doesn't trust Contactless payments; Contactless fraud has overtaken cheque fraud for the first time too.

Jack06019 · 14 March 2018 at 9:04AM

Depressing. Few seem to see past cashless as "it's so convenient" - and they don't realise that it is the presence of cash in the economy that prevents negative interest rates. I don't want to be paying my bank for the money held in my bank account - which is what will happen with negative interest rates once cash is abolished - so I use cash for almost every transaction that I make as my small protest. MSE seems to be keen on promoting cashless use from various posts that I've seen, but with no discussion of the many pitfalls.

Wizard_of_Id · 14 March 2018 at 9:48AM

I use cash all the time for daily purchases, I rarely use my debit card, never use contactless payments and only use my credit card for larger purchases. All other payment methods are non-existant as far as I'm concerned.

MrOrdinary · 14 March 2018 at 10:02AM

For personal safety I try to only walk around with what I am prepared to lose. My debit card is precious, and a real pain to lose. So I only carry it when going to get cash -- and I make sure I am doing little else except getting cash so as to avoid trouble.
Once I have the cash, I can separate it into various pockets etc and while buying only open one pocket. This usually defeats the pick pockets.
I have lived abroad. The Swiss are finance experts. They unfortunately, at great current inconvenience, got rid of cheques. But one thing they have right -- they kept their cash. They even have 100, 500, and 1000 Franc notes, which are so easy to handle and so easy to conceal. I once needed to carry 2500 pounds between countries. I had all the documentation for it and it is the documentation, not the note size, which works against the illegal. All I could get was 50 pound notes -- 50 of them, and concealing them was near impossible on a hot summer day. So much easier to use 5 notes of 500. We need more cash, and bigger denominations.

aj23_2 · 14 March 2018 at 10:58AM

Jack06019 wrote: »

Depressing. Few seem to see past cashless as "it's so convenient" - and they don't realise that it is the presence of cash in the economy that prevents negative interest rates. I don't want to be paying my bank for the money held in my bank account - which is what will happen with negative interest rates once cash is abolished - so I use cash for almost every transaction that I make as my small protest. MSE seems to be keen on promoting cashless use from various posts that I've seen, but with no discussion of the many pitfalls.

The poll they did on cheque usage in September last year show that 75% of the 15,000 people who voted in have used cheques, ranging from rarely to regularly, in the last three years, yet the website pushes a 'cheques are annoying' agenda. There was a new savings account they listed and their blurb on it said 'Annoyingly it can only be opened by cheque'. I presented them with the breakdown of their own poll, and they eventually removed the word 'annoyingly' as I proved with their own findings that people do not find it annoying.

This is a great directory for people to use, but MSE is clearly being paid to push certain things. They are pushing for First Direct all the time, so they clearly benefit financially from pushing certain agendas.

aj23_2 · 14 March 2018 at 10:59AM

Wizard_of_Id wrote: »

I use cash all the time for daily purchases, I rarely use my debit card, never use contactless payments and only use my credit card for larger purchases. All other payment methods are non-existant as far as I'm concerned.

Same here. But I use cheques wherever I can. I don't trust Contactless or Mobile/Online.

aj23_2 · 14 March 2018 at 11:00AM

telemarks wrote: »

I use cash for small transactions out of habit, as in the past small cheques or card transactions were often banned in some places, and as all places were different, I never wanted to risk it.

However this poll has got me thinking, these days with all my cards contactless, I guess cashless is possible and maybe I should give it a try?

If you want your every move and buy tracked, then go for it.

lofielectronic · 14 March 2018 at 11:22AM

I use cash daily as I find it much easier to track my spending. I've found it too easy to lose track when paying for things with cards over a few days between checking my balance and spending online. I suppose I could check that more often but still, a quick glance in my wallet is simpler and more convenient.

That said, our local train station just replaced all the ticket machines there with card only ones and it isn't manned so I've been given little choice there.

I have a friend who doesn't generally carry cash and while its fine when we're in a city I often find myself having to lend them cash when we are travelling as they struggle with the lack of contact-less and cash machines.

aj23_2 · 14 March 2018 at 11:25AM

lofielectronic wrote: »

I use cash daily as I find it much easier to track my spending. I've found it too easy to lose track when paying for things with cards over a few days between checking my balance and spending online. I suppose I could check that more often but still, a quick glance in my wallet is simpler and more convenient.

That said, our local train station just replaced all the ticket machines there with card only ones and it isn't manned so I've been given little choice there.

I have a friend who doesn't generally carry cash and while its fine when we're in a city I often find myself having to lend them cash when we are travelling as they struggle with the lack of contact-less and cash machines.

I'm the same. And we are being forced to go cashless, as you highlight the ticket machine. When I topped up my Oyster card last week, I wanted to use cash. There were 5 machines, one accepted coins and one notes. The only one with a queue was the one for notes and coins.

MSE Poll: How often do you use cash?

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