Cash is only used by the poor or elderly

Man of Honour
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Always suspicious of people paying for their food shop with notes too. And we're not talking of a lunchtime meal deal. These are an absolute rammed packed trolley with a bill of 150-200.

Suspicious of people paying cash at a supermarket checkout for a trolley full of groceries?
Maybe you haven’t thought that one through.
When I drove a Black Cab, even on an average day I’d have £90-£100 in tens and twenties in the breast pocket of my shirt when I got home, plus £30 or £40 in CC and account jobs, which went into my account at the end of the month.
On Wednesdays I’d bank a chunk of the cash, and again on Fridays, but sometimes my wife would phone me and say, “Pick me up on the way home and we’ll get a shop at Waitrose, Canary Wharf.”
I’d park on the Taxi Rank in Bank Street, she’d get what we needed, and I’d pull the dough from my wallet.
It saved me a trip to the bank, I may as well put the cash across the counter in the supermarket than put it in the bank and then pay by card in the supermarket.
 
Soldato
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Cash is king in one place - the casino, and they only pay out in cash too (the one's I've been to).
Do you have to declare winnings from casinos if you win big? That's the only reason I can see places like that would dish out cash, not that I'd be complaining if I could dodge tax, we pay a lot as it is.
 
Soldato
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Always suspicious of people paying for their food shop with notes too. And we're not talking of a lunchtime meal deal. These are an absolute rammed packed trolley with a bill of 150-200.

150 - 200 for a rammed trolly is that at pound land, or just a trolly of lettice?

I always have £150 cash, plus my cc, paying with my phone the app takes 10 to 20 seconds to open. Frequently wants to update.. Technology might be there in 20 years when we pass peak slowness and stuff gets fast.. The last time I trusted my phone something had updated and it would not work if I'd been wealth enough to throw 500 away I'd have smashed the phone
 
Man of Honour
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No. Anything you win from gambling does not have to be declared. You could win £100m and you still don't have to declare it to the tax man.

Which is why it's a great way to turn dirty money into 'clean' money, which was the reason fixed odds betting terminals were cracked down on (nothing to do with gambling addiction).

Also why gambling is so popular among taxi drivers and trades who get paid a lot in cash, of challenged, just show you won the cash in question (even if you gambled money that should have been declared and tax paid to win it) and it's very hard to prove otherwise.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/08/gambling-machines-drug-money-laundering-bookies
 
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Soldato
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Suspicious of people paying cash at a supermarket checkout for a trolley full of groceries?
Maybe you haven’t thought that one through.

Don't forget, just because you're suspicious of someone or something, doesn't mean you're accusing someone of something. Probably 90% of the people I'm suspicious of in our shop, are totally fine. I'm not going to stop being suspicious of whatever they're doing because of that 10% that are dodgy.
 
Soldato
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Suspicious of people paying cash at a supermarket checkout for a trolley full of groceries?
Maybe you haven’t thought that one through.
When I drove a Black Cab, even on an average day I’d have £90-£100 in tens and twenties in the breast pocket of my shirt when I got home, plus £30 or £40 in CC and account jobs, which went into my account at the end of the month.
On Wednesdays I’d bank a chunk of the cash, and again on Fridays, but sometimes my wife would phone me and say, “Pick me up on the way home and we’ll get a shop at Waitrose, Canary Wharf.”
I’d park on the Taxi Rank in Bank Street, she’d get what we needed, and I’d pull the dough from my wallet.
It saved me a trip to the bank, I may as well put the cash across the counter in the supermarket than put it in the bank and then pay by card in the supermarket.

You've not driven a black cab in years though from what I recall? 10-20 years ago before things like contactless became the norm then having cash is to be expected. Most taxi rides are paid for without handing over physical cash these days.

150 - 200 for a rammed trolly is that at pound land, or just a trolly of lettice?

I always have £150 cash, plus my cc, paying with my phone the app takes 10 to 20 seconds to open. Frequently wants to update.. Technology might be there in 20 years when we pass peak slowness and stuff gets fast.. The last time I trusted my phone something had updated and it would not work if I'd been wealth enough to throw 500 away I'd have smashed the phone

You don't even need to load an app. Google/apple pay work in the background. You may need to unlock to authenticate but that's it done. Massively quicker than pulling notes out of your wallet. So sounds like you either need a new phone, or to learn how to use it.
 
Soldato
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Ever walked into a store and frustratingly waited while someone paid in cash?

The elderly thing I get, it was the way, back in yonder times. The poor I don't get, surely your dole money goes into a bank account?

"The Poor" :rolleyes:

I use cash where possible as it'll go a little way in delaying the transition to cashless society where your "money" will be controlled by someone with a push of the button and you've no access to it, if your opinions don't match what governments want you to think or say....or if there's a power cut

However, there are also plenty of downsides. Going cashless clearly increases the dependence of society on the internet and raises the risk of an increase in cyber crime. System failures and power cuts will prove even more costly than at present.

Given the recent track record of the UK's banking system for technology breakdowns, most famously at TSB last year, scepticism about the ability of the banks to maintain a flawless system would be more than justified. The loss of a mobile phone or computer - or even a phone running out of power - would also prove even more inconvenient for individuals than is currently the case. It could even become a new battlefront in hostilities between nations. It is easy to see how a hostile nation might target the payments system of another.

Another major associated downside would be the loss of privacy. A lot of people, not just criminals, may not like details of their every transaction being stored by a data provider.

And there is also the risk for some people, once they are no longer using cash, of recklessly spending money they do not have.

There is also evidence that cash has been very effective in helping some economies keep down inflation. For example in Japan, the ¥1,000 note (roughly equal to £7.40) has been for years used by many office workers to pay for their lunch, making it near-impossible for cafes, takeaways and workplace canteens to raise prices above that level for a meal. It is perhaps no coincidence that the two advanced economies where inflation has been most benign during the last few decades, Japan and Germany, are also the two developed economies furthest from becoming cashless.

But the biggest downside of all, as Sweden has shown, is the risk of financial exclusion becoming even more entrenched than ever. In the long run, going cashless might break down financial exclusion as the currently bankless are able to carry out more transactions via mobile devices.
 
Caporegime
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I use cash where possible as it'll go a little way in delaying the transition to cashless society where your "money" will be controlled by someone with a push of the button and you've no access to it, if your opinions don't match what governments want you to think or say....or if there's a power cut

Assuming you use cash to purchase tin foil for your hats too.
 
Soldato
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Assuming you use cash to purchase tin foil for your hats too.

Ha, I knew someone would pipe up that garbage excuse.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained

This is chinas "social score" setup. It's in commie china I know, but if you don't have control over your OWN money, what's not to say something along the same lines (moneywise, not social scoring) wouldn't be used.

Future self - "I want to buy some crypto"
Bank - "oh thats not really what we want you to do" *transaction declined*

Cashless society is not a good thing. If you have physical money, you can spend it where and on whatever you wish. If you've nothing but electronic money, control can be taken out of your hands (your in a figuratively speaking sense) regalrdless of what you think.
 
Soldato
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Cash is king in one place - the casino, and they only pay out in cash too (the one's I've been to).

Casinos are basically like a bank though. Maybe even more secure than a bank, especially in the US where security can be armed.

A lot of places dont like cash now because of the security risks.
 
Soldato
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or if there's a power cut

If there's a power cut, you still can't pay in most shops with cash as their tills run on electricity...

Future self - "I want to buy some crypto"
Bank - "oh thats not really what we want you to do" *transaction declined*

That's probably a bad example, you can't even buy crypto with cash... (well, if you can, not as easily as cashless) so it's even more limited than the bank.
 
Man of Honour
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You've not driven a black cab in years though from what I recall? 10-20 years ago before things like contactless became the norm then having cash is to be expected. Most taxi rides are paid for without handing over physical cash these days.

That’s true, I handed in my two licences and identifiers in February 2012, also you’re correct in that even though I took CCs as soon as it became possible, the lion’s share of my takings was cash.
Having accepted that, it naturally follows that I wouldn’t be paying for a week’s groceries with cash now, but I still find it an insult that anyone who does pay with cash is labelled as a probable tax evader.
 
Soldato
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Before the hell that we now live in, I always preferred to pay in cash, especially when there would be the odd occasion where the card machines would go down. Course back then it was usually just a case of grabbing a few things on the way back from the office..

Now though, getting it all delivered is too convenient.
 
Soldato
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Ha, I knew someone would pipe up that garbage excuse.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained

This is chinas "social score" setup. It's in commie china I know, but if you don't have control over your OWN money, what's not to say something along the same lines (moneywise, not social scoring) wouldn't be used.

Future self - "I want to buy some crypto"
Bank - "oh thats not really what we want you to do" *transaction declined*

Cashless society is not a good thing. If you have physical money, you can spend it where and on whatever you wish. If you've nothing but electronic money, control can be taken out of your hands (your in a figuratively speaking sense) regalrdless of what you think.

He's got a point though. Frankly that was an absolutely ridiculous statement to make. We don't live in North Korea or China.
 
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