OK - so I'm getting past it

[Hudds Lad]

There’ll always be a need for folding cash, as long as there are politicians with nose candy, and bathrooms in Parliament.

[Lady M]

Cash will also be very useful if/when we run out of electricity or the internet fails.  I think it is important that as many people as possible continue to use some cash in their daily lives.  Anyway I quite like having a choice of how to pay.

[Momac]

7 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I can. But it's then a pain for the shopkeeper as they can't deposit it easily.

Don't worry about paying cash if you prefer. Its your choice and available in most shops (for the time being).

 

[Arthur Marshall]

3 hours ago, Lady C said:

Cash will also be very useful if/when we run out of electricity or the internet fails.  I think it is important that as many people as possible continue to use some cash in their daily lives.  Anyway I quite like having a choice of how to pay.

That's the bit everyone forgets. It puts your ability to pay completely under the control of people and circumstances outside your control. The terminal system crashes, your bank gets hacked, the power goes off; and there you are, broke. Doesn't matter if you've got fifty grand in the bank, you're worse off than a bloke in a tent in a doorway.

And you can't cash a cheque because your bank's closed every branch within twenty miles.

[David Mack]

On 03/03/2023 at 19:50, MtB said:

I pay (something like) 80p fixed for debit and 1.8% for credit cards. So for a transaction of say £500, the debit card is WAY cheaper than a Sumup machine. 

Bought a cup of tea and a bacon roll from a floating cafe at Braunston today. I didn't have enough cash on me but they happily accepted my debit card. But for a business whose transactions are all for low values, 80p is a hell of a chunk out of their profit. Surely they must be on a cheaper deal?

[MtB]

Just now, David Mack said:

Bought a cup of tea and a bacon roll from a floating cafe at Braunston today. I didn't have enough cash on me but they happily accepted my debit card. But for a business whose transactions are all for low values, 80p is a hell of a chunk out of their profit. Surely they must be on a cheaper deal?

 

Yes it is, isn't it? I wonder about this too so imagine retailers with low value transactions must have a different tariff. 80p suits me as almost all my transactions are three, or occasionally four figures. If I was selling 90p packets of crisps I'd use the Sumup or PayPal machine charging 1.8% of 90p.

 

n

[Lady M]

Something like Sumup can provide the best value when there are lots of small transactions.

[Momac]

43 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

The terminal system crashes, your bank gets hacked, the power goes off; and there you are, broke

..........and unable to get cash

Plus the shops would be closed.

 

[MtB]

35 minutes ago, MartynG said:

..........and unable to get cash

Plus the shops would be closed.

 

 

If that disaster scenario occured, we could revert to an system of direct swapping of services/labour for each other. In fact we could even devise a token system so when we did something for someone else but they was nothing they could do immediately in return for us, they could give us some tokens instead. Then later when we needed them to do something in their field of expertise, we could give them back some of the tokens.

 

I'm surprised such a system has not been invented already....

 

 

[Arthur Marshall]

39 minutes ago, MartynG said:

..........and unable to get cash

Plus the shops would be closed.

 

It's in my damn pocket! Why would the shops close if I've got cash to spend?

You won't be able to get cash. Me, I've got it already.

[Momac]

Just now, Arthur Marshall said:

It's in my damn pocket! Why would the shops close if I've got cash to spend?

You won't be able to get cash. Me, I've got it already.

How many shops would stay open with no power (in this theoretical situation you describe) ?

 

 

 

[Lady M]

Shops use tills that are powered by electricity but I'm sure some would manage to trade using a tray of cash and a notebook/pen.  It might just be the internet going down rather than the power grid.  On an individual basis, lost card/phone or flat battery is sufficient to cause a problem.  Keeping some cash to hand for emergencies must make sense.  To ensure this option is retained, as I said before it's vital to keep using some cash.  

[Guest]

On the very rare occasion I have been in a supermarket and the power goes off they usually evacuate the store.

 

Presumably for security and elf and safety reasons.

[MtB]

8 minutes ago, Lady C said:

Shops use tills that are powered by electricity but I'm sure some would manage to trade using a tray of cash and a notebook/pen.  It might just be the internet going down rather than the power grid.  On an individual basis, lost card/phone or flat battery is sufficient to cause a problem.  Keeping some cash to hand for emergencies must make sense.  To ensure this option is retained, as I said before it's vital to keep using some cash.  

 

Exactly. 

 

Having some redundancy is one of the things most experienced boaters learned early on. Having two ways available for paying for stuff is always good even if each way has it's weaknesses. Especially if each way has its weaknesses!

 

Three ways are even better: Cash, card, phone wallet. One of them is likely to work under any circumstances. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

What about all the gold I've got in the toilet cistern 🙄 

[MtB]

22 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

What about all the gold I've got in the toilet cistern 🙄 

 

 

Bugger. That's where I keep all mine too!

 

And I thought I was being clever...

 

 

 

Mind you if I move it, the water bills will go up! 

 

 

[magnetman]

8 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

What about all the gold I've got in the toilet cistern 🙄 

Feeling flush are you?

[IanD]

8 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

What about all the gold I've got in the toilet cistern 🙄 

Doesn't all that weight make the boat list to one side? 😉

Edited March 5, 2023 by IanD

[MtB]

58 minutes ago, IanD said:

Doesn't all that weight make the boat list to one side? 😉

 

Depends on what engine....

[howardang]

Good to see you lean towards tautology. 😀

 

Howard

Edited March 5, 2023 by howardang

[system 4-50]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

Doesn't all that weight make the boat list to one side? 😉

If you're married its possible for a boat to list to two sides.  The same applies to hanging pictures.  She says it dips to the left, and I can see that it obviously dips to the right.

[Alan de Enfield]

10 hours ago, Lady C said:

Shops use tills that are powered by electricity but I'm sure some would manage to trade using a tray of cash and a notebook/pen.  It might just be the internet going down rather than the power grid.  On an individual basis, lost card/phone or flat battery is sufficient to cause a problem.  Keeping some cash to hand for emergencies must make sense.  To ensure this option is retained, as I said before it's vital to keep using some cash.  

 

I don't know if it is ALL tills, but our tills had a 'secret' (mechanical) button underneath that allows you to open the drawer to get to the cash - even without power. There will be no record of the transaction on the POS system or till roll, but you can still trade.

 

Being very rural we often suffered power cuts in the Winter and in high winds.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[Athy]

On 03/03/2023 at 22:17, nicknorman said:

you get a load of coins that clutter up the pocket.

I've always found the presence of money in my pocket to be quite gratifying.

[Arthur Marshall]

11 hours ago, MartynG said:

How many shops would stay open with no power (in this theoretical situation you describe) ?

 

With a bit if luck, shops selling food. It is more than likely that in the future the internet will go down for a considerable time and it's a bit daft not to be at least a little aware of the fact. It's comparable with a policy of pleading with people to stop using their cars and then moving shops miles out of town. And, having done that, start preaching about 15 minute cities.

[magnetman]

If the supermarkets were in bed with the card handling companies it would be easy enough to "accidentally" cause smaller competitors' card machines to all of a sudden not be working.

 

I was in a small beer shop and the network operating their reader had failed. Out of 5 people in the shop I was the only one to have cash. They lost a considerable amount of business. If that happened a lot it would be bye bye and the customers go to the Sainsbury.