Middle finger up to "Cashless Society"

[Kenj]

Just been to the supermarket and before going in SWMBO went to the multi-bank cash money machine in the foyer. she was second in the queue and it worked well for the person in front. When SWMBO put her card in it gobbled it up. Management at the Supermarket it was nothing to do with them but said the machine had been playing up since before Christmas and the service people had been quite a few times to sort it out but the problem kept re-occurring and pissing users off! I rang the bank lost card service and cancelled the card.

Grrrr..... makes one think of going into a bank and drawing out cash once a week. Probably can only do that when you can find a bank, who mostly seemed to have disappeared during that huge banking tsunami of recent years where all the banks were swept away, never to be seen again.

Luckily for us, we bank with the TSB who still have branches open so will go and see them (quicker than having one posted these days) and maybe have to enter into a discussion with them if they try and charge me for a new card.

We are so lucky to have some excitement in our mundane elderly persons lifestyle. This sort of thing perks the mind up and now I won't feel too sad about going to bed at my usual time of 8.30pm tonight instead of going out to see the New Year in.

Ken

[zqwerty]

Yes the money machine at my Supermarket has been on and off faulty for months now.

ANZ bank St Marins ChCh, so over it.

As you say the staff in the Supermarket say they have no control over it, not their responsibility to phone ANZ and let them know it's faulty again.

[driftwood]

I havent been near a cash machine or a bank for over 5 years.
What do you old farts need cash for anyway ?

[Kenj]

Old Farts? You young Whippersnapper. That will be enough of that sort of talk!!

Ken 

[king1]

I havent been near a cash machine or a bank for over 5 years.
What do you old farts need cash for anyway ?

to pay for their 'medical' marijuana maybe?

[Outsider]

I havent been near a cash machine or a bank for over 5 years.
What do you old farts need cash for anyway ?

Neither have I - and I'm an old fart of 75!

[Olive]

Why not use Eftpos or a credit card? Why do you need cash for legal transactions?

[Garysixtyseven]

In this town there are 2 currencies used by locals Cash or Alcohol anything else is just for shopping, services are paid with those first two.

No bank here the nearest is an hour away in Amberley, we have a smart machine instead where you can bank cash and withdraw cash too but of course it has to be working first which is a rare thing.

Nothing wrong with paying in cash we do so regularly.

[king1]

Why not use Eftpos or a credit card?  Why do you need cash for legal transactions?

Well in the OPs case the answer to your question was that the eftpos failed him and caused inconvenience, so probably understandable his position.  Cash is legal tender so why not? it's up to the individual, not everyone with cash is a drug dealer...

For my part I see it as money is too easy to spend nowadays, just by waving a card or phone at a machine.  I kind of feel like it makes impulse purchasing too easy, and easier to ignore the consequences of spending those dollars in the moment.  When you are handing over the folding type you have a very real connection to those dollars you earned...

[allblack]

I pay cash at the local Maccas so the transactions don't show on my bank statements if I wanna get a loan....when I do the staff look at me like I'm something that needs scraping off their shoes.

It's just another function they can do without I guess.

[Olive]

It doesn't read to me that the failure was Eftpos in the supermarket, more that it was an ATM that swallowed the card. i don't see the point of getting cash to spend at a supermarket when every supermarket accepts Eftpos, and surely impulse spending is limited by the balance in the account. i agree that credit cards can allow people to overspend.

[Kenj]

Why not use Eftpos or a credit card?  Why do you need cash for legal transactions?

I hope you don't use EFTPOS for your illegal transactions.

Ken   

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I sold something nice for a small wodge of real money, and tried to bank it. No banks left round here, lots of machines, but not one of them wanted my money. So I paid cash for everything for a week or so. 

Quite reminded me of the old days...

Blardy banks. To think I worked for those sods for all those years too...

[zkted]

Never bothered with cash for years, I think its only used now days to pay your drug dealer.

[king1]

Cash is still very much in use, not heavily but still used, and not just by drug dealers

The 2021 survey is the third in a series, following on from 2017 and 2019 (available below). The key findings from this survey are:

• The use of cash as a way to pay for everyday things has declined sharply. In 2019, 96% of New Zealanders used cash as one of the ways they pay for everyday things, this had reduced to 63% in 2021.
  
• 40% of people who use cash do so less than twice a week.
  
• The proportion of heavy cash users declined to 2% in 2021 from 5% in 2017.
  
• The main reason for people who report using cash as a way to pay is because the shop/stall only accepts cash. For 42% of Māori one of the reasons they use cash is for cultural reasons (such as Koha and gifting) compared to 24% for non-Māori.
  
• 91% of people who report using cash use an ATM as one way of getting cash out, but only nine percent use a teller at a bank.
  
• 8% of cash users find it somewhat difficult or very difficult to get cash out while 24 percent said the same about depositing cash.
  
• Between 2017 and 2021 the proportion of New Zealanders storing cash (and not for immediate use) rose from 38% to 46%.
  
• There are significant differences between Māori and non-Māori when it comes to cash use. Cash is the preferred way to pay for 22% of Māori compared to 12% for non-Māori.
  
• Rural New Zealanders are more likely to be concerned about a reduction in cash use within society compared to those living in urban areas.
  

https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/money-and-cash/...-resources

[R2x1]

I suppose cash is OK if you like that sort of thing, I used to use it quite a bit, but I haven't seen a lot of point in the stuff these days. For instance, filling a car with fuel lately for cash results in a gross weight reduction after fuel and bucks get exchanged. That's just discouraging, with my first new house purchase we paid the first 75% as a cash deal. Lately, I expect the rates on that property (in Wainuiomata) are more than that, so cash is pretty tedious these days especially if the entity you're dealing with doesn't have coin counting machines on all the teller positions. Even buses won't accept cash around here.

(The thought of having a pocketful of pictures of a royal charlie is not all that appealing either).

[piroska]

None of us here have used cash in  years. Except once, Kenj, had to bring $50....to someone.

Why? Everywhere uses efptpos these days, even our lawn man, we pay him online, he's quite happy with that arrangement, and had given us his account number so we could if we wished to skip the old school cash thing.

Can't think of a reason for carrying about wads of paper, or worse, those metal tokens. And if you lose the stuff, or it's taken off you, you're out of luck. Cards on the other hand, you're safe.

---

I pay cash at the local Maccas so the transactions don't show on my bank statements if I wanna get a loan...

And you think the bank doesn't look at all those cash withdrawals? They do, they know that's not a bill or anything, so it counts as frivolous spending.

[Kenj]

I am a thoroughly modern "Old Fart" who pays for everything online, EFTPOS & Credit card. As Piroska said, it is only special needs where one needs cash which was why SWMBO was trying to extract some from the damned machine. As for paying for illegal stuff, never done drugs but I'm sure if I did desire a bit of wacky baccy, no one should object to an 80 year old bloke needing a bit of peace and pain relief.

[Oldfellah]

I haven't used cash for ages, have even forgotten what it looks like , Credit Card, Eftpos or online thats how I spend my meager savings 

[Wainuitech]

Personally dont like cash. In my work, its a LOT easier to simply pull out the Mobile eftpos machine, swipe the card - Done.

Its a PITA having to find banks that are actually open when people pay in cash. ANZ in Petone at one stage were closed Mondays and Fridays, dont know if its still the same, and going to lower Hutt -- Damn nightmare.

Having mobile eftpos saves a lot of troubles with people saying They pay by internet - either standing about while they fumble about trying to remember details, or saying they will pay it later that night then you have to chase them for weeks for payment, as more urgent bills have come in.