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Tesco are making moves to (a) stop using cash and (b) get rid of all till staff.
When/if they do that, I will try to find an alternative place to buy my groceries.
Carl Vernon briefly discusses it here:
 
A few weeks ago, I went into my branch to do a cashpoint withdrawal to see the staff fearfully huddled inside by the entrance wondering what was going on. Their system was down and this was on a saturday afternoon. Luckily. I always keep a cash float in the wallet PRECISELY for this reason. Others were left embarrassed and crushed at the tills up and down the country.

Anyone who works in tech has a lower opinion of the efficiency of it to work without fail, I find.
 
It's illegal in some states, and in New York City to refuse cash payments at normal retail establishments. I like that.

On the other hand, I've noticed banks have recently been acting odd about cash payments, requiring ID and refusing to allow you to pay someone else's debts with cash.
 
Whinged last week about treking up to the CBA atms only to find they didn't work.
The same thing happened today.
They removed all their atms from inside the centre awhile back and now it costs $2.50 if you use Armaguard or the Aust post ones.
There was something on the news about banks increasing the cost of using eftpos. They give no interest and want to charge you for using your own money.
 
Whinged last week about treking up to the CBA atms only to find they didn't work.
The same thing happened today.
They removed all their atms from inside the centre awhile back and now it costs $2.50 if you use Armaguard or the Aust post ones.
There was something on the news about banks increasing the cost of using eftpos. They give no interest and want to charge you for using your own money.
In the UK there is a private cash mashine company, 'link' which operates a lot of the machines in convenience stores, they usually charge £1.50 per transaction, but most cash machines are free to withdraw cash at present.
 
A few weeks ago, I went into my branch to do a cashpoint withdrawal to see the staff fearfully huddled inside by the entrance wondering what was going on. Their system was down and this was on a saturday afternoon. Luckily. I always keep a cash float in the wallet PRECISELY for this reason. Others were left embarrassed and crushed at the tills up and down the country.

Anyone who works in tech has a lower opinion of the efficiency of it to work without fail, I find.
Yes - Sainsbury's card system crashed on Wednesday afternoon for a few hours, and they could only accept cash. I had to limit my shop (it was only an on-the-way-home top up) as I only tend to carry a tenner on me for emergencies these days.
 
Tesco are making moves to (a) stop using cash and (b) get rid of all till staff.
When/if they do that, I will try to find an alternative place to buy my groceries.
Carl Vernon briefly discusses it here:

I've noticed this, smaller Tesco have card only self service tills (self service tills are bad enough as it is) and my local big Tesco are now card only for self service as well, as is the pharmacy and staff on tills are being made to "encourage" customers to pay with a card. Fuck Tesco.

There's one of those Amazon Fresh abominations in Camden now and I dare say there's a few more about London.

We will be soon all be assimilated...
 
I've noticed this, smaller Tesco have card only self service tills (self service tills are bad enough as it is) and my local big Tesco are now card only for self service as well, as is the pharmacy and staff on tills are being made to "encourage" customers to pay with a card. Fuck Tesco.

There's one of those Amazon Fresh abominations in Camden now and I dare say there's a few more about London.

We will be soon all be assimilated...
The Tesco Metro in my local town only takes cash at the cigerette kiosk and there is always a big queue.
 
There are moves in many outlets to gradually phase out tobacco sales, much in the same way as they have fireworks. Most of the tobacco counters are getting smaller year on year (licensing means they have to sell lottery tickets and stamps from the same 'restricted' areas so they won't close them.) One of our local corner shops has stopped selling tobacco products altogether now because he said demand was minimal, he made no money on it and having to keep them on the premises added to his insurance (they're far more easily stolen and fenced than booze, which he still sells.)
 
The Tesco Metro in my local town only takes cash at the cigerette kiosk and there is always a big queue.

That's the till I'd use if it was at all possible/practical. I've been in a few small Tesco stores where self service is card only and there was a queue for the one manned actual till and no one using self service. There may have been all sorts of reasons for this - wanting to use cash, wanting to be served by a person, wanting a person to actually have a job serving people, or simply wanting something from behind the counter (booze, fags, medicine etc), whatever reason it was a stark reminder of what gets forced on us from on high.
 
There are moves in many outlets to gradually phase out tobacco sales, much in the same way as they have fireworks. Most of the tobacco counters are getting smaller year on year (licensing means they have to sell lottery tickets and stamps from the same 'restricted' areas so they won't close them.) One of our local corner shops has stopped selling tobacco products altogether now because he said demand was minimal, he made no money on it and having to keep them on the premises added to his insurance (they're far more easily stolen and fenced than booze, which he still sells.)

I've been in my local shop - big(ish) independent corner shop that is well and widely stocked, when someone is buying fags - they are behind blank sliding doors behind the counter. I was shocked at the sheer amount and variety of fags they sell, even now, although I relatively rarely see people buying them. I was also shocked at the price - I think a bloke paid £10ish for 20, no idea which brand, that would be £10-20 a day for many people...
 
I've been in my local shop - big(ish) independent corner shop that is well and widely stocked, when someone is buying fags - they are behind blank sliding doors behind the counter. I was shocked at the sheer amount and variety of fags they sell, even now, although I relatively rarely see people buying them. I was also shocked at the price - I think a bloke paid £10ish for 20, no idea which brand, that would be £10-20 a day for many people...
AND THATS HOW MUCH A SMOKER WOULD SAVE IF THEY'RE BRAVE ENOUGH TO RID THEMSELVES OF THE HABIT ALTOGETHER!
 
I've been in my local shop - big(ish) independent corner shop that is well and widely stocked, when someone is buying fags - they are behind blank sliding doors behind the counter. I was shocked at the sheer amount and variety of fags they sell, even now, although I relatively rarely see people buying them. I was also shocked at the price - I think a bloke paid £10ish for 20, no idea which brand, that would be £10-20 a day for many people...
That is why i smoke roll-ups, i buy a 50g pouch for £20 and that lasts me a month, many years ago i used to smoke at least a pack of b&h a day, these days that would cost me £13.30 per pack
 
That is why i smoke roll-ups, i buy a 50g pouch for £20 and that lasts me a month
Hmm... I too smoked ~ finished up on roll-ups, then I packed it up - after I had a Heart attack, a bad one, and survived after receiving two lots of CPR in the back of an ambulance.
It really is/was a fools 'habit.' Far better to save the stupid expense and nagging desire to smoke and use it for something which can be for better benefit to the person!
 
I was also shocked at the price - I think a bloke paid £10ish for 20, no idea which brand,
..which is why they're so lucrative on the black market. 200 will cost you £100 in a shop, £50-75 under the table in the pub. A holdall full of nicked multipacks will be worth £1000 of pure profit. A van-full represents half a million quid's worth. Compared with fake or stolen booze it's ten times as efficient.
 
..which is why they're so lucrative on the black market. 200 will cost you £100 in a shop, £50-75 under the table in the pub. A holdall full of nicked multipacks will be worth £1000 of pure profit. A van-full represents half a million quid's worth. Compared with fake or stolen booze it's ten times as efficient.

Yeah, I know a guy who is a light smoker (maybe 10 a day, not every day) who could get packs of 20 under the counter from his local shop for £5, this is in central London. These are smuggled rather than stolen - I forget where the owners are from but they get them for cheap from their country and sell them to "selected customers" at the shop. I was in another shop the other day and a guy came in and bought a single fag in the same manner. Which was slightly surreal.
 
Hmm... I too smoked ~ finished up on roll-ups, then I packed it up - after I had a Heart attack, a bad one, and survived after receiving two lots of CPR in the back of an ambulance.
It really is/was a fools 'habit.' Far better to save the stupid expense and nagging desire to smoke and use it for something which can be for better benefit to the person!

Good for you, I would spend it on one of those 1000 piece Lego Death Stars.
 
Yeah, I know a guy who is a light smoker (maybe 10 a day, not every day) who could get packs of 20 under the counter from his local shop for £5, this is in central London. These are smuggled rather than stolen - I forget where the owners are from but they get them for cheap from their country and sell them to "selected customers" at the shop. I was in another shop the other day and a guy came in and bought a single fag in the same manner. Which was slightly surreal.
There was a shop where i used to live where you could buy cheap imported cigs under the counter if you knew the code word (you had to ask for blue biscuits)
 
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There was a shop whete i used to live whete you could buy cheap imported cigs under the counter if you knew the code word (you had to ask for blue biscuits)

Fucking hell, couldn't they have found a more subtle password? If I heard that I'd assume people were buying Class A drugs.
 
The internet was down on Friday (18th) in this valley. Only those of us with cash able to shop for fresh items.

It's not the first time this has happened, a couple of years ago it was out for four days at the height of the holiday season.
 
So if there isn't cash, what happens if, like Friday in this valley) the internet goes down.

It's not the first time this has happened, a couple of years ago it was out for four days at the height of the holiday season.
There in lays the problem with a cashless society, its all well and good having the app on your phone working, or your debit card operational, but these systems require an electronic, computer based system at the other end to be working, id like to see what happens when the electricity or computer system goes down in one of these cashless Amazon shops.
 
I still have to use cash once a week - to pay my subs to the cricket team's treasurer after each game.
He was most miffed to find the the pub we go after playing refuses cash, but he still insists on folding stuff only for subs.
Problem is, there are fewer cashpoint machines around and the ones still functional often only dispense £20 notes, so getting change can be problematical. I ended up handing over my £20 for 4 weeks subs, as no-one had any fivers and someone else nabbed a tenner as change.
 
There in lays the problem with a cashless society, its all well and good having the app on your phone working, or your debit card operational, but these systems require an electronic, computer based system at the other end to be working, id like to see what happens when the electricity or computer system goes down in one of these cashless Amazon shops.
Probably won't be long until a teenage hacker from (insert country/city etc) brings everything to a standstill, just for a laugh. Or someone with more sinister motives.
 
You all know that modern cash tills work on registering transactions via the internet, right? And they use electricity to power them. So if there is a major disaster then cash will only be used as a barter system between private people. Shops can't process or bank it if the internet goes down.

Maybe your local corner shop could as they are probably cooking the books anyway and not logging all cash transactions anyway.

Card payments can be stored loclally and processed even if the internet goes down (on some systems). When the internet is back on, they uploads all the stored transactions.

Sweden is 90% cashless but we also have lots of different systems in place to make it easy, simple and safe for people to pay electronically.
 
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