Cashless society

Thanks everyone. I think I will continue to use both. I do wish Supermarkets wouldn't give you a load of 1 and 2 p's when using self service. I find Tesco the worst, I might use my card for all supermarket shopping in future.

You don't need a receipt if you have a banking app as it's all on there immediately. What irks me is when you say no to a receipt, so they print it off anyway and throw it in the bin. I thought it was supposed to save paper!

I had cause to call my bank recently. While waiting to speak to someone the automatic system read out the balance I owed on my credit card account then proceeded to tell me that I was allowed to spend £9,900ish more!
I was shocked as I thought my credit limit was 1 or 2 thousand. I have decided to request a much lower limit as presumably this would prevent scammers removing very large sums from my account.
I also feel that a contactless card is risky as anyone can tap to pay multiple smallish amounts if the card is found, but it is so convenient I am still putting up with it.

I have mixed feelings about this.
Yes most of the time I use cards but cash does still have a place.

A local newsagent won’t accept card payment for the daily paper. We pay the window cleaner with cash as neither of us does online banking.

Then of course there is car parking as not all allow payment by card.

I would be sorry to see cash disappear completely but I guess it’s inevitable.

Those of a certain age will remember the Coop "divi" and most will remember Green Shield Stamps. Both were an early form of loyalty card.

Nowadays loyalty cards are big business, and you, the holder, are the product. Every time you amass points on your card you are telling the store, what you bought, when you bought it, how often you shop, how much you spend. All that information is logged and a profile of you is built up.

But the really sinister thing is that copies of that profile are sold on and other profiles from credit, debit and mobile phone purchases are bought, to fill in the gaps. This is why there's such a rush to get us to a cashless society.

Corvid 19 has given a fresh impetus to a cashless society, have you noticed how the self-service checkout tills have 50% card only choice? You can catch the disease from cash, so we are led to believe.

For me, cash is king, but that's only because I can't have a sort of pay as you go card that can be topped up and I remain anonymous. We can't have that can we? How are we going to trace you?

By the way, I don't know if the Coop still have a divi, or a loyalty card but Green Shield are still around, they morphed into Argos.

Not for at least a decade, maybe more, but I think we are heading towards a cashless society. As those who cannot cope with electronics die off, children growing up with it will just accept it. How many of us have marvelled at the confidence shown by grand/greatgrandchildren using electronic gadgets?

Notice this thread goes back to January, pre- covid-19. Now it would seem more practical and safer to use contactless if at all possible.

Spangler yes, the Co-op has a divi card. You pay £1 to be a "member" and get an annual voucher dependant on your spend and their profits.
You can get pay as you go payment cards too but they have fees attached.

I mainly use my card for purchases but keep some cash to pay for things where it’s difficult such as the cleaner ( who doesn’t take cards) or for a bag of sweets for a grandchild which is such low cost as to make the card seem ridiculous.
I am happy to pay on line or using my Apple Pay app as well as by card but I don’t think losing cash altogether is a good thing!
By the way does the tooth fairy take cards now ??‍♀️

The butcher and greengrocer still rely on cash so my purse isn't quite cashless. Don't like having an empty purse.
The window-cleaner is also cash only.