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Cash machines withdrawal?

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Peter Mugridge

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Isn't there a problem in that you don't get a receipt with contactless, making it more awkward to keep track of your spending?
 
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Bald Rick

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Isn't there a problem in that you don't get a receipt with contactless, making it more awkward to keep track of your spending?

In my experience, as they use the same machine as for chip and pin, a receipt is always available if you want one. This is certainly the case in the chains (supermarkets, garages, cafes, pubs etc). I was offered a receipt in all the transactions mentioned in my earlier post, although I didn’t take them (to save unnecessary use of paper)

Also, one of the accounts I use works through an app, and within a couple of seconds of using the card, I get a notification through the app detailing where, when and how much. Or more accurately Mrs BR does, as she holds the purse strings.
 
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Peter Mugridge

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In my experience, as they use the same machine as for chip and pin, a receipt is always available if you want one.

One of the local newsagents here has a notice sellotaped to the terminal saying "You will NOT get a receipt with contactless."

I do always obtain a receipt when I use my card* - if I didn't, I would probably forget to log the expenditure in my bank book ( which is a spreadsheet and not a traditional physical book, before anyone asks! )

*I never use contactless.
 

bramling

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That’s rubbish. Debit card fees for the merchant are around 0.2% plus 2p per transaction authorisation. Credit card fees can be up to 2% (+2p). If you are a shop selling most of your wares at a margin of less than 2%, then you won’t be in business very long.

It’s been a long time since I saw anywhere that had a minimum limit on card transactions. I didn’t realise this was still a thing.

On two occasions recently I paid by (debit) card for a £0.70 train ticket. On both occasions I got met with "haven't you got the cash on you?" from the booking clerk, in one case in a rather arsey tone, and in the second case seeming more surprised than anything else. Not sure why this should be an issue? I realise two experiences does not prove the rule.
 

radamfi

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Isn't there a problem in that you don't get a receipt with contactless, making it more awkward to keep track of your spending?

You can log in to your account at any time to see your recent transactions. They even give you a fully intemised list, even by post if you want (aka credit card statement).
 

Busaholic

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One of the local newsagents here has a notice sellotaped to the terminal saying "You will NOT get a receipt with contactless."

I do always obtain a receipt when I use my card* - if I didn't, I would probably forget to log the expenditure in my bank book ( which is a spreadsheet and not a traditional physical book, before anyone asks! )

*I never use contactless.
I never use contactless either, and can't do so out of choice i.e. I refuse to accept a contactless card from my bank, which is my prerogative.
 

Killingworth

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Try shopping around for a card processing company. I've just looked at Barclays and I'm sure others will be eager to give a competitive quote. It will cost less the more is processed but 5% would be the tops for most small businesses and under 1% for many. But go and get a quote. Rates have dropped a lot in the last 5 years. Renegotiate if anyone is contracted to higher figures.
 

Crossover

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I do so hate having a statement full of £2 and £3 transactions though.

I'm with you there to be honest :)

Isn't there a problem in that you don't get a receipt with contactless, making it more awkward to keep track of your spending?

In the early days I did have that issue once or twice but most recently it hasn't been an issue. That said, I was testing a new card terminal a few weeks ago and did it on contactless (as I was testing with a transaction for less than £1) and on that terminal, it only printed a merchant receipt and I had to go in to the menu to do a reprint for the customer receipt. I wouldn't be surprised if some merchants either didn't know this or used it as an excuse to save some till roll :lol:
 

Killingworth

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Charging a fee for credit/debit card usage has been illegal since January. See link

But totally legal for the card processing company to charge the business or organisation that's accepting a card payment for processing the transaction. As the bank would normally do for accepting cash into a business account.
 

Springs Branch

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Or that a cashless society is more convenient for everyone.
Contactless cards are much more convenient and faster than cash, very rarely do I spend money in cash.
Not sure if this is a significant issue in Britain, but in Australia we see regular (although not necessarily frequent) TV news reports about outages which affect businesses relying on customers making electronic transactions.

Typically there'll be a couple of hours or half-a-day failure with either the Telstra (equivalent to BT) infrastructure, or at the back-office at one of the big banks handling a lot of merchant accounts. I think both Visa and Apple Pay have also been affected over the past couple of years.

Sometimes disruption is in localised areas, sometimes nationwide.

Cue the TV images of distressed shop and cafe owners having to turn away the significant fraction of customers who don't have cash and angry mums at the supermarket unable to buy food for their families.

I actually experienced one of these events whilst shopping for groceries - lots of stress at the large supermarket, which suddenly could only check out customers able to pay by cash - lucky I usually have a nice wedge of bank notes in my wallet, so I was OK. It was a nice lesson in the fragility of modern life and people's reactions & lack of resiliance when things start to go wrong (the problem lasted about three hours that particular day).

Maybe the systems in UK are more robust and disruption is rare, but every modern society will be vulnerable to catastrophic disruption from well-targetted cyberattacks from the "usual suspects" when just about everyone & everything becomes wired into electronic payments.
 

HOOVER29

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Are cash dispensers on the way out?

Plenty of cash machines where I live.
Only time I use a card is for petrol at 5am when I finish work, at the supermarket & for online purposes.
People say cash is dead, plastic is king.
Not in my world it’s not.
 

scotrail158713

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People say cash is dead, plastic is king.
Although cash is now made of plastic so if you take that saying literally then it doesn’t make sense anymore. However it’s only people with brains that work in the way that mine does that notice things like that. :D
 

HOOVER29

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It doesn’t ‘always work’ if the vendor doesn’t accept it. As is increasingly the case.

Cash has been around since around 5,000 BC.
Can’t see it dying anytime soon.
If the vendor won’t accept it they deserve to go bust.
 

PeterC

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The only "non cash" outlet that I have ever had occasion to use has been a 24 hour petrol station.

I always carry cash although these days I draw out about £50 per week rather than the £100 that I would take 8 or 9 years ago.
 

Darandio

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It doesn’t ‘always work’ if the vendor doesn’t accept it. As is increasingly the case.

You say it's increasing but i've yet to see anywhere that doesn't accept cash. I suspect i'm not alone.
 

ainsworth74

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You say it's increasing but i've yet to see anywhere that doesn't accept cash. I suspect i'm not alone.
I think it's very much a South East thing. I've seen some articles on it online and it's always businesses in or around London that are being talked about.
 

Darandio

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I think it's very much a South East thing. I've seen some articles on it online and it's always businesses in or around London that are being talked about.

Probably, it's certainly not caught on up here and I doubt it will for some time.
 

Busaholic

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I heard a radio programme a few months ago about a charity operating in some African countries whose sole purpose was to distribute and maintain cash machines in villages and small towns. There were so many citations as to what a huge difference these made to the populace.
 

Aictos

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It’s been a long time since I saw anywhere that had a minimum limit on card transactions. I didn’t realise this was still a thing.

Yup the minimum limit still exists, as a example there’s a group of cafes on 2 TL North stations that have this in place although it isn’t strictly enforced.

My current local pub is another location that has this as their policy so to make it worth drinking there and you wish to pay by card, it’s a case of buy 2 pints or go elsewhere and this is enforced.
 

Puffing Devil

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I have a number of small shops, B&Bs, cafes etc as clients - I do their "books". The average is currently 50:50 between cash and card, so it will be quite a long time yet before the end of cash, especially for small purchases in small businesses where the "per transaction" card charges can be quite steep. Even for businesses small enough not to be registered for VAT, their monthly bank/card charges can be hundreds of pounds per month which is a real drain on their profits.
We only pay 1.75% on all transactions, including Amex. Plenty of providers there now for phone based processing. Customers expect to pay by card. We no longer accept cheques.
 

yorksrob

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So all the shops getting rid of cash are in loony London.

Quelle Surprise !
 

Clip

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So all the shops getting rid of cash are in loony London.

Quelle Surprise !


Why is it 'Loony'? People do it for convenience and i dont think that is very 'Loony' at all.... I mean do you think an Oyster is 'Loony' too instead of a little orange bit of card?
 
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