Rural outback

SIR – I handle cash for two local charitable organisations. This task involves the weekly depositing of cash, including coins, and often involves a night safe. The fundraising events held by such organisations invariably rely on a local bank to provide change for both the entry door and the various stalls. Payment by card at such events (Letters, December 4) is not catered for by the banks.

The drive towards an electronic, cashless world is part of the much wider problem of serving rural or remote areas, which also embraces the loss of village shops, pubs, rural bus services, Post Offices, petrol stations, travelling libraries and many other services regarded as essential in the city. Only when urban dwellers venture into the outback and find themselves marooned without the services they rely upon will the arrogance of the assumption that we all live in a well-served, connected society hit home. Harry L Barker

North Berwick, East Lothian