HANGING ON TO OUR CASH
Despite the rise of online shopping and contactless cards, we aren’t ready to dump notes and coins just yet.
CONTACTLESS cards, online banking, and mobile phone payments - it’s a wonder any of us still have a purse.
But new analysis can reveal that, although we are depending more and more on technological payments, fewer than 10% of people feel ready to move to a totally cashless society.
A new Post Office study looked at the most common situations in which people pay with cash.
Topping the list are car parks, with 41% of people saying they use cash to pay for a space. That is followed by buying a food shop (34%), paying for nights out (30%), and giving children pocket money (27%). More than a quarter of people (26%) said they still use cash to pay for transport. The study also revealed that more than nine in every 10 people (91%) wanted to retain the choice payment methods rather than moving to a cashless society in the immediate future.
That is likely because 40% of the country’s population say they still carry cash on a daily basis, totalling more than £1.3 billion in the nation’s wallets.
Despite society’s clear reluctance to move to a cashless society, ATMs are plummeting in numbers.
According to LINK, the ATM network coordinator, the number of free machines is falling by 6% year-onyear.
As of July this year there were 53,389 across the country - a drop of nearly a thousand in just six months, from 54,194 in December 2017.
LINK was quick to point out that this decline is not necessarily a negative thing.
In the past 20 years, the number of free-to-use ATMs more than doubled, reaching its peak in 2016/17.
At that time, the organisation says the system was expensive and unsustainable, especially with more and more people moving away from using cash.
Martin Kearsley, director of banking services at Post Office, said: “Despite the increased use and popularity of digital payments, our research highlights that the debate on the future of cash should not be about one form of payment replacing the other, but instead looking at how consumers balance their use of different methods alongside one another. “Many do not realise how much we still use cash until we find ourselves without access to it. “This may often be for more discretionary items or services, such as paying for a round at the pub or for parking, but for others this is about supporting them in their preferred payment for everyday essentials.”