Buffet trolleys - time they started taking cash again.

[londonmidland]

With the advancements of Apple & Android Pay, as well as contactless being the new 'norm', I can't remember the last time I've had to insert my pin into a machine, let alone use physical cash.

 

[dk1]

I agree, I've even used contactless to pay the 50p for the tyre inflator at the petrol station before. Vending Machines, coffee shops etc. Saves faffing about counting out change, fumbling about putting the change back etc. And at the end of the day everything I paid for is on my bank statement, instead of a series of ATM withdrawals.

Mine is a forest of Wetherspoons & Pret coffee lol

 

[zwk500]

Mine is a forest of Wetherspoons & Pret coffee lol

Does that line up with you shift times?

 

[Skimble19]

I agree, I've even used contactless to pay the 50p for the tyre inflator at the petrol station before. Vending Machines, coffee shops etc. Saves faffing about counting out change, fumbling about putting the change back etc. And at the end of the day everything I paid for is on my bank statement, instead of a series of ATM withdrawals.

My local petrol station has just had new air / water and hoover machines installed, both are now contactless only, as are all of the new vending machines being installed on the GTR network. So much easier than having to try and find some coins that the machine will inevitably reject half of - especially when the only place I use cash is the barbers so tend to have very little in the way of coins these days!

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Well you must be linked into Cape Canaveral because I've never once got signal in Standedge.

The three devices are connected to EE (TPE) and O2 (personal) networks if that’s any explanation

I always found with my personal mobile on 3 I could get signal in the rear cab of a 185 all the way through from Diggle to the portal at Marsden, but then it would drop until I was passed Marsden station but going west i couldnt get anything between Marsden and Diggle stations. Not sure how good reception is now as I havent worked passed Huddersfield for over 3 years....

 

[dk1]

Does that line up with you shift times?

Most certainly. Every single PNB can be seen.

 

[Geoff DC]

Small traders often like cash.

Is that just in Liverpool or Nationwide

 

[CentralTrainer]

They'll just be reducing their takings even more ! Trying to buy a can of coke on TPE when the coverage keeps going out in the tunnels is bad enough !

I'm sick of this modern tripe.

Hear hear - I’m still seething at the fact they won’t send a young child up my chimneys anymore to clean them.

 

[birchesgreen]

My only issue with buffet trollies is that they need more of them, annoying travelling on TOCs which don't have them.

 

[yorksrob]

Hear hear - I’m still seething at the fact they won’t send a young child up my chimneys anymore to clean them.

Nonsense. You've never made a cash transaction since the abolition of child labour then ?

 

[zwk500]

Oh please, how does paying for a kitkat with coinage in any way conflate with sending children up chimneys.......... Unless, is that how Rail Gourmet stores is stock ?

It's an extreme endpoint of 'I'm sick of this modern tripe'. Which, incidentally, is very similar to early quotes about the railways...

 

[yorksrob]

It's an extreme endpoint of 'I'm sick of this modern tripe'. Which, incidentally, is very similar to early quotes about the railways...

It's true, modernity is made an excuse for ordinary people to have a worse customer experience. But don't worry, business likes it so it must be better for the customer.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Easy Jet and others handle Epos payments at 24.000ft - can't be hard for TOCs to do it at ground level
My solution would be to charge 10% extra for cash payments to cover all the additional costs.
It should be the cash payers paying for it - not the card payers

Contactless requires authorisation, whereas Chip & PIN doesn't necessarily, depending if the merchant is willing to take the risk of unpaid transactions. It may therefore be better to do as many of these transactions as C&P to avoid the need for a signal.

It's true, modernity is made an excuse for ordinary people to have a worse customer experience. But don't worry, business likes it so it must be better for the customer.

I fail to see how payment by card is "a worse customer experience" than payment by cash.

 

[yorksrob]

Contactless requires authorisation, whereas Chip & PIN doesn't necessarily, depending if the merchant is willing to take the risk of unpaid transactions. It may therefore be better to do as many of these transactions as C&P to avoid the need for a signal.



I fail to see how payment by card is "a worse customer experience" than payment by cash.

I fail to see how not having the choice between electronic and cash payment, is a better customer experience than having that choice.

 

[Fokx]

Thus if you think cash is dead think again.

I’d have to disagree with you here. There are exceptions and I’m not denying that cash will be around for a while yet, but on the whole it is dying and it’s usage is falling in the UK.

Most places that accept cash and only cash are local businesses or cater to those of a like minded local area, such as a high percentage of elderly population or areas of social-economic decline. Five years ago I managed a retail store in both Altrincham and Bolton in Manchester. The Altrincham store was largely card payments where as the one In Bolton and Cheetham Hill was almost exclusively cash. Specifically notes too rather than coins.

You can find this in examples of cash dying in everyday life. If you think about the Supermarket, most tills now have moved to being self-service and there’s a very steep rise in those which have been converted to self-serve into only accepting cash. Co-Op, particularly the Piccadilly station branch is a really good example of this where there are 3 manned tills and 13 card only self-serve.

I went to Brighton last summer and was amazed to find there’s now change machines that are contactless. You can now tap your card to receive 100x 2p coins to put in the 2p machines - a wonderful invention!

In transport, Northern have recently replaced all their ticket selling machines with new card only facilities (including some that actually took cash) and Avanti at Manchester Piccadilly has reduced the number of machines taking cash payments too, perminantly disabling the option and plating over the coin slots. All TFL services are cash free and it’s echoed in some European countries like the Netherlands. Stagecoach offer discounts for buying on their app instead of on the bus too.

If you go out to eat, most places now use ordering apps such as Wetherspoons, Stonegate, Nandos, Mc Donald’s, Starbucks to avoid people queuing at cashiers, and also reduces cash payments. Fast food that don’t have an app to order, have now moved towards self-order screens, all card only including KFC, LEON, Taco Bell and Tim Hortons to name a few.

Again clothing stores are now introducing this technology too. Uniqlo, Zara, Matalan and H&M all have cash-free self service tills that don’t take card payments and all function from RFID tagging software. Manchester Uniqlo has 3 manned tills to 5 card only self-serve.

With the advances in technology, cash will become a thing of the past and it’s the younger generations (Millenials, Gen Y and Gen Z) which are driving such societal changes.
As I said earlier for perspective, I’m currently in my late twenties and I haven’t used a single coin or note to pay for a purchase in the last 7 years.

modernity is made an excuse for ordinary people to have a worse customer experience.

I’m actually the opposite to this opinion. When I go shopping for example, I want to be in and out, I don’t want to be talking to the cashier, I will use self-service if the option is there, even if the queue is slightly longer. If I go out to eat I don’t want to be waiting for the waiter at the restaurant to bring me the bill, I want to pay, eat and leave.

On the railway (seeing as were on a railway forum), at seat ordering to me is absolutely wonderful and the best customer experience. I can order quickly and efficiently on my phone without having to walk several carriages to see what they have in stock, only to come back and find someone stolen my seat!

Customer experience is all relative to the user and customer. I actually wrote my university dissertation on perceptions of customer experience and how you can’t physically please everyone. A good customer experience for me is efficiency and to be left alone

 

[dk1]

GA catering like guards are certainly back with floats & able to deal with cash just as they did before all this malarkey.

 

[DarloRich]

I don't care about UK societies issues. I care about my issues.

If you want to come up with some half baked argument for not having cash, good for you. Don't expect me to agree.

This is a VAST overreaction to a non issue! The world has moved on and has been accelerated by the pandemic. You are being left behind. Any issues you have with the situation are of your own making.

 

[Mikey C]

While cash is useful in certain circumstances, for an awful lot of transactions, especially where time is of the essence AND there aren't nice fixed sums to pay, so lots of change will be required - unlike market stalls selling a bowl of satsumas for a nice round £1 - contactless is the norm or even compulsory. Every football ground I've been in this season has been cash free inside to buy food and drink, for example.

Indeed TfL were pioneers in this, when they stopped allowing cash on buses in 2014.

 

[LordCreed]

I agree, I've even used contactless to pay the 50p for the tyre inflator at the petrol station before. Vending Machines, coffee shops etc. Saves faffing about counting out change, fumbling about putting the change back etc. And at the end of the day everything I paid for is on my bank statement, instead of a series of ATM withdrawals.

Gloucester Transport Hub only takes contactless to use the toilets, so my statement is littered with 20p charges. But much better than trying to find 20p each time in coins!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Gloucester Transport Hub only takes contactless to use the toilets, so my statement is littered with 20p charges. But much better than trying to find 20p each time in coins!

100% agreed. I don't mind paying for the bogs because it dissuades vandalism (Euston and Charing Cross in particular have been utterly disgusting since the charges were abolished). However, it is quite annoying to be desperate and have no change!

 

[yorksrob]

This is a VAST overreaction to a non issue! The world has moved on and has been accelerated by the pandemic. You are being left behind. Any issues you have with the situation are of your own making.

Nonsense. We have s currency for a purpose. It should be available for use.

 

[Fratton Guard?]

I'm waiting to start as a Comm Guard for SWR, but the company I currently work for, which has 2500 stores throughout the UK, do not accept credit card payments at all or debit card payments for transactions of less than £5 because, I think, the associated handling charges made by banks dont make it cost effective. I believe that during the pandemic these charges were waived or reduced and we took card payments for any ammount, but this was changed back a week ago.

 

[LordCreed]

Nonsense. We have s currency for a purpose. It should be available for use.

It can be used at the bank to obtain a useful form of payment. Alternatively you can frame the notes and use them as a talking point in the future when cash becomes totally useless.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm waiting to start as a Comm Guard for SWR, but the company I currently work for, which has 2500 stores throughout the UK, do not accept credit card payments at all or debit card payments for transactions of less than £5 because, I think, the associated handling charges made by banks dont make it cost effective. I believe that during the pandemic these charges were waived or reduced and we took card payments for any ammount, but this was changed back a week ago.

One of the things about cash acceptance is that most of the costs (e.g. secure transport pickups, banking fees, insurance for cash held in tills) are fixed and apply if you accept any of it, whereas for card it's per-transaction or a percentage. Thus if you accept any cash, you are best advised to encourage cash because you make the most of those fixed costs. However, abolishing cash acceptance entirely can bring big savings as those fixed costs are zeroed.

 

[abn444]

Gloucester Transport Hub only takes contactless to use the toilets, so my statement is littered with 20p charges. But much better than trying to find 20p each time in coins!

What are people like me who don't have a contactless card because I've seen how insecure they are, supposed to do, pee up the wall? It's just another example of where technology is being used to control and enslave us under the guise of making things "easier"

 

[Bletchleyite]

What are people like me who don't have a contactless card because I've seen how insecure they are, supposed to do, pee up the wall?

Realise that they are more secure than cash, because if they are stolen or misused the bank gives you your money back? That said, mobile phone payments are probably more the future because those are actually more secure than even Chip & PIN, as to use them you need to unlock your phone, and there's no scope at all for snooping your Face ID* or fingerprint when it's only done on your phone and not someone else's terminal.

It amazes me just how much Luddism you see on an Internet forum at times.

* No, it doesn't work from a photograph, before you ask. The Apple version uses a 3D image, based I think on several views from the camera as your hand naturally moves around a bit while doing it. Some Android versions could be done with a photo but those aren't approved for Google Pay purposes and so you'll need to use the unlock PIN as well. The Apple version even checks your eyes are open so someone else can't unlock your phone by pointing it at you when asleep.

 

[LordCreed]

What are people like me who don't have a contactless card because I've seen how insecure they are, supposed to do, pee up the wall? It's just another example of where technology is being used to control and enslave us under the guise of making things "easier"

You've made a conscious decision to not use a contactless card and therefore limiting yourself in the process. It's certainly more secure than carrying cash.

 

[yorksrob]

I couldn't give a toss that contactless is more secure than cash. I just want to give my pound something and get a coke.

 

[abn444]

You've made a conscious decision to not use a contactless card and therefore limiting yourself in the process. It's certainly more secure than carrying cash.

And everyone allowing this two tier society is guilty of allowing governments and big businesses to control them

 

[greatkingrat]

So if someone wants to pay for their KitKat by cheque, should the buffet trolley have to accept that as well?