Our new Phones.

[Les.]

The pace (lack of)  of life over here is great, sensible.  I use cheques, but mostly cash. On the odd occasion i don’t have enough cash, and the cheque book is refused, out comes the card. That is so rare that I have my pin number written in code on the back. The code is imprinted on my mind since about 1965 (used by a wholesale/retail shop for all pricing), but the pin is so rarely used that I do not always remember it.

We don’t bother about a queue at the till, we have all day. Festina lente.

After all, I have been retired a long time. You would not think retired if you saw the jobs Tamara has lined up for me!

Les.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Paying the credit card is another thing my phone is used for. As my card is with my bank its just a couple of clicks in their online banking app. Paying a card from another bank would only be a matter of setting them up as a payee first.

I still get a paper statement though so I am reminded to pay. Somehow an email asking for payment isn’t the same as a demand by post ?

[The Duke]

Cash is The bain of my life atm, I’m banking about 4k a week and I have to feed it into a daft machine. Add to that olfd notes 20 and 50s often get refused as they have mimi folds or tears. And thd new notes 5 and 10s are just a pita, as once folded they will neve sit flat in a till, and act a springs to fire a Teh note out of the till.

Roll on killing cash off. Woudl save me an hour a week stood in the bank, holding people up, and listening to them tuting each time I pull anther bundle of 50 notes, (as that’s the max limit) pita.

[Richard]

Like many conversations this one wanders  across many topics, but I suggest that shows the range of different life experiences and situations we all face. For me, most car parks demand cash so cashless is not a sensible option from that point of view. I can also see Steve’s point of view, cash is a pain and since I worked as a bank cashier about 55 years years ago I can speak with feeling. It was a busy bank branch with up to 14 or more cashiers but it was nothing odd to put over £50,000 through just my till in a day. Back then it was pound notes ten shilling notes, fives, tens and sometime perhaps £50s plus all the different coins. There was hell to pay if you were a halfpenny out. Back then £50,000 was a sizeable wedge of money. Very rapidly I learned to run the till for me and do it my way, after that my throughput went up geometrically in both customer numbers and cash terms and the errors ceased. We even had to account for stamp duty on cheques at 2d per cheque…

Steve, what impact would not having the £4,000 per week have on your overall takings and how much would that hit your profit and loss? I trust you have a good safe, (on second thoughts do not answer) and a sound business insurance policy with a good cash insurance limit, including cash in transit.

Would you be able to offer a cash back service under the terms of your trader’s arrangements with the banks/card issuers?

All of our accounts are kept on the computer and my mobile is now out of updates. Paper based accounts came first by a long way – more than 45 years, though we have used the computer in parallel for some 15~20 years. A 23 inch screen  is far preferable to a small hand held device when your hands have issues and back problems mean you have to sit down to do anything. Multiple card accounts and several bank accounts shared across two people do not simplify the issue down to a single mobile – though it would always come down to me in practice, it is my PC that does the accounts. Paper statements are reconciled with the computer records prior to settlement.

Bob’s experience of his two Sony devices is interesting, I have yet to be able to answer a call on my Moto 4G Play unless I use an earpiece with a single button push answering capability. Whether a better, newer phone would tempt me I am not sure. My wife uses the map function on her far more powerful Samsung, I did explore tethering my mobile to the new car’s satellite navigation system to get traffic updates, but is takes a fair old faff about to make the connections plus more time to acquire the specific route data; wife navigation works straight away without messy delays and works in whatever car, and even on foot.

[The Duke]

I’m using a 4g play at work. Still a great phone.

[Tippon]

The Duke wrote:

Roll on killing cash off. Woudl save me an hour a week stood in the bank, holding people up, and listening to them tuting each time I pull anther bundle of 50 notes, (as that’s the max limit) pita.

Can you do a night drop, where you put the paperwork and cash into a sealed bag and drop it into the night safe? It’s been years since I did anything like it, but the work on our end was basically the same, and the bank would sort out their end instead of us.

[The Duke]

I could but at 2 or 3 am, it’s the last thing on my mind. I do in in thr mornings. Sometimes send someone else to do it.

[Bob Williams]

I would not want to be wandering around the streets at 2 or 3 am with a bagful of cash, looking for a bank with a Night Safe!

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Tippon]

Bob Williams wrote:

I would not want to be wandering around the streets at 2 or 3 am with a bagful of cash, looking for a bank with a Night Safe!

Ours was near a takeaway, so I’d tuck the bag under my jacket and walk over with one of the security. We’d drop it off then pick up a load of food for the staff. As the drop off was so quick, any casual observer would just see us going for food for the end of the shift.

[Bob Williams]

Thinking about it Ryan, trying to rob a Scouse ex-RM would be a bit foolish. Especially if he has had a few…?

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[PlaneMan]

I used to wander across Cardiff with up to £30k + in cash in my rucksack when I worked for Lears, (Major bookshop at the time, became part of Blackwells.) That was Christmas time.

I changed into my skateboarding clothes and went out the back door of the Bargain Books shop, over a wall into a multi storey car park and just wandered/skated to the night bank. One year we had over £45k to bank the Saturday before Christmas so that was split between two. We had 2 branches of the bank roughly equal distance away so that helped with randomising movements.

[Dave Rice]

My bank – Santander – only has 2 branches in the Greater Bristol area. Lloyds have 10, Natwest have 10, HSBC 6. This is up to 6 miles out of the centre to include all the suburbs.

Night safes are not an option for most small businesses, there aren’t any close enough. Cash and cheques aren’t wanted.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

<hr />

It would seem that Wembley High Rd is the bank capital of North West London. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Natwest, Santander, HBOS, Nationwide, RBS, Bank of Ireland and a few more. Bank of Yemen or Bank of Baroda anyone ?

[JayCeeDee]

Wheels-Of-Fire wrote:

Bank of Ireland and a few more. Bank of Yemen or Bank of Baroda anyone ?

Those last three probably reflect the local population overview from the last couple of decades.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Cash machines are another thing. Counting convenience stores but not counting in branch machines there are 30 or more within a 10min walk of each other.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Yes they do JCD and along with the safety deposit centre that got robbed a few years ago they also represent doddgy money ?

[Ed P]

The big downside to going completely cashless would be if we finish up living in a country ruled by an evil mendacious clown who takes it upon himself to ‘turn off’ the cash of anyone who opposes or says anything against his rule!

[The Duke]

That is the one massize down side. Everthing is tracked and controllable. You could be cut off in a flick of a switch.

One wouod have to keep euro  yen or even gold as a fall back.

[Author]

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