I've been using mostly cash for the last few weeks as I have to keep my credit card spending to the minimum, mostly as I always pay it off in full and I really don't want to have to dip into savings any more than I have to, to pay it while I have such a small trickle of cash coming in each month.
Doing this has really got me thinking about what a cashless society we are becoming, and in my opinion it's not a good thing at all. Look at the meme above and see what we would lose without cash in our pockets.
I was also thinking about how much the bank is actually making from the shop keepers for our credit and debit card purchases. The highest charge that they have to pay for the convenience of taking money from their customers via card is 3.4%, and the average for credit and debit cards works out just under 2%, it is slightly cheaper for debit cards.
That means if you take £50 as an example, if it were to be spent in cash over and over again changing hands from you, to the shopkeeper, them paying for their lunch or more stock etc. it would remain at £50, but if you were to spend it in the same way over and over again on a card, it would eventually disappear altogether into the pockets of the banks.
Food for thought ... and I have to say I do like using cash.
Sue xx
Cash is the only way to manage a tight budget rigourously, I found. If it wasn't in the purse, it wasn't there to spend. People who have never experienced living hand to mouth really shouldn't be dictating rules about how to manage money to people who don't have enough. 40 years ago I was questioned by the buiding society why we had no savings. That was because I had worked out we could, for an uncomfortable level of deprivation and NO treats, manage to save 50p per week... £20 per year which seemed pointless. Once I completed my degree and we had two incomes, everything changed.
ReplyDeleteOnce you've lived through that, as I have, it changes the way you look at spending money forever doesn't it. 🫤
DeleteAbsolutely. But don't forget businesses are also charged for banking cash. It bugs me when banks won't take cash to pay into children's bank accounts.
ReplyDeleteAs a former shop manager snd shop owner I know it's a lot cheaper to bank cash. And of course you don't have to bank every day. Card payments go through immediately and are charged immediately.
DeleteCharging for children's deposits is really not fair is it. ☹️
Banks in the UK have been charging businesses when they pay in cash for almost forty years. This is shocking,
ReplyDeleteYes, I know but it's less than the cost of card transactions. Yet any business that doesn't take cards will lose sales. I tried that when my first shop was right next door to a bank with an ATM, some people still walked away from a purchase.
DeleteI remember PM Harold Wilson, saying "This will not affect the pound in your pocket". These days many people don't HAVE a £ in their pocket, just a plastic card or an app on their phone! I was thrilled recently when walking thru Norwich with my 9yr old granddaughter. A busker was playing a merry tune outside Primark. She and I did a little dance, then she fished out her purse, put 10p in his hat and said "thankyou". THAT is a glorious reason for having cash
ReplyDeleteAw absolutely ! And what a lovely, kind granddaughter you have :)
DeleteHow lovely of her, and thank goodness for cash. ❤️
DeleteOur village has been requesting we use cash for years to cut back on bank charges, most have a minimum card spend, most people understand and comply, our market trades all have card machines, sadly it's a sign of the times.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a sign of the times. Our shops and markets stall traders love it when you offer cash.
DeleteWe pulled into a petrol station one day to fill up and there was a big sign saying that they were unable to take credit/debit card payments due to a technical problem. We filled up and paid with cash, but every other car that pulled in pulled straight back out again. I wonder if the drivers of them had enough fuel left to make it to the next petrol station and, if they did, if that one was experiencing the same problem? What would they do then?
ReplyDeleteWe have had a few days over Summer when the card machines at all three of our supermarkets went down. The 3 ATMs in town were soon empty of cash and things just ground to a standstill.
DeleteI totally agree with you. I much prefer to use cash and find it so much easier to track what I'm spending. Yesterday Graham spent almost 3 hours trying to work out where he had spent £3.59 on his phone app. That was the amount he was short in his bank statement ! He never found it.... I rest my case ;)
ReplyDeleteHe sounds like a man after my own heart, I would have been searching for it too. 😄
DeleteI use cash and debit card in equal measure - I use my debit card to draw money direct from my current account if I have it and not if I don’t.
ReplyDeleteAs a geek that checks my account almost daily via the phone app I can see exactly where it’s all going.
Credit cards no longer make sense.
But I also have to have cash on me at all times as I’m a dedicated charity shopper!
I only use my debit card to withdraw cash, I have no option we don't have our bank in town ... although we are just getting a Bank Hub.
DeleteI have a credit card for the offers I get on it, and for the insurance it provides for purchases and holiday transactions. Also giving it up would lower my credit rating.
I like cash and use it whenever I can. I don't think anyone in the family uses it.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer cash, no I don't think my sons use cash at all these days.
DeleteI agree with you. However if cash is "phased out" somehow, trade will take it's place in inventive ways.
ReplyDeleteWhat with phone transactions and watch usage, I wonder what will come next. 🤔
DeleteDon't think it'll be a cashless society for a few years but stranger things have happened. What a shame it would be.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
It would be a real shame. My Mum wouldn't have been able to go for her usual M&S coffee these days if she was still able to, as she wouldn't know how to use the order and pay machines ... which of course are card only!!
DeleteI prefer to pay with cash. It makes me angry when a few shops won't accept cash, just card!
ReplyDeleteI've never come across that yet, but I can see it happening soon. 🫤
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