Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Smikis
I been looking strange at people with cash for last decade.. seriously who uses cash any more.
A cashless society is a huge threat to freedom. With ultimate control with the banks and we are all feeling what happens when banks do what they like. Where governments and banks can take you cash from your accounts without your permission...Just like Cyprus...Remember Northern rock when people queue tried to get their savings out...How are you going to do that with no cash?
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
I only use cards for big purchases, for everything else i prefer cash.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Heaven sent opportunity for Government/Big Brother to keep an eye on everyone.
Being cashless is no problem for Corporations and those who have enough money to have accountants and lawyers to move funds around seamlessly. This is a scheme to make sure that those on the lower and middle economic scale pay every penny the government can wring out of you, after all its easier to make and collect pennies from everyone than get pounds from the wealthy.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
What happens when I want to pay my window cleaner? Does he now need to buy and carry a card machine? And I suppose I can't get my windows cleaned or hair cut without paying the bank a percentage .... for doing what, exactly??
I use cash almost exclusively. Most months my card bill = £0, and I could easily manage without cards, 99.9% of the time. They're only used for larger purchases, and not always even then. And things like foreign car hire.
The only way I'm going cashless is if I starve if I don't. I hope to NEVER see a society where I'm forced to use cards. And as for phone payments, that's 1000 times worse than NFC cards, IMHO. And I sent my NFC card back to the bank and told them I wanted a non-NFC card.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
With a cashless society how do transfer electronic money from person to person? Will every vagrant,drug dealer,corner musician or street walker have to have electronic money transfer facilities?
Will cashless society mean the end of ATMs?
How secure are cashless systems, were is the cash kept, centrally at your bank or on the electronic device used to pay the bill with? I often have to wait behind someone paying by card for a very small amount money, while I always pay cash which takes a lot less time!
I keep my bank cards which have near field payment facilities in a metallized bag to stop accidental payments!
Keep cash! that what I say!:rockon:
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Saracen
What happens when I want to pay my window cleaner? Does he now need to buy and carry a card machine?
Services like Square are popping up in the US, which allow card processing for small business or sole traders via smartphone.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
So it's 2015, and we're only now asking the question "could we handle not exchanging goods and services for piles of shiny pebbles and pictures of old ladies"?
"Is the high street ready for not exchanging goods for chickens and goats?"
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
directhex
Services like Square are popping up in the US, which allow card processing for small business or sole traders via smartphone.
So I've got to buy a smartphone, which I don't want, in order to pay for window cleaning?
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
A lot of small traders will accept direct bank transfers for the convenience of not having to carry large amounts of cash about, or frequent trips to the bank to pay it in.
On the other hand, accepting cash is a method of tax evasion as there is no audit trail.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
I very rarely use cash. The 'minimum transaction' issue is one that I encounter very rarely, and that can be solved through alternate payment infrastructures. For example: Bitcoin. There's lots of whinging and sillyness about using it as a currency, but that's kind of missing the entire point. Bitcoin is a payment processing system with dramatically lower transaction fees and effectively no initial buy-in cost, a competitor to Mastercard and Visa rather than a competitor to Sterling or Dollars. It's perfect for handling low-value transactions that would traditionally be the realm of physical cash (where the lack of a built-in chargeback is a non-issue and handled legally rather than technically), with higher value transactions benefiting from the chargeback system of current payment processors. That's not to say a chargeback infrastructure could not be layered on top of the Bloakchcain network though, but so far no-one has done so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Saracen
Quote:
Originally Posted by
directhex
Services like Square are popping up in the US, which allow card processing for small business or sole traders via smartphone.
So I've got to buy a smartphone, which I don't want, in order to pay for window cleaning?
Square (and similar devices) are for RECEIVING credit and debit-card payments.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Technically, we could. Should we? Probably not. There's value in having physical currency tokens. For one, they don't come with an ass load of metadata attached to you.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Saracen
What happens when I want to pay my window cleaner? Does he now need to buy and carry a card machine? And I suppose I can't get my windows cleaned or hair cut without paying the bank a percentage .... for doing what, exactly??
I use cash almost exclusively. Most months my card bill = £0, and I could easily manage without cards, 99.9% of the time. They're only used for larger purchases, and not always even then. And things like foreign car hire.
The only way I'm going cashless is if I starve if I don't. I hope to NEVER see a society where I'm forced to use cards. And as for phone payments, that's 1000 times worse than NFC cards, IMHO. And I sent my NFC card back to the bank and told them I wanted a non-NFC card.
You assume of course that cash is free to businesses to process? Our standard tariff for processing cash over a counter is int the £0.60/£100 region. Maybe £0.20 if you use a van, but then G4 are charging you as well.
Assuming it goes through the books contactless will be as cheap or cheaper than cash for most businesses, and following the change in regulation on interchange lots of chip & pin transactions will be as well. Debit card transactions aren't a % by the way, its usually somewhere between 10-50p/transaction depending on the acquirer and the type of goods you're buying.
I think most people haven't read the article properly. The proposed legislation is to remove the requirement for certain businesses to have to accept cash, not to require them not to.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
I prefer cash, only use card for online / large purchases.
I loathe the way merchant services are so costly to my family's business :( , so the thought of cashless society makes me :censored: .
People come in with a card expecting them to take it for very small purchases (<£5) or on items which they make less than 5% profit.
For example they generally make GP of 20% that would mean out of each £5 they take they make £1 (before tax/running costs). The bank then take 15p out of that when a buyer pays with card, they lose 15% profit out of that transaction! and that's not taking into account the monthly charges they have to pay for the terminal and business account!
News stories of when banks state card transactions account for such a low percentage of a purchase amount should come and speak to small retailers.
Consumers think merchants services are free! they are not!
They also pay higher rates for the so called "Premium Credit / Debit cards" , the ones where the customers get points / % rebates.
Rant over, sorry :embarrassed:.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gupsterg
Rant over, sorry :embarrassed:.
It's a fair rant, and banks aught to be more reasonable about merchant charges, especially for small businesses. It's not like they're not making an absurd amount of cash on the interest of the balance.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gupsterg
I prefer cash, only use card for online / large purchases.
I loathe the way merchant services are so costly to my family's business :( , so the thought of cashless society makes me :censored: .
People come in with a card expecting them to take it for very small purchases (<£5) or on items which they make less than 5% profit.
For example they generally make GP of 20% that would mean out of each £5 they take they make £1 (before tax). The bank then take 15p out of that when a buyer pays with card, they lose 15% profit out of that transaction! and that's not taking into account the monthly charges they have to pay for the terminal and business account!
News stories of when banks state card transactions account for such a low percentage of a purchase amount should come and speak to small retailers.
Consumers think merchants services are free! they are not!
They also pay higher rates for the so called "Premium Credit / Debit cards" , the ones where the customers get points / % rebates.
Rant over, sorry :embarrassed:.
The variance is going, and if you're paying 15% for credit cards they're getting bent over (unless they sell furniture or something). TBh even at 15p for debit cards they're getting a crap deal. Barclaycard will do it for less just on their published pricing, never mind if they get a decent broker.
Terminals and such are expensive, but no more so than tills, its a cost of doing business. I imagine I'm not alone in not shopping places where I know they won't take cards, so unless I'm desperate for something they wouldn't make 85p, they'd make nothing.
Re: QOTW: Are we ready for cash-less high streets?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
peterb
A lot of small traders will accept direct bank transfers for the convenience of not having to carry large amounts of cash about, or frequent trips to the bank to pay it in.
Perhaps my reply is not in the context of your post.
We dispose of it at wholesalers, as banks charge fees on cash deposits into bank account. Another method that can be used is deposit cash in your personal account then do electronic transfer to your business account.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
peterb
On the other hand, accepting cash is a method of tax evasion as there is no audit trail
I agree and disagree.
Our size of business means we are VAT registered, we have to provide till rolls as proof of sales with accounts plus from purchases invoice of goods we sell anyone can gauge what we should be making / declaring.
These goods we buy to sell are from VAT registered wholesalers, another paper trail.
Then there is the means test if your investigated ie what you own and lifestyle.