Whichever way you cut, splice or dice it cash withdrawals from the ATM’s operated in the UK by Link are decreasing.
Less physical cash being withdrawn is heralding the swift march towards cashless becoming the default preferred payment choice for UK consumers.
With UK Finance reporting that only 28% of payments made in 2018 were in cash it is clear that cashless is fast becoming the default payment choice.
Looking for the views of those who already consider themselves completely or largely cashless I asked three questions on Twitter over the weekend.
The first question focussed on what was the best thing about being Cashless.
So, what did some of the leading Cashless advocates in the UK say was the best thing about their preferred choice of payments?
- Speed at the checkout “tap and go” if I’m in a hurry or “tap and chat” if I’ve got the time (and there isn’t a queue behind me!)
- The ease of sliding out debit card out of a purse for someone with arthritic hands
- Convenience of not having to carry coins
- Only needing to carry a phone
- Not having to constantly find an ATM to top up cash
- Hygiene factor (‘notes and coins are too dirty’)
- Security
- Better budgeting – using data to analyse what happens to your money
- Audit trail of what I’ve spent my money on – each spend itemised rather than a bank statement that just says ‘£50 debit ATM’
One person said “notes are inconvenient and coins are heavier than cards – I got a wallet without a coin section and have never looked back”.
Another said “I’ve gone from using cash with cards as a back up to using cards with cash as a back up. I’m now 99% cashless and happy with that.”
The other two questions focussed on Cashless challenges (spoiler alert: there weren’t many), Cashless top tips and creative uses of a Princes Corned Beef can opener.