Until the time comes when everybody has their own card-reader, the only way to pay for 'treasure' at boot sales is with good old cash and preferably £1 and 50p coins.
It used to be easy to walk into a bank with a £20 note and ask for a bag of £ coins. Luckily it is still possible in Stowmarket but they have to open a desk which aren't regularly manned (or womaned!), pay the £20 note into your account, put your card into their card reader, tap in your pin number (once you've found your glasses) before they almost reluctantly hand over the coins.
To save having to do this I still use cash - notes from the ATM's - to pay for things in most shops and then hang onto the £1's and 50p coins for the boot sales. The only problem is that I end up with a purse full of much smaller loose change which gets heavy, so I regularly empty it into my change tin.
It can be difficult to get hold of cash these days. The last time I tried to get some coins at the bank, they didn't have any!
ReplyDeleteNot everybody wants to use a credit card, or Internet banking. I think it is important that we still have cash
ReplyDeleteApparently the problem of children brought to A and E because they have swallowed a coin has dramatically reduced over recent years... but I agree, we still need cash.
ReplyDeleteI keep using cash for some transactions and I like to keep some in my purse and an emergency note in the glove box of the car. Old fashioned I expect but it has been very useful on occasion.
ReplyDeletePenny
Cash is king at carboot sales. Long may it be so. It's worth collecting coins in a piggy bank or bucket. Shops are always grateful for loose change or bruss the old people call it here in West Cork.
ReplyDeleteSince covid cash has virtually disappeared from my life. Maybe I should go to more carboot sales, experience a nostalgia handlinf coins. Even our laundromats now work on an APP which you pay into (or 'load') from E-banking.
ReplyDeleteMy husband sometimes helps out in a small shop belonging to a friend and she is often short of 'shrapnel', so he usually takes in some bags of change when he goes in and she changes them for notes.
ReplyDeleteHello there
ReplyDeleteWell, It’s amazing how a jar of loose change can feel like a little bonus payday. Your boot sale strategy is clever and now you’ve got £32 to play with, all from coins you barely noticed saving
It does add up quite satisfyingly doesn't it. I'm using my small change to pay for any shopping I need this month, thank goodness for the self-serve checkouts, I'd hate to be handing it over to a person on the till.
ReplyDeleteNo loose change in our house - if I have money in my purse I spend it…..so it’s better in the bank. Years ago when we did save ‘left overs’ in a piggy bank we’d never really benefit because we’d always be raiding it rather than change a note.
ReplyDeleteI rarely go shopping and can't remember the last time I used cash for anything. Coin collections soon mount up.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that getting change was such a palaver these days
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
I always try to empty my small change into a piggy bank and just save the quarters for parking meters! Many meters now have Apps for payment, which is good if you have no change but annoying if you are late, have to download and set it up with a credit card. The hours are often different depending on where you are - most meters stop at 6 pm but some in Boston require payment until 8 pm, which is very annoying if you can't read the fine print.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the last time I used cash. I have a bit around but that coin wrapping to take to the bank is history.
ReplyDeleteI’ve started collecting coins for my stall at a Christmas Fayre. I don’t have a card reader so need to be prepared in advance. I have nowhere I can get change so usually ask my husband to get it from the treasurer at the Men’s Shed as they pay weekly in cash. Catriona
ReplyDeleteWe do the same here. Our change is dropped into a jar. Every so often, we dump it out and wrap it for the bank. Back in the early days when we struggled, those jars of change saved our bacon a few times.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I mostly avoid cash -- modern banks just aren't equipped to take spare change, which isn't easily dealt with. But I can see how you'd need it for boot sales. At least you have an outlet to spend it!
ReplyDeleteRemember those huge half crowns and grubby pennies (a few dating back to Queen Victoria's reign) and the orange 10/- note. Who could have imagined in our childhood that coins would become a problem , even a nuisance. Roderick
ReplyDeleteI know of only one bank that has a coin reader available for account holders by appointment, one day a week. I have taken a coffee can and a pottery bowl filled with US coins and poured them into the reader and a teller provides cash. It's a nice service with a small charge.
ReplyDeleteI go to a gas station that provides a discount for cash payment. I'm at the gas station weekly and then monthly for the John Deere. The gas station operates like a dinosaur. They even provide treats for the dogs sitting in the backseat. My Caesar loves going to the gas station.
My debit card never leaves the house. I do all of my food shopping with cash, fuel, haircuts, vets, any bills I can pay at the PO. I do have a few unavoidable direct debits. At the dentist last week, I knew they wouldn’t have change because they never do, so I make sure I have every denomination so that I can give them the correct money. Laugh at me if you like but we’ll all be in a pretty pickle when every penny we spend is digital and trackable.
ReplyDeleteAnna.
I was glad of cash today to pay for car parking at Matlock Bath. Lots of people trying to pay on their phones via an app. I just waltzed by and shoved the coins in the machine, job done. Fortunately I had plenty as granddaughter wanted to go to the amusement arcade, not my idea of fun, but it kept her occupied for an hour. Xx
ReplyDeleteMany thanks everyone above for comments and apologies for not replying to everyone.
ReplyDeleteCoins are useful for car parks too, when people use the app and card to pay at the carpark in town it often takes ages or doesn't work - cash is useful then.
My experience is that the Post Office branches are a lot more cash friendly than bank branches.
ReplyDeletethe malarkey surrounding cash is getting beyond. my relative could not pay cash into a cousin's bank account simply because she banked elsewhere. They would only accept a cheque!!!
ReplyDeletevisitors to my home area are dumfounded because so many of our small business still accept cash, in fact they prefer it to card payments. at least with cash you know where you are, and you can pay for goods when the card systems fail miserably.
I drop my change into jars and then just before we go to the family reunion, roll it all up, take it to the bank and get the cash. It usually pays for the food and any silent Auction items we bid on. Sometimes it even pays for the cabin rental.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.