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It has been a bad few weeks for the cashless brigade.
First, Sainsbury’s payment system went down on March 16, causing chaos at the tills as contactless users were forced to abandon their weekly shop. Later that same day Tesco was hit, sending shoppers fleeing to nearby cash points.
The next week it was Greggs’s turn to close branches and put out “cash only” signs, after it too suffered a technical meltdown.
In fact, far from being unique, the software glitches that beset some of Britain’s biggest retailers this spring are fairly commonplace.
For years, companies like Tesco have been making it harder for customers to pay by cash, tearing out manned tills and slapping “card only” signs over most of their self-scanning ones.
Other businesses have removed the option to pay with physical money all together.
It’s why I have made the switch back to cash. I’m sick of giving money to businesses that are happy to discriminate against millions of people by accepting cashless-only payments.
One in five older people rely almost exclusively on cash to survive, according to Age UK, but it’s not just the elderly who are being excluded by cashless policies.
As an Age UK report said: “Many people with health conditions, disability and dexterity issues find paying with cash much easier than paying with a bank card or smartphone.
“Being cut off from cash and banking services is tantamount to being excluded from society, and is a risk for many more of us than is often assumed.”
Yet, while the Swedish, Norwegian and Irish governments have all announced plans to protect cash payments, our Government shows no sign of acting.
It has allowed almost half of bank branches to close in the past decade, refusing to use the regulatory powers available to it to prevent entire towns from being “de-banked”.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the Government and Bank of England are pushing ahead with plans for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the so-called Britcoin, which MPs have warned could pose risks to the UK’s financial stability if not managed carefully.
It’s not clear why we need a Britcoin, but the Bank has admitted that this digital alternative to physical money could be “programmable”, meaning future governments could limit what you’re allowed to spend your own money on – and when.
We saw last year how the banking system was weaponised by Britain’s liberal elite against those it dislikes, with the debanking of Nigel Farage.
Meanwhile in 2022, PayPal, the digital payment provider, not only closed the account of Telegraph columnist Toby Young, but said it would soon begin fining customers for voicing opinions it didn’t like too.
Though subsequently dropped, the draft policy, which covered everything from misogyny to speaking out against vaccine mandates, would have seen customers fined roughly £2,250 for each “violation”. PayPal reinstated Mr Young’s account and apologised for “any inconvenience caused”.
However, these incidents should act as a wake-up call to the dangers of a cashless society.
How I fell back in love with cash
Unlike other countries’ leaders, ours have done nothing to stop the march to card-only