Cash or card only. Why?

When a card is produced that doesn't track your spending I will use it, until then I will go on being a cash only spender.

Cash only on line? Of course, if they won't take a cheque there's still the postal order.

The habit of tracking and creating a profile of you is insidious enough, but when they sell copies of your profile to others, and buy copies of your spending outside their remit, it really has become a Big Brother society.

I agree, Galaxy. I queued outside my local bakery to get in, as you do now ??, then went in to collect my two afternoon teas, to be told cash only. I did have some cash but not enough. So had to get in my car, drive to the cashpoint, get some cash and drive back to the bakers. I know there are far bigger things to moan about (before anyone points this out!) I just find it strange. The bakers is a large shop, been around for 50 years and always normally accepts cards.

Its not paranoia for me its convenience. I have just ordered a service and have just discovered they only take cash. I am now going to have to go out specially to get the cash. I should have checked but I probably wont use them again.

The hairdressers I go to ONLY accepts cash. Doing this they have kept their prices very low. I have used card payments for such things as my weekly supermarket shop for many years, but would not dream of expecting a small local shop to take that for anything under at least a fiver.

As any cash I have in my purse will have been there for weeks, it is not filthy lucre at all. Any coins I get in change, go into a different part of that purse and are kept for about a week (in isolation) before being transferred to the main coin area. I do not wear gloves when shopping (will do so in winter for warmth), but wash my hands with soap and water as soon as I return home, and after I have unpacked my shopping.

I would really be unhappy at seeing cash disapper completely. We have a regular busker spot in my town, we give them coins, younger g.children love to be given a shiny one pound coin when visiting, vending machines need coins, I would be embarrassed at offering a card if purchasing say, one cake at my local bakery. And, would also know that if people did, then they would have to up the prices of those cakes to cover the extra costs to them.

Being careful about hygiene does not mean being paranoid.

I don’t accept card payments and I don’t want cheques for less than £10. Each cheque costs me 75p. Card payments vary but are usually around 2%. There is usually a monthly charge too.
Luckily I know all my clients so they transfer the money when they get home. There is a Wi-fi system that is cheaper but I as I am on my way to retirement I can’t be bothered.

I have a little smile when I see articles about the end of free banking. For businesses it never began!

I just go somewhere else if they only use cash. I havent used cash all year. Cant imagine going back to it.

Our local butchers only take cash or cheques, never used cards there. The newsagents is also happy to take cash.

When all this started, it sounded as though cash would never be used again. Not so. Most of our little local shops still take cash, although contactless preferred.

I can’t see an issue, just wash my hands well when finished shopping.

Talking to a local bank clerk, she said it was surprising how much the cash machines were still being used.

Even so GrandmaKT their are a lot of fees and set up costs for having a card reader that are often too onerous for a small shopkeeper to bear. They have the initial set up fees, then the Merchant service charge where the business owner has to pay a proportion to their acquiring bank when ever a customer uses a credit or debit card. Plus minimum monthly service charge, plus the Interchange Fee, plus PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) compliance fee. That's a lot of extra fees for a small shopkeeper to find at a time when small shops are struggling to survive.

Our village shop will only accept card payments for purchases £10 or over.

the merchant fee makes it uneconomical for small transactions.

I use my card everywhere I can., I also have an account that rounds up to the nearest. £ every time I spend on my card and puts it in to my account. , it’s amazing how it mounts up, it’s like an extra savings plan ,So I like to use the card as often as possible

Chewbacca, card readers work on wi-fi now like mobile phones. You don't need an internet connection. Even the Big Issue sellers have them because so few people are now using cash!

I use a combination of coins and card can’t see the problem
Internet sometimes goes down I never put a small amount in a card

For small shops the cost of having internet connection to enable a card reader to be installed, plus the costs of the card reader, is just too high and adds to already escalating overheads. Small shops and businesses are really struggling to survive and can't shoulder any additional increase in their outgoings. If me paying in cash helps them to survive, I'm ok with that.

I use my card for every purchase I make, even if it's only 80p for a loaf of bread in my local shop. I can't remember the last time I used cash. I much prefer this way of business.

What Ellylanes has said. There are different providers, I think, as some low-cost transaction places near me now have card payment because fees are cheaper.

In some places cash is a nuisance, because there’s no bank or post office into which to pay it.

Also depends on phone signal. At our local market, the veg stall is cash only because card sales take too long with uncertain phone reception and long queues.

I was told by a small business locally that they were charged for each transaction by card. If the payments are small, ie, a couple of pounds, then the charge for card payment reduces profit and the small businesses can't afford it.
Possibly a bakery would be the same. I agree with it being preferable to pay by card for hygiene reasons.

I wear thin Marigolds if coins are involved