cashless societies-

[Pugwash]

From 'Which' full report will be in January's edition. Relates to the problems of business etc not accepting cash and how this is affecting rural communities, the elderly and disabled.(in Sweden)

A cautionary tale for the UK Even with the banks brought to heel, there remains the problem of what should be expected of shops and businesses. In April 2019, the Riksbank petitioned the government to review the concept of a ?legal tender?, including the question of whether businesses should be legally obliged to accept national currency. ?More and more shops and caf?s are putting up signs saying ?We are not accepting cash?. It?s not only about being able to take out money. That?s not enough. It?s about being able to use it,? said Jan from the SCA. Although Cash Rebellion thinks that its work is far from done, we?re inspired by its achievements. We are concerned that the UK is sleepwalking towards a cashless society and are urging the government to take note of the Swedish lesson and implement laws to protect access to cash before it?s too late. You can find out more about our ?Freedom to pay. Our way? campaign and sign the petition calling for better protections on cash access. You can also share your views by joining the discussion at Which? Conversation. We?re continuing to lobby the government to intervene and protect the UK?s banking and cash infrastructure. Measures taken so far have not been enough to halt the rapid decline of banks and cash machines



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[healer]

I always thought cash was king.

It will be a sad day when you cannot pay for your purchases by cash and have to pay by card.

The banks are doing all they can to frustrate us. I was in Santander in Peckham a few days ago and noticed they have reduced their counters down to two, leading to a mass of angry people waiting nearly an hour to be served.

I am not happy the way we are being forced by banks to do what we don't want to do, after all we are the customers and we should have a choice.

[KidKruger]

Yeah like my dealer will take a contactless transaction. NOT!

[Seabag]

KidKruger Wrote:

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> Yeah like my dealer will take a contactless

> transaction. NOT!

Dealers in Shoreditch take cards, and deliver.

So hold tight, I?m sure ED isn?t far behind.

[TheCat]

Dealers are still the last bastion of cash......

[BrandNewGuy]

Quite. You can't "clean" contactless transactions.

[Pollypops]

In a cashless society if the government want to impose negative interest rates(ie help themselves to your money in the bank every month) there?s nothing you can do. You can?t withdraw your money (because physical money mo longer exists) and keep it under the bed (where at least it retains its face value) and moving it to another bank (your only real option) would make no difference. Think negative interest rates aren?t a feature of a mature and modern democratic economy? It?s been a feature of both the Eurozone and Japan for example. The removal of the option of being able to store your money as cold, hard cash (should you wish) means it is no longer fully yours to control.

[stepdown]

Pollypops Wrote:

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> it is no longer fully yours to control.

It never was. Fiat currency can easily be devalued by inflation, an equivalent fiscal policy to negative interest rates is printing more notes. How useful was "cold, hard cash" in 1922 Germany?

[RichH]

Pollypops Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The removal of the option of being able

> to store your money as cold, hard cash (should you

> wish) means it is no longer fully yours to

> control.

You could buy gold, silver, platinum, palladium, diamonds etc. and use those as "cash".

[JohnL]

RichH Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Pollypops Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > The removal of the option of being able

> > to store your money as cold, hard cash (should

> you

> > wish) means it is no longer fully yours to

> > control.

>

> You could buy gold, silver, platinum, palladium,

> diamonds etc. and use those as "cash".

As most credit cards are 20%+ (and 0% deals aren't as common as they used to be) maybe peer to peer lending will be popular.