Do you still use cash?

[duckers26]

I absolutely hate paying cash to buy things as you end up with a pocket full of heavy change or it gets left at home in a pot and never used. What I find really frustrating is the speed of rolling out contactless payment or shops which impose a minimum cash payment amount which I would actively avoid. It's weeks since I used cash in a shop/bar/restaurant and I wondered whether others think the concept of using cash is dying off?

[ewenm]

Yes, untraceable innit

If they could roll out card machines that were as quick as a cash transaction (at the station every morning for example) then I might switch more to card, but at the moment the cash transaction is about half the time of the card and at 6:30am that's important

[GTIR]

Yes.

I hardly ever use my debit card.

But then I am a drug dealer.

[chrissull]

I prefer cash to card, but it's annoying when you see something expensive online that you want, you don't have enough money on your card, but you have enough in cash. That does my head in.

[decadent]

I'm with the OP, I prefer using my card unless I am out with a group for dinner or on "lash" then I prefer cash.

I'm a bit sad; I don't like drawing cash from my bank account and like to only spend what is required, i.e. £8.99 rather than a tenner from the cash point.

I also earn interest on my cash balance and up until recently I was using an offset account so those pennies really counted against my mortgage back then

[youngsyr]

There is a massive trend away from cash transactions - the next step after contactless cards will be to have an "eWallet" on your phone, i.e. your phone becomes your credit and debit card.

[Fishtigua]

Teenagers seem unable to use cash for anything and I mean anything. Stuck in a queue waiting for a bunch of them to pay on a card for a bag of crisps or a Milky Way for less than a quid gets right on my tits.

[Council Baby]

Always, I hate using cards for anything.

[XJSJohn]

living in Asia, cash is still king, and probably 95% of places I go do not even have facilities for taking cards, certainly not most restaurants, bars, corner shops etc. Only large chain stores, 7-11, petrol stations and the like.

[OllieC]

people in front of me at the bar paying with cards are annoying. (don't even get me started on people who order coffee)

Cash for the pub and corner shops, that's about it.

[Bluebarge]

youngsyr said:

There is a massive trend away from cash transactions

Only because it is cheaper to process and easier for the authorities to trace than physical cash. Next time we have another bank run/major financial crisis (read up about Argentina) or a serious power outage you will understand the drawback of waving your phone at someone to pay for everything.
Cash is still very,very important.

[IanUAE]

Card so that I get airmiles / skywards miles. Cash only for taxis.

[Dracoro]

brickwall said:

I hate using cash, and coins in particular. They're heavy, noisy, and barely seem to buy anything.

I wonder if all the £n.99 were rounded up whether we'd need copper coins at all.

[Fishtigua]

Dracoro said:

I wonder if all the £0.99 were rounded up whether we'd need copper coins at all.

Canada dropped their penny a couple of years ago, not sure it disrupted the economy much.

[droopsnoot]

I wouldn't dream of using a card for a cheap purchase, say anything less than a fiver. I don't carry a lot of cash around, and I usually leave coins smaller than 50p at home and just have a selection that might be handy. I guess it depends on what you're buying - if you lot are all swanning around paying £12 for a cup of coffee and a cake then cards are reasonable, but if you pop into the 'Pound Bakery' for a couple of sausage rolls it seems unreasonable to flash plastic at that point.

I suppose some of it is down to what kind of environment you're in - in a busy city or large town the main shops and bars will be geared up to having a lot of small card transactions, whereas in a small town I'd guess there's less demand, for now at least. Like moving away from the petrol pump while you go any pay if there's a queue - out in the sticks, the cashier might be thinking you're driving off, where it's quite expected in busier areas.

[menousername]

appropriate to certain situations

was stuck behind someone in burger king paying on debit card - there were about 10 cash machines within 20 yards but he sat in a queue of 10 people and then decided to pay on debit card. To me, fast food is supposed to be....fast....debit card doesnt work.

Likewise in a winebar or cocktail bar (non-food bar basically) waiting for some idiot who orders 4 cocktails and then at the last minute decides he also wants 3 beers for his mates who just turned up and then pays on a debit! arrgghhh!

6.30am parking at stn for train to work however - need coins for the parking, so I need cash to gather the change for the parking by making a few cash transactions throughout the week

[onomatopoeia]

I the last week I've spent £1 in cash, for a cup of tea last Thursday. I'm going to have to spend some other cash today as I need to obtain a pound coin for this evening for another cup of tea.

I use the credit card for everything I can, except where there is a transaction charge, then I use the debit card. It really, really does not take a long time to process unless someone is being a numpty.

I rarely make sub £5 transactions, but when I do these are usually cash. Not that it matters as credit card processing fees to the merchant are percentage based.

[mx stu]

I use a card for convenience, if I get cash out i'll end up wasting it on something I didn't need to buy. I have no issues how small the purchase is on my card, last week I bought a pack of paracetamol for 19p on it.

That being said it's much easier to budget with cash i.e. take out £x and when its gone that its. The problem with cards is thinking you've got £y in the bank but forgetting that you spent half of that the other day.

[P-Jay]

Up to 6 months ago I rarely used my card for anything, I was the kind of gimp who stood in the rain outside the supermarket trying to guestimate how much cash I'd need for the stuff I didn't know I wanted yet. A decade working for one of the big four made me naturally untrusting of Banks, two years ago I would withdraw all but what I needed for DDs (of which there weren't many, I still paid bills in the post office) and stuff the rest in the sock drawer.

But recently, and without really thinking about it I've gone almost card-only, I think it probably saves the odd quid in loose change, cuts down on impulse purchases of snacks and crap I don't need and since I moved to Nationwide I feel they at least give half a st about customers as apposed to the main banks, who just see customers as potential sales opportunities and looking after their salary through the month as a bit of an inconvenience.

[youngsyr]

Bluebarge said:

youngsyr said:

There is a massive trend away from cash transactions

Only because it is cheaper to process and easier for the authorities to trace than physical cash. Next time we have another bank run/major financial crisis (read up about Argentina) or a serious power outage you will understand the drawback of waving your phone at someone to pay for everything.
Cash is still very,very important.

Those aren't the only reasons for the trend, four other big ones are:

- Consumers don't have to carry cash (security and inconvenience)
- Retailers don't have to hold large amounts of cash, or process it, or take it to the bank (security and inconvenience)
- Vast improvements in online commerce and banking now makes paying and keeping track of finances electronically much easier
- A significant crack down on large cash payments under anti-money laundering regulations over the past 10 years

As for your final point, we've seen the greatest financial crisis in 70 years, including runs on banks and yet the trend towards cashless payments continues unabated.