When I first opened my bar five years ago every other person asked whether we accepted cards, and at the beginning of the year - even before any COVID-19 complications - almost as many people were asking whether we accepted cash! Sometimes it felt like we were the last hospitality business in the area to still take it. We were on maybe 80% card/phone payments anyway, up from about 33% in 2015. I reckon the pandemic might be a significant nail in the coffin for a cash economy - a lot of places won't go back from card-only.
Not that I’ve been out in ages but I only use cash on a night out. Never have any on me at other times but I like to have a good idea of what I am spending on a night out.
Badly I would think. I simply don't have cash on me anymore. And, of course, can't go out anywhere. I used be out a lot and I used to regularly give money to homeless people. Now I don't.
It used to be finding (a hard task) and then checking the wallet, usually contained £20 in loose change but no notes... and a feeling of dread. now it’s checking the bank and finding out you tapped 27 times but have no recollection of 20 of them!
Saturday nights in particular used to absolutely hammer my pound coins and five pound notes. A lot of people would buy five or six rounds of maybe £6-12 over an evening and pay with one big note every single time. I never knew what they did with all the change! Interestingly (perhaps), since we've been doing table service most people have paid for their whole session by card at the end. It's fascinating when people express disbelief or demand an itemised bill because they think it's too high. £70, say, does seem like a huge amount of money to pay in a pub, but none of them would have an issue with spending £17-18 over the course of a few hours at the bar, and that's pretty much a round apiece for four people.
Its pub rule No 293: never, ever under any circumstances copper up at the bar. Always whip out a note that covers it. Carry loose change home.
I use mainly finger print access for my phone, but also face and iris recognition. When outside in bad weather, the fingerprint option is very dodgy if either my finger or the phone gets wet. Can't type in a code reliably in heavy rain either, but face recognition works perfectly. Can't remember last time I used cash.
Google pay works as long as the phone is unlocked so just before you get to till unlock using finger print or PIN and job done. Been using mine during lockdown no issues