I heard the R4 programme too. If I remember correctly, a lot of Sweden's cashless push has been from one of the blokes out of ABBA after his son was violently mugged. I understand the argument, while I don't really agree with it.
I work at a university and all the catering outlets encourage the use of a pre-paid catering card (very like the Oyster card for travelling on London Transport). In fact they offer 5% off the bill for using one and there are special meal deals for card users. The Student Union shop encourages contactless card use or Apple Pay. I refuse to have a catering card and while I occasionally use contactless, will *never* use Apple Pay. I get why it's all been set up - lunchtimes are brutally busy during term time and anything that speeds up the queue is a boon, plus I think there's been a drop in student muggings since it's come in. On the downside, these systems are heavily reliant on a knackered university internet system which has gone down in the past and I'm almost certain will do again many more times in the future.
I'm old fashioned it seems. I like cash. I know where I am with it and what I've spent. In the past I've got myself in trouble by not keeping track of what I pay on a card. Now I try to stick with cash where I can and I maintain a spreadsheet with what goes in and out of my bank account. One of the preps I need to start up again urgently is a cash store at home. The slow increments to cashless started ages ago - about 3 years ago I tried to take a sizeable amount of money out of my account (well, more than the machine would allow me) and the bank made it very hard indeed. I was really cross that I couldn't get at *my* money.
The R4 programme mentioned old people finding cashless difficult. My mum really does - she only ever uses cash. She doesn't even have a chequebook. It's becoming harder and harder for her to pay bills. There's one bill now where I had to pay online for her until we worked out where the local 'Payzone' was. She's on a higher paying tariff for gas and electric because she wants to pay cash. The whole concept of direct debit freaks her out and in fact I don't think her mega-basic-nearly-extinct bank account allows her to have them. I doubt she's the only older technophobe with the most basic of bank accounts who deals exclusively in cash. She's not even that old - only 64. Once her generation has gone, then that's when cash will be done away with.
jansman wrote:Back to the BBC article.I found the idea that there has to be a ' call' on the Central Bank,as with cash,HAS to be built into this electronic system.Otherwise the bank robbers won't have to wear masks and carry a bag marked 'Swag'- they will do it from a smartphone.
Yip. Also we have seen across Europe, all the other banks can fail plus they are private companies so they can just refuse service.