Cash is important

Bass Reeves

After the recent attempt by AIB to cut the number of there branches handling cash in half now is a good time to look at the importance of cash. Its interesting that the ECB is now pointing to the importance of cash

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/cash_strategy/cash_role/html/index.en.html

RTE have an article on there website about it as well

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/0725/1312028-ireland-cash-banking-cashless-society-exclusion/

It seems that 17% of the population is virtually totally dependent on using cash. Should the government now before banks manage to go further pass legislation enshrining that right for the public. Should Banks and financial institutions be obligated to provide a certain level of management of cash for those who require it. Should shops be obligated to accept cash up to certain limits anyway.

After all should cash remain king

Overheal

Unless AIB is Irelands Central Bank (thats what the https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html is right) then no I don't even think they have an obligation to stay in business. My primary checking account is with an online only company, to say they don't handle cash at all is an understatement. People can still use cash but their local AIB was never an Entitlement Program was it?

downtheroad

From that article, how is it that less than 10% of people in Sweden used cash for payments in 2020. And in Norway only 4% of payments were made with cash in the same year.

Cash is slowly on the way out. Probably being kept alive by elderly folk, welfare recipients and tax dodgers.

85603

If its a low involvement purchase and you dont take cash then im out, ill go next door.

if its something like a car i can understand.

but anyway, can we please not do this, i dont want yet more numbers to call when a computer says no.

bring the thing to the counter, give cash, the end. this is normality, it doesn't involve a reboot or an app or a manager or a call center or an asian telling me his name is patrick. just leave the cash alone. it works.

(yes banks should be obliged to work with cash)

WealthyB

As we saw with the Canadian trucker protests (what they stood for is irrelevant) having a cashless society can quickly leave someone destitute for questioning government policy.

Tony EH

A cashless society is a dreadful idea.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119415878#Comment_119415878

And when you go next door and they don't take cash either? Retails will dump cash as soon as possible, having cash on premises, having to move cash to banks etc... all risks that can be avoided by going cashless. It will also deter home invasions once people know there is no cash there to steal.

I was in Luzern, Switzerland last week and I need to use the toilets. I was already with by two Franc coin, but no slot to drop it in... ye you now need to card to use the toilets.

85603

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119415929#Comment_119415929

keep going til i find an alternative. someone will take the cash, and so they'll have an advantage over competition.

i dont know why anyone, other than some manager on a mission to cut costs and redirect them into his pocket, would celebrate no cash option.

someone in a data center can declare my account hacked, wipe me out for a week at the push of a button and leave me scrambling for old emails, household bills and 2fa texts at 11pm, im so modern.

i was about to use the jax, but someone in Nigeria got hold of my sort code. and theres no coin slot because we're too cool for that these days.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416061#Comment_119416061

Manager might not like the shop being held up by a junkee looking for quick cash?

85603

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416069#Comment_119416069

lets live our lives based on what junkies might do.

Konny Rool

Ulster Bank are going a similar route I believe - saw an ad about it on telly last night

there'll be no privacy at all in ~5yrs time - Smart TV's , Smart Electricity Meters , likely be forced to have our Smartphones on our person/s at all times,,, 😒

emo72

Was abroad a couple of years ago and ulster bank went down for a couple of weeks. Lesson learned.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416111#Comment_119416111

Ulster Bank are closing entirely; the branches will be cashless for a short period before they are gone totally.

Non-smart TVs are still available, and you can just not connect them to the net. Huge amount of non-smartphones available; and mobile phone ownership is entirely optional.

Konny Rool

and mobile phone ownership is entirely #optional

# for now - hopefully remains that way 😊

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416098#Comment_119416098

Manager might not want to have to drop cash to the bank every night.

Manager might not want to have to queue at a bank to get change.

Manager might not want their staff to be able to rob the till.

Manager might not want to have to reconcile the till every night for the accountant.

Manager might not want to handle filthy cash from customers.

Manager might not want to worry about counterfeit cash.

Manager might just like the convenience of an EPOS that takes a huge volume of work and hassle out of running a business.

PalLimerick

I use a card and Google Wallet but cash is king.

NDLS centres card only too so does that mean if you have no card no licence?

wotzgoingon

I honestly haven't used cash in years all online banking and paying with debit card or credit card. I did sell a car over a year ago and got paid in cash though and it was strange looking at the money since it was so long since I held any. I ended up depositing that to the bank. But that is how the guy wanted to pay so wouldn't exactly turn it down like.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416180#Comment_119416180

You can buy a voucher for the NDLS at Payzone agents. Theory test takes postal orders. So no, they accommodate that tiny % without cards

Gant21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416203#Comment_119416203

Are postal orders still on the go? Last time I used one was 25 years ago.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416210#Comment_119416210

Yes, although I think they actually stopped and then restarted them

85603

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416154#Comment_119416154

manager might not like to do his job.

manager might want to automate and sit back and let the customer deal with the problem.

manager might just be lazy and greedy.

manager might have a competitor who actually does work and does give a tiny care about the customer.

manager might not have much to manage.

Vestiapx

Ran a retail business for years, always what's the cash price ? Told them it's the same probably better for me to get card than cash for a while load of reasons. "But yet man will do it for x for cash"!. Sound, let him cos he gives no warranty and honestly when he gets done he will take a lot of cash deposits with him.

Changed jobs and ended up working for a retailer and again all cash, to the point where they thought they were loosing money cos the books had such small figures while the cash was tens of grand a week.

Now I'm happy, business to business and it's all EFT card or cheque if you are old. Revenue are a beast they are the only govt department apart from the pdf that I respect and they will catch all the cash people.

I pay my taxes you pay your taxes and let's not worry about cash.

downtheroad

"Just to let you know my Revolut is down at the moment I’m hoping to have a card machine in the coming weeks but is cash ok for you tomorrow ?"

That's a message I got from a service provider last week. I messaged back to say both my personal and business Revolut were working perfectly, so it was bizarre that his was malfunctioning. Obviously this lad just wanted to pull a fast one and not declare income.

Eradicate cash and we can eradicate tax fraud.

Dav010

Why would a business risk losing customers by not accepting cash?

My business is primarily card transactions, but if someone wants to pay cash, then cash it is. Virtually everyone below the age of 30 pays by card/phone, but above that age, we have a few people every day who want to hand over notes. What benefit to me would it be to refuse cash? None, from a business perspective it is better to mildly inconvenience us by lodging in the evenings than to refuse a method of payment preferred by many.

Incidentally, in relation to staff theft. There was a recent case in a business down the street from me. The owner told me a staff member had stolen tens of thousands from a builders wholesalers by putting fictitious refunds onto his own card. The owner said he would more likely have noticed if it was cash missing.

bad2thebone

Some people want to be liberated from cash, more are a bit conservative about it.

Cash is handy for farmers markets local take aways etc I don't.

Criminality works well with cash, bank robberies, fraud, selling dodgy goods etc, buying them.

If it was a cashless society there's going to be a lot more white collar crime, or else the creation of banks under the radar where criminal's can filter their credits and create money out of thin air. One part it sounds great, get rid of cash, but there's absolute latent geniuses out there who could take advantage of it.

Or else crime goes down it becomes a more fluid society... but I suppose only the future will tell.

I'm more for keeping cash, never did me any harm.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416240#Comment_119416240

Don’t be so naive, nothing will eradicate tax fraud, eradicating cash will just make fraudsters use other methods.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416298#Comment_119416298

A hell of a lot harder to do it when there's an electronic record. In my example there, had I paid cash it was as if I never was there, but by paying electronically it can be traced.

SEPT 23 1989

cashless society = control

can people not see this or do they not care anymore?

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416480#Comment_119416480

They're all addicted to the convenience of not having to carry a few bits of paper in their pocket and relish the chance to show off their fancy new phone/apple watch to everyone in the queue behind them

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416061#Comment_119416061

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416098#Comment_119416098

Let's live our lives based on what some lad in a call centre or Nigeria might do.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119416154#Comment_119416154

What about what the customer wants?