Barclays Bank Marple Branch

[andrewbowden]

OK thanks for all the info. So processing cash has a 1% overhead, cards its 4% to 7%. So I prefer cash as it gives an extra 3% to 6% to the shop. Not a luddite - I want to support local businesses as much as poss!

Processing cash isn't just the bank charges.  It's the cost to the business of cashing up, taking the money to the bank, and so on.  And with the closure of many local banks, just depositing the stuff is getting harder.

  If you run a business this stuff isn't free either.  So don't assume cash handling is 1%!

[wheels]

No money these days is real; it's all a fiction really. However, cash is the nearest thing we have to real money. When you spend cash, it is obvious you are spending money. When paying with card (especially contactless), there is much less sense of how much you are spending. OK. you and I and the rest of us here are well aware of what we are spending, but for many people it is very easy to spend far more that they realise. Cash is a least a connection to reality (or the nearest you get with a fiat currency).  I do use cards and I do use contactless, however I'd prefer cash to make a comeback.

I certainly understand the point you make about the use of cash and a link to reality.  I'm not sure I agree but I take your point. I certainly recall as a university student in the very early 70s joining queues at banks on campus each week to withdraw £6 which would,d then cover my purchases for the week.
However it's not just people using cards in shops which is bringing the use of cash to an end. There are lots of things we used to use cash for that we don't any longer.  Nobody now goes to the Gas or Electricity officers to pay the quarters bill with cash we use direct debits nowadays to make so many payments we used to use cash for. Simply things like magazine subscriptions have taken off and so people in the main don't buy a Radio Times or whatever takes your fancy for cash each week or month they prefer the convenience and easy of annual subscriptions. Many people ever now buy razor blades via subscription services. These are only small examples but added together they bring about less and less items being bought for cash so that shops and usually only local shops now see cash as a major way of paying. Yes there will be people who prefer cash or who for example have problems getting a bank account who will find it more difficult as cash is phased out but in the medium term cash is going to become a method of paying which only a minority use. One can walk into a shop and buy a Mars Bar or a 60p roll from Archers using your debit card and nobody bats an eyelid.  That in itself must indicate to us that the drift is away from cash.

[wheels]

OK thanks for all the info. So processing cash has a 1% overhead, cards its 4% to 7%. So I prefer cash as it gives an extra 3% to 6% to the shop. Not a luddite - I want to support local businesses as much as poss!

The counter argument might be that local traders benefit from card sales as they allow more readily for spontaneity by the customer and so allowing customers to use there cards generates sales that would not happen if cash is required.

[Cyberman]

Of course they take a cut normally about 4% but it could be 7%. They provide a service they obviously want payment for that. To the trader its excellent value in that it generates extra business.

OK thanks for all the info. So processing cash has a 1% overhead, cards its 4% to 7%. So I prefer cash as it gives an extra 3% to 6% to the shop. Not a luddite - I want to support local businesses as much as poss!

[Condate]

Why do you prefer to use cash, I'm not being trying to wind you up I genuinely don't understand why anyone would use cash. I know why I don't use cash my card is faster, more secure, more hygienic, more convenient in that I don't have a pocket full of change. I'm at a loss to know what the benefits of cash are I really am. Its dirty, queues develop whilst people have to fiddle with it, traders have to bank it each day, its more difficult for people to budget. It's a little bit authoritarian trying to dictate how people should pay if they are spending a small amount and I do think it is the users of cash who will have to pay a premium in the future.  I'm not saying that's a good thing but I'm sure that's the direction of travel. I certainly never expect to use cash again.

No money these days is real; it's all a fiction really. However, cash is the nearest thing we have to real money. When you spend cash, it is obvious you are spending money. When paying with card (especially contactless), there is much less sense of how much you are spending. OK. you and I and the rest of us here are well aware of what we are spending, but for many people it is very easy to spend far more that they realise. Cash is a least a connection to reality (or the nearest you get with a fiat currency).  I do use cards and I do use contactless, however I'd prefer cash to make a comeback.

[marpleexile]

Of course they take a cut normally about 4% but it could be 7%. They provide a service they obviously want payment for that. To the trader its excellent value in that it generates extra business.

Exact fees vary by provider but generally Debit Card payments are a flat fee - eg 12p per transaction where as credit cards are usually a similar fee per transaction, plus a percentage.

It's why some places only accept debit cards and not credit cards.

But in terms of cost to the business, it's a supplier cost and factored into the price like everything else.

The ban on credit card surcharges was a weird one as although it was touted as pro-consumer it was the opposite. We, like I'm sure most places that used to have a surcharge, put our prices up for everyone once we couldn't pass on the credit card charge to only those using credit cards.

[andrewbowden]

Question - when you make a transaction by card, does the card issuer take a cut? Just a few % when added up might be significant to the shop. If it's a small local shop i'd prefer they get my full payment without MasterCard or whoever taking their bit.

This is exactly why many shops have a minimum purchase cost for cards - or before the European Union banned it - charged you extra for credit cards.

But one thing to remember about cash is that handling it isn't free.  Banks charge businesses for cash transactions as well.  Lloyds charge £1 per £100 for example.

[wheels]

Of course they take a cut normally about 4% but it could be 7%. They provide a service they obviously want payment for that. To the trader its excellent value in that it generates extra business.

[Cyberman]

Question - when you make a transaction by card, does the card issuer take a cut? Just a few % when added up might be significant to the shop. If it's a small local shop i'd prefer they get my full payment without MasterCard or whoever taking their bit.

[andrewbowden]

Ignore COVID, cash is just dirty. If you've ever had to physically handle large amounts of cash you can see the dirt on your hands afterwards.

I used to cash up in the student union bar I worked in whilst at university.  Believe me, cash was the nowhere near the top of the problems.  Besides which, washing hands afterwards is amazingly simple.  And I hardly think that people needing to wash hands after handling large amounts of cash is a good reason to scrap physical coinage and notes.

The thing is it's SOOOO much easier without cash (and consquently cheaper). When the social distancing rules were tighter we effectively stopped taking cash as everything had to be booked (and paid for) in advance either online or on the phone, therefore we weren't taking any payments of any kind in person. Now that we're taking walk-ins again and some people are paying with cash, the difference between a day with no cash taken (only cards) and a day with even only one cash payment taken is massive - it's a 45min difference to the end of day rountine.

I'm quite happy to use cards.  But remember not everyone is.  Not everyone is on board with this.  Not everyone can.  We have problems we currently haven't solved without cash - for example, victims of domestic violence whose partner is monitoring - or restricting - their access to their card based finances, but who may be able to just about squirrel enough cash away safely to allow them to escape.  Or people on very strict budgets who need to monitor their spending and find cash easiest to budget.

Those are real scenarios and we must never forget that whilst the majority can happily use cards no problem, not everyone can or wants to.

I totally understand businesses wanting to get rid of cash.  But society getting rid of cash is a very different thing.

[GM]

Well they do say most bank notes have traces of cocaine, but I wouldn't refuse to use cash because of that.

As the phrase goes, money talks and money walks.

And unless your a major retailer or paying for something over £60, I would take my business elsewhere.

[marpleexile]

Whilst I have no particular problem with paying by card, it has to be said very strongly that there is absolutely no known link between cash handling and the transmission of Covid 19 and never has been.  The World Health Organisation were making that clear in Marc 2020.

Ignore COVID, cash is just dirty. If you've ever had to physically handle large amounts of cash you can see the dirt on your hands afterwards.

I am convinced more than a few businesses are quite happy to use Covid as an excuse not to take cash as it makes their lives much easier.

The thing is it's SOOOO much easier without cash (and consquently cheaper). When the social distancing rules were tighter we effectively stopped taking cash as everything had to be booked (and paid for) in advance either online or on the phone, therefore we weren't taking any payments of any kind in person. Now that we're taking walk-ins again and some people are paying with cash, the difference between a day with no cash taken (only cards) and a day with even only one cash payment taken is massive - it's a 45min difference to the end of day rountine.

[the rover]

Just for info. The Barclays bank ATM is now covered up, went. to the one at ASDA to find out it had no cash

[GM]

Great, let's all create a new level of fear.

Let's invoke black death style restrictions on money, yes sir your change is in that bath of vinegar on that plague stone.

[wheels]

I never said there was a link to covid indeed none has been proven all I was saying was that cash is lest hygienic that was all and that we have all become more aware of hygienic issue hand washing  etc.
I merely point out the direction of travel is away from cash but we must all use what we prefer. I can certainly see a day coming where you might be asked to pay a premium price if you want to pay in cash.