Refusing to Accept Cash .Is It Right to Refuse?
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I was reading in our local newspaper that a shopper went to there local garden centre and bought £20 worth of items . When trying to pay for the items the store refused to accept the cash due to the pandemic .
Do you agree with the store or should there be no reason to refuse perfectly legal tender ?
I don't think it's right to refuse cash. For some people cash is the only option, they don't have any other way of paying.
Even before the pandemic there were an increasing number of businesses (mainly food & drink related) that only took card or smartphone payments. Businesses should have the right to choose what payment methods they accept and shoppers can go elsewhere if they don't like it.
This may sound a little harsh, but I believe businesses are entitled to choose their own payment methods. If I went to a store which offered payment methods I am not happy with then I'd just shop elsewhere.
I think it's wrong. Money has been around for a long long time and is a valid form of payment. Surely is costs more to process electronic payments too?
I haven't got a smart phone. If I had walked around a shop and selected the goods I wanted I would be rather cross and dismayed to discover that I couldn't pay for them with either cash or card if smartphone was the only choice.
It doesn't say that smartphones are the only choice, I doubt any retailer who accepts smartphone payment will ever refuse a debit card.
No doubt I'll be corrected if I'm wrong but surely a smartphone payment is technically just a debit card payment that doesn't require the card to be carried.
21st Century - complicated init 
davidstockport It all just smacks of controlling the population to me.
In our village, in the back of beyond, we have all just gone over to this 'digital phone' which means that a) you have to have a BT hub (or perhaps other type of hub) for the phone to go through, luckily we do have one of those! b) if we get a power cut we can't use the phones and have to rely on mobile phones - the enormous downside there is that the signal is somewhere between sh*t and non-existent - you try getting a OTP out here! I am sure that some of the residents in the village haven't got phone usage at all now as many are elderly and can't get to grips with mobile phones and wouldn't even know what a 'hub' is as they don't have computers. I'm sure it's progress for some but it doesn't feel like it from where I am sitting!
tumblespots I can remember when only a very small minority of people had any kind of phone, best was two tin cans connected by a piece of string if you were lucky
I also remember at the start of the 21st century most of those who actually had a computer couldn't use it and their telephone at the same time.
I already know what living in a "cashless" society will be like, back in the mid 20th century I, and many pthers, never had any cash.
Strange times we live in,I would choose another garden centre then.Some people prefer to pay in cash.Luckily I have never encountered such an issue.
stuartsmith544 I find that weird! In my mind cash is the 'original' ... we have moved to contactless payment via our cards for small items and with the hazards of COVID I understood stores wanting that method for a time but now, I think cash must be an option. We don't use mobile phone payments at all and I don't see that anyone should have to own and use a phone for payments.
I do think its wrong. A lot of people only use cash. It’s abit like ordering food in a restaurant via your phone, elderly people don’t have that facility
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/12946973/martin-lewis-shops-allowed-refuse-cash/
I don't agree with shops refusing cash but this is what Martin Lewis says.
Read to the end about government plans for supermarkets becoming the new ATMs
I think that it’s wrong as I was in a local bakers just as lockdown was going on and a elderly lady wanted two tea cakes that were £1 and the shop would not except the cash and the lady did not have a bank card so was quite upset that they would not take the £1, so I paid for them and then emailed the head office of the shop they soon started taking cash after that
That’s a lovely thing to do. Lots of elderly people just don’t trust the bank cards especially since the swipe and pay limits increased recently.
Its down to the business what type of payments they want too take.
It also works with card payments, I don't carry cash and its annoying when they don't take card payments. If they don't have your preferred payment method then just shop elsewhere or have the payment method they want.
I think that cash should still be accepted along side cards. The pandemic has been used as an excuse by many companies to usher in a card only payment scheme.
We have an ageing population, many of whom do not have or trust debit cards. They draw their pension as cash.
If a business is card only it should show clearly so people wouldn't go to till with cash
I think it is wrong for shops to refuse cash payments especially when it is such a small amount, I would've been tempted to accidentally drop the plants on the floor and walked out.
I think the businesses who don't accept cash as a payment method already make it more than clear. Businesses are quite entitled to decide what payment will be accepted. Just as customers can decide which stores they use.
It's my guess that it won't be too long before cash payments will become almost a thing of the past.
I rarely use cash now so it's not an issue for me, but I don't understand why a business would refuse cash or any payment alternatives. Surely the more payment types you accept = more business? In a time when businesses are struggling it doesn't make sense to me to decline any type of payments 
I honestly think it’s wrong to refuse cash. I have witnessed a few stores refusing cash and that caused some distress to those involved. Some were elderly and they have to ask a relative or a carer to help them with cash machine and other technology.As a society we need to understand that modernisation is good but not everyone understands it , we need to support and offer alternatives to those who can’t afford or understand technology.
It depends, we have a bakery where I live there clearly states before you go in, no entry without a mask and they only accept contact less payment. So, you can choose to shop there or not.
Although I do think it's discriminatory, as angelik says for some people cash is the only option.
Quite a few bus companies were encouraging cashless at the height of the pandemic, and most probably still are. Stagecoach in particular had a rule where they would accept cash - but not give change - it was donated to nominated charities instead. They did widely publicise this but there will always be some passengers who were not aware. I dont think I have used any cash this year!
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