Finn's does not accept card payments. Neither does the Tandoori. Aydin's will take a card if the value of the transaction is over £5 (a large chips is £4.50)...
No one buys their insurance with cash any more, right? So, the recent NFU Mutual poster on Well Street, above, that informs us that cash is no longer acceptable shouldn't worry us.
Except that a cashless society is not in my interest, nor that of small retailers. And if Rhuthun is anything, it's a town of independent traders. Some small retails in the UK are already preferring cash because of unacceptably high charges on relatively small transactions.
The town's NFU Mutual: unfortunately for whom?
Except that one of the clear benefits of an office such as NFU Mutual's is that you can actually pay in cash if you want to. Or if you cannot get a bank account. Otherwise, why bother to visit an office at all? May as well just buy online.
Except that financial institutions such as NFU Mutual are moving us towards a cashless society and that's not for our benefit but theirs. Banks and insurers want to increase the volume of digital payments while cutting costs. To do this, first, they must ensure that cash is inconvenient, hence the bank closures and the associated withdrawal of cash machines. This month, Dinbych will become bankless. How long will it be before the HSBC withdraws from Rhuthun/Ruthin? Secondly, they plug the alternative hard. Bank counter staff continually promote online alternatives, even though this is committing occupational suicide.
These combined try to make me believe that cash is inconvenient.
A plea for cash but, ugh, it's Shop Locally, not Shop Local. This sign in Rhos on Sea
Ask Rhuthun's small traders and they will prefer cash: it's cheaper for them.
Then, for the likes of you and me, digital payments encourage over-spending and a disconnect between cost & value. A cashless society is also a surveillance society. They know who and where you are and your expenditure to the nth degree and what you buy. On the other hand, cash is anonymous between just two parties only.
And then there are those who are unable to have a bank account. These days, that even seems to include Nigel Farage.
Tags:
Banks