2022: The Year That Many Brits Learnt to Love Cash Again | Small slivers of hope in the Global War on Cash.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/2023-the-year-that-brits-learnt-to-love-cash-again.html
However it may seem, the title of this article does not include a typo. It mentions the year 2022, not 2023, for the simple reason that the publication of data on payment habits in the UK has roughly a one-year lag. As such, it wasn’t until late 2023 that it became apparent that the use of cash had rebounded in 2022, for the first time in ten years. This is potentially an important trend reversal. ...
Another data point, along with the war on ULEZ cameras, that show Brits are feeling the sand in their pants. (And, apparently, the Swiss and the Spanish, who are also mentioned as seeing a jump in cash transactions).
Cash useage had gone from around 60% of payments in the the 2010s to a low of 15% in 2021 at the height of the covid-induced "contactless payment" thrill, but has now risen by 7% to 22%. Another measure pegs it at 19%.
A consortium of large retailers, big banks, and payment companies issued a report calling this "still fairly minimal", but these all have a bias towards electronic payments anyway so it may be a bit of whistling in the dark.
Reasons for the jump are proposed, including a return to "cash envelope budgeting" due to rising inflation, but they also allude indirectly that some fraction of this may be deliberate rebellion:
... This raises a key point: cash use is reboundind despite the concerted efforts by the government, banks and retailers to limit its use, which I believe makes this trend reversal all the more impressive. ...
The EU stepped in and forbade Slovakia and Austria from enacting laws to protect the use of cash, saying that they would require EU permission to do so!!!
... It is a reminder that while small but key victories have been achieved in defence of cash this year, the global war against physical money continues unabated.
I've deliberately upped my use of cash and cheques significantly purely as a rebellious gesture and many on GAW seem to have done so as well.
Spreading the word about the joys of cash can be done indirectly by simply praising how "quick and easy" cash is whenever someone in line ahead of you in the grocery store is having tap or PIN problems (which is remarkably often, actually).
Paying in cash is not only an act of rebellion, it is entertaining to watch the colored hair, shrapnel encrusted, tatted public school graduates make change.
I do it for sport, humiliating them when able to correct the amount I received.
Shrapnel encrusted…😁
It's the Drambuie typing.
I followed Catherine Austin Fitts call for cash Fridays. I would go to the ATM once a week and withdraw cash for local shopping. Then she called for cash everyday. I found that there were local businesses that would give me a discount for using cash. But the best was - I would take whatever cash I had left over for the week and put it in a pencil box. I saved up to about $7000.00 after about a year. Whenever I needed money for an emergency, I would withdraw from that pile of money. It's a habit and I have found it to be very useful. I also buy more locally than online. This has kept my spending down.
If you think about it, one reason a lot of people got away from cash was because no one wanted to carry around a lot of money in their pocket.
The more inflation rises, the more money you are forced to carry.
The more money that's in your pocket, the more you become a target for theft and bodily injury.
The harder times get, the more desperate/greedy people get for money, so the more willing they become to steal.
One has to wonder whether the DS didn't have this all carefully planned out.
The only time I use a CC is for online purchases. All of my local transactions are done strictly in cash, even gas, which requires paying up front then making another trip inside to get my change. Cash is king.💰