Do you still pay for most things in cash or do you find yourself relying more and more on contactless or chip and Pin cards?
In November, the ATM industry body warned that 10,000 free cashpoints could disappear from Britain’s high streets within four years, with usage apparently falling.
Many of you shared concerns about losing free-to-use cash machines, and I was certainly one of them – being charged to access your own money just doesn’t sit right. In our poll, an overwhelming 82% of you agreed, saying you would never pay to withdraw money.
Visiting the cashpoint
While I’m fully against cashpoints that charge to withdraw, all this did get me thinking about how often I actually withdraw cash from one.
It then dawned on me that I only really visit a cashpoint once a week – on my way to play football for my Saturday team.
The only way to pay the referee after a game is in cash. The pitch also needs paying for, and what’s left over the club uses to buy everyone a drink in the pub after the game.
It costs £10 for a home game (£5 if you only end up playing a half) and £7 for an away game. And as myself and the teammates I share a lift with rarely have any cash on us, we have to drive to the game via a cashpoint to get out our subs.
Sorting out the cash in the changing room after a game can also feel like a dated affair, as most of the team hands over notes and the person in charge of collecting the subs never has enough loose change to give back. Oh, for a contactless card reader! Still, I’m not expecting refs to come equipped with these any time soon.
Contactless generation
For me, my teammates and other friends of a similar age (around 28, if you’re wondering), contactless cards have completely revolutionised our spending habits.
None of us really like to carry too much cash simply because there’s hardly anything that we really need it for on a day-to-day basis: we can buy most things by placing our contactless cards on a reader or, failing that, by entering our Pin.
But could this be a generational thing? While many in my age group don’t seem to carry cash at all, it’s a completely different story for my dad – I don’t think he’s ever used his card to make a contactless payment!
Do you still carry cash on a regular basis? If so, what do you use it for? Do you prefer using it to contactless payments or a chip and Pin card?
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