4 ms·

The UK is in general making it very difficult to operate using cash. My experience last summer, as a tourist, was that certain attractions would accept card pay

The UK is in general making it very difficult to operate using cash. My experience last summer, as a tourist, was that certain attractions would accept card payments only. Want to go on a Thames river cruise or visit Warwick Castle? The only way to purchase tickets was via card. I also paid with a £50 for a few drinks in a bar and they did not have enough cash on hand to provide me with correct change. It was either end up out of pocket, or pay the correct amount with card. Making cash such an inconvenience means more and more people use cards (or some form of cashless payment), thus making it look like everyone wants to go cashless, which is not really the case. A similar story on a small local mini-market. I had a small number of items and ask the shop assistant to man the till for me. She told me that was not possible and I had to use the automated check-out system. However, because I was buying alcohol, she had to come over and approve the transation manually anyway! I do wonder if people working these jobs realise that automation is doing away with their livelihoods. They should be instead actively encouraging people to come to the manual till for checkout.

pjc50 4y ago
> I also paid with a £50 for a few drinks in a bar and they did not have enough cash on hand to provide me with correct change "£50 note in a bar" has been a mild horror story for as long as I can remember; bars hate accepting them. It's unlikely they didn't have enough cash to make change, unless you could see inside the till - more likely they wanted a non-confrontational way to refuse to take it, because £50 notes are the most common target for forgery, and they didn't want to give you real notes in change for a possible fake. Nobody uses £50 notes regularly, the ATMs largest option is nearly always £20.
- phillc73 4y ago
  Either way, I didn't have smaller and ended up forced to pay with a card (or not buy the drinks).
BoxOfRain 4y ago
To be fair I think I've seen a £50 note in the wild perhaps twice or three times. They're really uncommon in practice and most public-facing businesses are loathe to accept them because they're often fake. I know somebody who set up a cafe having outright rejected cash from the beginning but he was forced to start accepting it because of customer demand.
- ben_w 4y ago
  Indeed. I've had a £50 note only twice ever. Kinda weird given inflation means they're less useful today than £20s were when I was born. Also, €50 notes seem to be the default here in Berlin.

pjc50 4y ago

> I also paid with a £50 for a few drinks in a bar and they did not have enough cash on hand to provide me with correct change "£50 note in a bar" has been a mild horror story for as long as I can remember; bars hate accepting them. It's unlikely they didn't have enough cash to make change, unless you could see inside the till - more likely they wanted a non-confrontational way to refuse to take it, because £50 notes are the most common target for forgery, and they didn't want to give you real notes in change for a possible fake. Nobody uses £50 notes regularly, the ATMs largest option is nearly always £20.

phillc73 4y ago
Either way, I didn't have smaller and ended up forced to pay with a card (or not buy the drinks).

BoxOfRain 4y ago

To be fair I think I've seen a £50 note in the wild perhaps twice or three times. They're really uncommon in practice and most public-facing businesses are loathe to accept them because they're often fake. I know somebody who set up a cafe having outright rejected cash from the beginning but he was forced to start accepting it because of customer demand.

ben_w 4y ago
Indeed. I've had a £50 note only twice ever. Kinda weird given inflation means they're less useful today than £20s were when I was born. Also, €50 notes seem to be the default here in Berlin.