Must we all embrace the cashless society?

SIMON SMITH (Letters) is probably right when he says we are ‘moving inexorably towards a cashless society’. But that doesn’t mean we should like the prospect.

At the very least, we need a banking hub in each town where there were formerly bank branches. Banks must understand that, in this brave new world, some people still need the helping hand of a customer services department. It seems to me that most companies have abandoned real customer service, which involves being able to speak to people and

email them. They mistakenly think everything can be handled by chatbots, digital assistants and robotic answering services. They really need to consider their customers, because without them, banks are nothing.

peter Skinley, torpoint, Cornwall. WHy must we accept the inevitability of a cashless society? When times are hard, many people use cash to help control their finances. Currently, around 14 per cent of the UK population does so. Using cash alone also removes the threat of others taking control of our money. When Canadian truckers disagreed with their government’s Covid policy, they were threatened with having their bank accounts switched off.

I know progress is unstoppable and that closure of bank branches is one example of this. I still live in the town where I was once the local bank manager, so I fully realise the impact of the change. Perhaps the wheel of financial life will turn full circle, though, and we will enter a period of sound money. Even in today’s climate of austerity, credit abounds. Borrowing is easy, unlike the days when banks brought discipline to our nation’s finances.