Can people just pay by card instead of using cash?

zero · 28 Sep 2026

WesternLancer said:
martin butler said:

Many places, now do not readily accept cash, many say their preferred option is to pay by card, because of the security implications of handling cash, someone has too physically take the cash to the bank, deposit it, often it's a two-man procedure, taking staff away from their duties, and of course the banks charge for the time it takes to count, then credit the money,

Click to expand...

I agree with those reasons but if I wish to pay with cash but have any reason to doubt its convenience for the retailer I usually say eg ‘do you prefer cash or card’ and my experience of the reply is usually ‘either is fine’.

Just my experience of course.

Why might you doubt the convenience of a payment method for a retailer, and why should that matter to you as a consumer?

If a business accepts cash at all, then they should accept it from everyone in all circumstances (unless informed in advance, e.g. a sign at the entrance saying that cash is only accepted at certain times of day).

I will use the payment method that I find most preferable. For me, 99% of the time that will be card, but when I want to use cash and the shop accepts it, they should not try to guilt me into paying by card just because I can pay by card.

Signs saying "card preferred", or less often, "cash preferred" really annoy me and will prompt me to use the method that is not preferred (unless I already planned differently before seeing the sign). Whereas if I'm aware a shop is card-only or cash-only before I enter, that doesn't bother me at all.

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WesternLancer · 28 Sep 2026

zero said:
Why might you doubt the convenience of a payment method for a retailer, and why should that matter to you as a consumer?

If a business accepts cash at all, then they should accept it from everyone in all circumstances (unless informed in advance, e.g. a sign at the entrance saying that cash is only accepted at certain times of day).

I will use the payment method that I find most preferable. For me, 99% of the time that will be card, but when I want to use cash and the shop accepts it, they should not try to guilt me into paying by card just because I can pay by card.

Signs saying "card preferred", or less often, "cash preferred" really annoy me and will prompt me to use the method that is not preferred (unless I already planned differently before seeing the sign). Whereas if I'm aware a shop is card-only or cash-only before I enter, that doesn't bother me at all.

Because they are small traders and I’m happy to give them the choice. I frequent them regularly in my neighbourhood and receive excellent service as a regular customer.
Being helpful to how they want to do business pays dividends to me in terms of the benefits I receive in return.
You get to know the proprietors to some extent.

It would of course be different in large chain retailers or eateries but I often opt not to use such places where there is another plausible choice.

In my view being a consumer isn’t just a transaction.

Hadders · 28 Sep 2026

Silver Cobra said:
After a recent experience in Morrisons, I wouldn't be comfortable doing this myself, if this means you don't even carry any physical cards with you (I know quite a few people don't carry the cards any more and just purely rely on their phone apps to pay for anything).

Last week I was in my local Morrisons paying for a small amount of shopping at a self-service checkout. As a regular user of Google Pay/Wallet, I instinctively went to pay for the shopping with this, only to have the card terminal do the 'three bongs' error noise. Thinking I might have just closed the app too soon or done something silly, I tried it again, only to have the terminal make the same error noise. Several more attempts later with no success, I take my bank card and tap that for the contactless payment, which succeeded immediately. In the process of doing all this, I observed another customer having the same problem when trying to use an app on their phone to pay (couldn't say if it was also Google Pay/Wallet or Apple Pay), and also resorting to their physical bank card, thus indicating to me the possibility that there was an issue with Google Pay/Wallet.

Had I not had my physical card with me I would have had to do the 'walk of shame', leaving the shopping behind and walking out the store with nothing.

I've never advocated only carrying only a single payment method.

Merle Haggard · 28 Sep 2026

Surprising that Barclaycard hasn't been mentioned. Introduced around 1968, even accepted by BR from around 1969.

//

The happy days of bank branches I've mentioned before were accompanied by charges for personal bank accounts, raised monthly. From what I remember a flat rate was charged so, if you weren't well paid, a significant tax on your income.

AlterEgo · 28 Sep 2026

zero said:
I will use the payment method that I find most preferable. For me, 99% of the time that will be card, but when I want to use cash and the shop accepts it, they should not try to guilt me into paying by card just because I can pay by card.

Agreed.

Cash is inconvenient for me and I try to offload it if I have some. Typically this is via a supermarket self checkout but if I want to spend a £20 in the chippy then I do expect it to be accepted without quibble if they accept cash. (Our local is pretty good and accepts card and cash)

35B · 28 Sep 2026

Russel said:
Yeah, this doesn't make sense to me, I experienced the same at an Ice Cream shop in Bridlington, they had a card machine but asked on each occasion that I visited if I had cash and each occasion I said no...

Now, I know there is a small charge by the provider for taking card payments, but handling cash isn't free either and that's before you take into account the additional security risks involved handling cash...

My conclusion was that they were trying to avoid something, I just can't quite put my finger on what that may be.

Tax may be an issue, but having gone through the transition to taking card payments for donations to my church, a lot of the challenge is about seeing the percentage coming off the bottom on every statement. For long established small businesses, the process of changing may be the issue - the barber I use (old school British, not modern "Turkish") is cash only, and I'm sure just a case of not seeing any reason to change (they even have online booking, so it's not technophobia).

Bletchleyite · 28 Sep 2026

35B said:
Tax may be an issue, but having gone through the transition to taking card payments for donations to my church, a lot of the challenge is about seeing the percentage coming off the bottom on every statement.

Volunteer organisations are probably the ones who genuinely are hit with an added cost here. Businesses have the cost of transporting cash and depositing it which takes time. Even if you don't contract a carrier and take it yourself, you should be accounting for that time.

The "cash is king" businesses that aren't evading tax (I don't doubt that some are, but some won't be) are no doubt not accounting for that time, often because the business is also a hobby so they just pay themselves minimum for an 8 hour day and do that effectively in their own time.

Though there's also that that cost exists if you take ANY cash. Only if you stop accepting cash do you save it.

35B · 28 Sep 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Volunteer organisations are probably the ones who genuinely are hit with an added cost here. Businesses have the cost of transporting cash and depositing it which takes time. Even if you don't contract a carrier and take it yourself, you should be accounting for that time.

The "cash is king" businesses that aren't evading tax (I don't doubt that some are, but some won't be) are no doubt not accounting for that time, often because the business is also a hobby so they just pay themselves minimum for an 8 hour day and do that effectively in their own time.

Though there's also that that cost exists if you take ANY cash. Only if you stop accepting cash do you save it.

For someone like me who works for a large corporate, accounting for time is second nature - and I'm used to the idea that "this meeting is costing £xxx". I'm not sure that model applies to many sole trader type businesses, especially where they are able to take the cash to a local bank branch and it's in small enough quantities that they don't need to think about security lorries.

While opportunity cost matters, for those businesses, it's direct financial cost that really counts - and that's built into the ways of working.

Ediswan · 28 Sep 2026

Bletchleyite said:
In what way could the same thing not be completed via a call centre, post and email etc? I am sure Monzo and the likes have dedicated teams for this.

Sometimes original documents need to be presented. Sending original documents by post, and getting them returned, always involves some risk. The more trustworthy postal services require a visit to a post office which, as has already been noted, are getting increasingly rare.

Bletchleyite · 28 Sep 2026

Ediswan said:
Sometimes original documents need to be presented. Sending original documents by post, and getting them returned, always involves some risk. The more trustworthy postal services require a visit to a post office which, as has already been noted, are getting increasingly rare.

Post offices are not rare, there are loads of them. Personally I have three within a five minute drive, and if I expanded that to ten minutes at least another two. Even were they reduced to one per large town, that's still loads (and we are very far from that). Plus, Royal Mail are moving towards being able to avail of their services at more places than just post offices, e.g. corner shops.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Sep 2026 ==

Bletchleyite said:
There can be issues with them - I believe I may have been overcharged by PayByPhone this weekend

It turns out I was not overcharged but rather was subjected to a very poorly publicised special event upcharge which would have also applied at the physical payment meter.

najaB · 28 Sep 2026

Silver Cobra said:
I observed another customer having the same problem when trying to use an app on their phone to pay (couldn't say if it was also Google Pay/Wallet or Apple Pay), and also resorting to their physical bank card, thus indicating to me the possibility that there was an issue with Google Pay/Wallet.

As I understand it, the phone/watch stores an encrypted version of the virtual Visa/MasterCard which was issued by the bank. Which, as far as the payment terminal is concerned, is just "another card" (hence why posters reported being asked to "chip & PIN" when using their phone to pay).

So Google and Apple are peripheral to this process, I don't think they are actively involved in the authorisation process.

Bletchleyite said:
Plus, Royal Mail are moving towards being able to avail of their services at more places than just post offices, e.g. corner shops.

You can also usually arrange for collection of tracked mail.

35B · 28 Sep 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Post offices are not rare, there are loads of them. Personally I have three within a five minute drive, and if I expanded that to ten minutes at least another two. Even were they reduced to one per large town, that's still loads (and we are very far from that). Plus, Royal Mail are moving towards being able to avail of their services at more places than just post offices, e.g. corner shops.

That doesn't get round the urgency of some requirements, where proving both identity* and authority. Two years ago, I'd have agreed with you on the ability to do this with a call centre and online. Now, my experience is that this doesn't always work fully, and that mere access to a secure postal service is insufficient.

* - as an aside, what happens when passport is the gold standard for identity, and you need both to prove ID and use the passport for travel? That wasn't a "RUK standard minority" issue, but what my fellow executor had to seriously consider

Bletchleyite · 28 Sep 2026

najaB said:
As I understand it, the phone/watch stores an encrypted version of the virtual Visa/MasterCard which was issued by the bank. Which, as far as the payment terminal is concerned, is just "another card" (hence why posters reported being asked to "chip & PIN" when using their phone to pay).

If the terminal is set up correctly it isn't "just another card", it's specifically flagged as a more secure card thus the limits etc of contactless are not supposed to apply and the PIN should not be requested as there is no PIN associated to it. It is meant to be equivalent to the use of Chip and PIN in security terms.

Some terminals of course are set up wrongly.

Ediswan · 28 Sep 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Post offices are not rare, there are loads of them. Personally I have three within a five minute drive, and if I expanded that to ten minutes at least another two. Even were they reduced to one per large town, that's still loads (and we are very far from that). Plus, Royal Mail are moving towards being able to avail of their services at more places than just post offices, e.g. corner shops.

The PO near me has closed. The PO in the town centre is closing. Not everybody drives.

Bletchleyite · 28 Sep 2026

Ediswan said:
The PO near me has closed. The PO in the town centre is closing. Not everybody drives.

Everybody can take a bus or train, however. And things like executing wills happen very occasionally, and the costs of doing so are due to the estate, not the individual (though obviously where there's only one heir that's the same thing).

Djgr · 28 Sep 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Volunteer organisations are probably the ones who genuinely are hit with an added cost here. Businesses have the cost of transporting cash and depositing it which takes time. Even if you don't contract a carrier and take it yourself, you should be accounting for that time.

The "cash is king" businesses that aren't evading tax (I don't doubt that some are, but some won't be) are no doubt not accounting for that time, often because the business is also a hobby so they just pay themselves minimum for an 8 hour day and do that effectively in their own time.

Though there's also that that cost exists if you take ANY cash. Only if you stop accepting cash do you save it.

Well I am treasurer of a voluntary organisation and our charges for dealing with cash are significantly higher than for card transactions.

Accordingly, I consider that the real reasons for businesses sticking to cash are (perm as many as you see fit) money laundering, tax evasion and flatearthing.

najaB · 28 Sep 2026

Bletchleyite said:
If the terminal is set up correctly it isn't "just another card", it's specifically flagged as a more secure card thus the limits etc of contactless are not supposed to apply and the PIN should not be requested as there is no PIN associated to it. It is meant to be equivalent to the use of Chip and PIN in security terms.

By "just another card" what I mean is that it's processed as if it was a card. There's nothing special or different in the authorisation process that requires Google or Apple to get involved.

Richardr · 28 Sep 2026

Wawanesa said:
Richardr's question is a perfect example of knowledge being dependent on age. That's the first thing you were told when you opened a bank account. As Bald Rick clearly knows, you just write a cheque to cash, give it to the cashier and tell them which denominations you would like. I never actually had a bank guarantee card, I think they were helpful if you wanted cash from a branch other than your own in the days before the banks computer systems were networked.Nowadays thay can just bring up your specimen signature on the screen.

It's probably fair to say that I don't do spontaneous when it comes to spending large amounts of money so that's never been a problem.

Just to ask a couple more questions:

you presumably do not do any shopping online
what do you do if you want to pay for something expensive? Plenty of examples, but say car / furniture / TV? Cash?

Wawanesa · 28 Sep 2026

Richardr said:
Just to ask a couple more questions:

you presumably do not do any shopping online

what do you do if you want to pay for something expensive? Plenty of examples, but say car / furniture / TV? Cash?

1: Correct, I don't shop online but that's not really been an issue.
2: I bought my current car from an independent dealer with a cheque, no issues. I bought my previous car from a main dealer who really didn't want to accept a cheque until I said it was either that or lose the sale of a brand new vehicle. I last bought large furniture in the 1980s and I doubt that I will buy anymore. I haven't had a TV for twenty years.

londonbridge · 28 Sep 2026

Further to my earlier post regarding the pizza restaurant in Austria, another situation where I assumed a card would be accepted but wasn’t was at my local barber. I had always paid him cash before, on this occasion before I sat down I said “is a card okay”? and he said yes. After he’d finished I offered my card and he asked could I pay cash!…..I said “that’s why I said do you take cards when I came in! Give me a couple a minutes”…..at least though this time we knew each other.

ChrisC · 28 Sep 2026

WesternLancer said:
Because they are small traders and I’m happy to give them the choice. I frequent them regularly in my neighbourhood and receive excellent service as a regular customer.
Being helpful to how they want to do business pays dividends to me in terms of the benefits I receive in return.
You get to know the proprietors to some extent.

It would of course be different in large chain retailers or eateries but I often opt not to use such places where there is another plausible choice.

In my view being a consumer isn’t just a transaction.

I certainly agree with you.
I try to use local independent shops as much as possible. They may be a bit more expensive but I value the quality of service and the goods they sell. I would much rather support local long established butchers, greengrocers, bakers etc than the large supermarket chains. I have got to know the owners and workers and they know me. If they prefer me to pay with cash rather than card, I don’t see any problem.

muz379 · 29 Sep 2026

Wawanesa said:
Many small businesses hate people who pay by card. My erstwhile employers did accept cards but because only three or four customers a month used the facility (business to business company), we were charged 3% commission and a £50 monthly standing charge so made a loss on those sales. The problem was that those sales came from companies that wouldn't allow their employees to raise purchase orders so they had no other way to buy products.

That might have been the case in the past, but for at least the past 10/15 years fees have been driven lower by competition among the various card processing providers and standing charges aren't really a thing for a lot of them anymore.

It now generally is cheaper to accept card payments than take and bank large volumes of cash.

Bletchleyite said:
The "cash is king" businesses that aren't evading tax (I don't doubt that some are, but some won't be) are no doubt not accounting for that time, often because the business is also a hobby so they just pay themselves minimum for an 8 hour day and do that effectively in their own time.

Though there's also that that cost exists if you take ANY cash. Only if you stop accepting cash do you save it.

I suppose though those costs are going to be in some way proportionate to the amount of cash you are taking.Take less cash and you won't have to visit the bank as often to pay it in.

At least this was my experience as as student when I spent some time working in a corner shop, not long after I started the owner got a card reader and went from taking £5k/£6k a week in cash to around £2k a week In cash towards the end of my time working there. This meant he actually very rarely visited the bank to pay cash in because he could use up £2k a week at the cash and carry or on other stuff. He did still occasionally have to go and buy change although being a corner shop this usually did last quite a bit as people would often pay with coins/small notes.

zero · 29 Sep 2026

muz379 said:
This meant he actually very rarely visited the bank to pay cash in because he could use up £2k a week at the cash and carry or on other stuff. He did still occasionally have to go and buy change although being a corner shop this usually did last quite a bit as people would often pay with coins/small notes.

This is an important point. I know people who have run takeaways and they have always been able to get rid of their cash takings easily because their suppliers accept cash, including some who delivered directly to the shop. Although they do accept card by popular demand, cash doesn't really cost them anything as they don't bank it. Change stops being a problem when everything is priced in 50p multiples.

Jon_jpwh · 29 Sep 2026

The barber I use only takes cash. I can't remember if there is a sign up about it and since I always carry cash it isn't a problem. What i have noticed several times is that other customers, when their haircut is complete, announcing that they have to go to the atm to get cash. This isn't a problem as there are several nearby. I will say that they have always returned with the money and it isn't an attempt to get a free haircut.

Ediswan · 29 Sep 2026

Jon_jpwh said:
The barber I use only takes cash. I can't remember if there is a sign up about it and since I always carry cash it isn't a problem. What i have noticed several times is that other customers, when their haircut is complete, announcing that they have to go to the atm to get cash. This isn't a problem as there are several nearby. I will say that they have always returned with the money and it isn't an attempt to get a free haircut.

My barbers started accepting cards shortly after the cash machine outside the shop opposite closed.

muz379 · 29 Sep 2026

zero said:
This is an important point. I know people who have run takeaways and they have always been able to get rid of their cash takings easily because their suppliers accept cash, including some who delivered directly to the shop. Although they do accept card by popular demand, cash doesn't really cost them anything as they don't bank it. Change stops being a problem when everything is priced in 50p multiples.

To be fair this was a whilst back and I don't know what the landscape looks like now.

Even back then the cash and carry were pushing for invoicing and cheque or bank transfer payment, and if he didn't have any money going into the bank account he would have had to put some in as the newspaper wholesaler and some other suppliers plus the utilities etc were paid by direct debit.

Bletchleyite · 29 Sep 2026

zero said:
This is an important point. I know people who have run takeaways and they have always been able to get rid of their cash takings easily because their suppliers accept cash, including some who delivered directly to the shop. Although they do accept card by popular demand, cash doesn't really cost them anything as they don't bank it.

Of course if they're VAT registered there's a nice chunk of evasion likely going on there...

35B · 29 Sep 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Of course if they're VAT registered there's a nice chunk of evasion likely going on there...

That's quite a sweeping assumption. It brings one of those irregular verbs to mind - I like being paid by card, you like being paid by cash, he is a tax dodger

jon81uk · 29 Sep 2026

Jon_jpwh said:
The barber I use only takes cash. I can't remember if there is a sign up about it and since I always carry cash it isn't a problem. What i have noticed several times is that other customers, when their haircut is complete, announcing that they have to go to the atm to get cash. This isn't a problem as there are several nearby. I will say that they have always returned with the money and it isn't an attempt to get a free haircut.

My barbers will also take bank transfer, but my phone signal is poor there so I still take cash.

Bletchleyite · 29 Sep 2026

35B said:
That's quite a sweeping assumption. It brings one of those irregular verbs to mind - I like being paid by card, you like being paid by cash, he is a tax dodger

It is very, very likely in my mind that if cash is coming in and going out without being banked that at least some of it will not be properly taxed. It is very hard to prove it wasn't because the sums are not properly recorded.

It is proper business practice to bank all incoming funds so they are properly accounted for and taxed. Obviously cash can then be withdrawn if that's all a given supplier takes, but that's rare now I'd think.

Can people just pay by card instead of using cash?

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