Cashless society - a good thing/a likely thing?
 

Was having this discussion with my brother the other day - he lives in London and is convinced we'll be a totally cashless society within twenty years and never carries cash himself. He didn't even realise the £2 coin was still legal tender because he hardly ever sees cash

Me living out in the sticks always try and have some cash on me as cashpoints are hard to come by in a lot of towns these days. I also still see a lot of businesses in smaller towns that are cash only like pubs, bakeries, takeaways etc. I think it's still so widely used across most of the country that we'll never go cashless in my lifetime

There's also the issue that using card means your spending is always logged and on record somewhere whereas cash obviously leaves no trail

So do you think a cashless society would a) be a good thing and b) when would it happen by?

it's certainly heading that way but it does make a little uncomfortable aswell, the trail following you everywhere

I guess part of the concern is, if the systems go down say for a couple of days, people wouldn't even be able to get food. I mean I'm in a little village with at least one shop that would probably "open a tab" for locals but I don't imagine most places have that.

That said - I pretty much never carry cash... Always a pain in the arse when kids need coins for bake sales and stuff like that, because I have to go to the shop on the way to school, get £10 at the cashline and then buy something to break it. I should just keep a stash of coins in the house...

In general though I don't see a problem with it, cash has no more inherent meaning than digital funds when it comes right down to it. The psychology of money is quite interesting really... It's only worth something because everyone agrees that it's worth something.

As for likelihood, I'd say it's all but a certainty, but not particularly soon (several decades, maybe not within our lifetimes).

I do think using cash will become more "niche" though. How often do you see someone paying in cash at a supermarket checkout for example?

I don't like it at all, there have been occasions recently when visa when down, and the only alternative was to pay with a different card or cash, I also don't like how unsecure contactless cards are, if you drop one people can spend 30 quid at a time, I have a friend who works in Tesco and she flagged to her manager that someone wanted to buy a trolley full of items, paying 30.00 off on contactless for each section he had put on the belt, and the manager waved it though when clearly the card was stolen :skull:

There has definitely been a big swing in recent years largely driven by contactless I suppose. I went to a couple of Ashes tests this summer and normally for a sports event I take out a load of cash because everything is cash only and the temp cash points there charge about £5 to withdraw but was surprised when I was there that actually all the bars were card only

Still think it's too ingrained in a lot of people's lives to be eliminated though. And people are entitled to a private life which you just cant be confident about with card payments. Other thing is that the government are still spending a huge amount of money redesigning our notes and I think they recently decided not to scrap coppers so we're generally still quite committed to cash as a country. I think there'd be a big backlash at any attempt to phase it out

You are actually covered for contactless by the card issuer (that's why it has a max spend, and it shouldn't allow a tonne of contact less payments in quick succession). If you report your card stolen the bank should refund any payments that you say weren't made by you (and they're supposed to follow up with the police / retailers to see if the person who made the purchase can be identified). In that way its more secure than cash I suppose. If you drop cash, it's gone [emoji23]

Yeah that happened to someone I know - they dropped their card on a bus and someone picked it up and spent £200 on booze in various places and the bank refunded him the full amount

No Cash is staying Forever.

New Plastic £20 notes
start in a few months,
Then the £50 note goes plastic.

Of course in Main places
some stores are not taking Cash.
Thats their loss.

Tech goes down
Cash takes over.

Cash is never going.

Any Cash points charging £5
must be Deleted.

I hope so, how will I pay the window cleaner otherwise :oh:

Physical cash is needed. Relying on electronic payments only is asking for trouble

We have a tin with 1 and 2 euro coins in it for Luke's stuff, it's very handy.

You Are Most Wise
Twosugars,

If only you listened to me on other things :nono::laugh:

Relying on complex internet banking systems will never be 100% reliable and safe

Also, not everyone is society has access to that.

I am fully aware of those facts

Yes I know but it can take weeks to get it refunded ..its not instantaneous, and my point is more about how easy it is for criminals to take your cash rather than getting it back...who is paying for the banks to pay out twice...you and me

I wouldn't mind getting rid of copper or even all the coins altogether. But some cash is needed I feel.

If you nip to the shop for a flaggon of milk, it's pretty annoying when there's a minimum spending limit for card payments. Like I understand they have to pay somewhere between 50p and a couple of quid for every transaction that goes through that system, and the mark-up they put on products doesn't always mean they'd make money on card payments ... doesn't make it less annoying!

I rest reassured

It’s definitely a likely thing.

There isn't a minimum for tapping is there?

It seems likely tbh especially with all the apps on phones for your bank cards, nectar cards etc. I don’t think it is necessarily a good thing though especially as previous posters have said, if systems go down it will just cause trouble.

Corner shops and offies will levy 50p for the transaction if you are buying less than a fivers worth, not the big supermarkets

Oh, I suppose I'd rarely spend less than a fiver anyway in a shop but I don't think I've ever been charged or told no if I had cash and it was a low amount :think: