How do you pay?

[Gemini]

I was wondering how people pay for shopping, meals out etc these days?

Since the pandemic I use my card so much more than I used to. I do try to use cash again for smaller items now, but the card is so easy. The cafe at the leisure centre only takes card payments, so even for a couple of coffees the card must be used.
I do pay the window cleaner in cash.

My DDs generally just wave their phone about to pay!
I do online banking on my laptop but for some reason I don't trust that on my phone.
I presume I would have to have the App to pay

The modern world moves on and we have to move on with it, but I don't feel ready for letting my phone pay

[Daisy]

Gem, I agree. I don't trust my phone to do my banking. Apart from anything else if you lose your phone it would be an extra worry. Scammers are so clever these days.

I always try to use cash for small payments and in small local shops - the fees they get charged by the card providers have shot up massively, and that comes out of their profits when they are already struggling to survive against the retail giants.

We pay the window cleaner in cash as well. Mostly I use my credit card but use my debit card for small amounts, mainly just to keep it active.

I sometimes wonder how my Mum would have coped with modern non-cash payments. She never quite mastered decimal currency, couldn't use a cheque book or a bank account and would have been totally mystified by paying things like utility bills online. Today's world is a far cry from little pots of money for regular outgoings.

[Plantaholic]

I don’t use my phone paying for things, mainly my cards but I do on0line banking on my IPad. I like to have a reasonable amount of cash. My hairdresser likes cash and I like to give presents of cash for birthdays etc, cheques are not the same.

[Oma]

Nope Cash all the way for me ,
I only ever use my card if I have no other choice or if I’m buying online
B does online banking though .
I have used my phone once to pay but I prefer Cash ,
A lot of small shops like to be paid cash to avoid the fees as Daisy said.

[Lizzie48]

Daisy and Gem, they do say that banking via the phone is the safest way to do it. I pay 99% that way, most people do here, if we pay with our bank cards in the shops we often have to use the pin, they can easily be seen by other people, the elderly bond here, advice to pay with the phone. That is part of the group where I do the coffee, I hear all the tips etc.

I did need cash this morning for my bargain hunting in the village!

[Plantaholic]

I don’t always remember to charge my phone, very annoying but the family know that.

[Daisy]

Lizzie, the group where you make coffee is a great place for tips on all sorts of things.

Oma, my OH does online banking as well. He hates it but there's not much option these days, especially as our nearest branch is so far away we'd need to take a picnic lunch to visit it!

Plant, my OH has finally got into a routine for charging his phone by leaving it on the wireless charger in the hall when he's at home. This doesn't work very well, though, as most of the time he's not close enough to hear it, let alone answer it in time.

[Clover]

I do on line banking on my I-pad and mostly use cards for largish shopping. The other day I confused the young lady on the till in Tesco cafe by giving her a ten pound note and a ten pence coin for a charge of five pounds and ten pence!

[Daisy]

Clover, it seems unbelievable that someone working in a shop and handling money all day can be thrown by something like that. I think they mostly rely on the till telling them how much change to give, so don't have to think about it.

[Lizzie48]

It is the same here, if you gave them something to make it easier it just baffles most, they get to see what they need to return, then can't work it out, I expect with so little cash floating around here they don't bother.

[Oma]

I have stopped doing that it just confuses them, it’s not like in our day when you had to work it out yourself , the till tells them everything they need to do .
God help them if they need to work out the maths in their heads😁

[Daisy]

Oma, I'm not great at any kind of mental arithmetic, but these days, as you say, the till does it all for them.

[Gemini]

I have had the same experience. You think you are making it easy offering them the change to round it up, but it just confuses them!

[Sum1Ls]

I use my card for everything and have a direct debit each month to pay it all off. I’ve never in fifty years got into debt. However, I don’t do online banking. That’s because I don’t trust myself to get it right.

I have a real problem with numbers, they jump about in my brain and I frequently record them incorrectly. I understand the maths but I can’t seem to write strings of numbers down. It’s taken me twenty years to remember my mobile number and I know that if I make a mistake it’s would be me who would be liable. So it’s the card or a cheque if a card isn’t possible.

[Gemini]

I have to double and triple check any series of numbers Sum as I don't trust myself to get them in the right order.