Cash is King? Not any more

When you pop into a shop for something relatively inexpensive, how do you pay?

Are you fumbling around in your pocket/purse for the right coins, only to find you haven’t got quite enough and have to break into a note? Do you pop your credit or debit card into the reader, tap in your PIN and accept your receipt? Or are you wafting your contactless card in the general direction of the payment thingy, before heading off as soon as the assistant says ‘done’?

I’ll freely admit that I’ve only recently started going contactless. I’m still comfortable with cash – it’s nice to instantly see what you’ve spent based on what’s left in your wallet. However, I do understand the logic of the modern method of paying for your bag of chips, double-shot mochachino or (up to) 30 items from your local Pound Palace.

But digital regicide is sweeping our land, overthrowing the old regime of paper and metal tokens. The BBC this week reported on a London pub that has stopped taking cash altogether. I struggled to believe that was anything other than another trendy “London thing” until I read on – only 10-13% of their takings were cash.

After a spate of break-ins, it was decided that all future purchases of two pints of larger and a packet of crisps (please) would be by credit card, debit card, contactless or Android/Apple Pay.

Apart from having no cash to break-in for, the staff also avoid the need to take the wonga to the bank, or spend time cashing up at the end of the night. They’ve not noticed any drop in trade, which suggests that their customers aren’t too fussed about saying bye bye to the bank notes either.

We might be a long way off dropping cash completely, but as more and more stores start to become cashless zones, how long before we reach the reverse of the old situation? Once, you were never quite sure if some establishments would accept cards. Soon, it could be the other way around.

I’m not quite ready to switch. I definitely prefer to leave tips in cash, to try and make sure the staff actually get my financial appreciation. Currently quite tricky to chip in to a collection too, or make a donation to someone rattling a tin for charity, using your card.

It’s the people who sew those teensy coin pockets into your trousers I feel most sorry for.

This post first appeared as my "A wry look at the week" column, in The Mail, on Friday the 14th of December 2018. The version used on their website changed the title slightly, to "Cash is king - well not any more".

A fascinating topic, and symptomatic of our age I guess.

(CD A-Z: Mike Oldfield's "Elements" box set.)