Arghh.

They had me right up to the last line of the article ….

It is a cashless store, so please take along your credit or debit card.

Dammit.

Oh well. Won't bother then.

In today's spirit of someone being offended and OUTRAGED!! I'm going to make a complaint against them for being clearly cash(ist).

Discrimination against my bank notes will not stand!

“It is a cashless store, so please take along your credit or debit card.” how is this a thing? I mean, isn't it unlawful to not accept cash at a physical store?

Maboof
“It is a cashless store, so please take along your credit or debit card.” how is this a thing? I mean, isn't it unlawful to not accept cash at a physical store?

No. Its illegal not to accept legal tender for a debt. As this is an instantaneous purchase there is no debt.

Separately those selling goods have the right to refuse a transaction for any (or no,) reason. In this case because you want to pay cash.

So essentially they're taking advantage of those two points.

Why would you not want reward points?

The hard part for me is encountering cash-only….

spacein_vader
….
Separately those selling goods have the right to refuse a transaction for any (or no,) reason. In this case because you want to pay cash.

So essentially they're taking advantage of those two points.

Oooh, I gotta jump on that.

While taking the gist of your point, not “any reason”.

Shops are generally not obliged to serve anybody unless the reason they chose not to contravenes a ‘superior’ law.

Try telling a restaurant guest “I won't serve you because you're black”cand see what happens. Or, at least in theory, because they're white.

Or, if you run a guest house, try refusing a couple because it turns out they're two gay men.

See what happens. ;)

But generally, of course, you are quite correct about the principle.

TeePee
Why would you not want reward points?

The hard part for me is encountering cash-only….

Is that generic or asking me?

If the latter, the short answer is that price, at least within the margins of reward point schemes, is not my primary concern. I don't really give a hoot.

lLonger answer is privacy, data grabbing, warehousing, analytics, invasion of privacy, blah, blah.blah.

My ethos is maximising privacy, in so far as it is possible, implies minimisingevery last single data point available about me. Then, if and only if the benefit to me clearly and significantly outweighs that fundamental principle, will I give up that data point.

I want these analytics companies, and their clients, knowing the absolute minimum about me and, preferably, nothing at all. That includes whether I'm nerdy enough to he buying a Pi, or what type of music I buy, what I choose in restaurants or even how often I eat out, and so on, ad nsuseum.

There are benefits to some companies knowing some things about us, not least, credit scoring. But, as I have no debt, cannot think of any reason for wanting credit beyond existing credit card(s), and plan on never applying for loans again (and haven't for, oh, + years) I don't really give a hoot about credit scoring or credit record either. I don't even wsnt a monthly phone contract. Or, for that matter, a mobile phone.

Bagpuss
In today's spirit of someone being offended and OUTRAGED!! I'm going to make a complaint against them for being clearly cash(ist).

Discrimination against my bank notes will not stand!

Don't blame RPI blame the banks!

The only thing that costs me more than cash to process is a PayPal ‘card holder not present’ transaction where the PP fee is greater than our markup on goods in most cases.

Processing cash payments costs me a relative fortune. Our insurance premium is inflated for holding cash on premises. Then their is the transaction fee, which is based on both the number of deposits and the value of each deposit. Then we have to pay our finance lady to transpose cash transactions into the accounts package. Depositing in our nearest branch is a drive away, and keeps getting further. As more branches close the wait in the queue keeps getting longer too. What was a lunch-time walk is now a morning's work. A minimum wage employee (even) costs me somewhere between £15 and £20 per hour (~30p per minute) by the time we have paid NI, pension, holiday, ssp and invisibles (dead time, heat and light, business rates etc).

I imagine the RPI Store will make some economies of scale that I can not but ultimately they are faced with the same ‘bricks and mortar’ challenges. Processing cash for predominately small transactions with wafer thin margins is commercially unviable.

The banks are determined to transition to a cash-less society as it provides them with a per-transaction profit model that infers greater control of the markets.

Interesting point - as a shop owner you are legally able to use any reason to not sell somebody something or accept the payment they offer ;)

3dcandy
Interesting point - as a shop owner you are legally able to use any reason to not sell somebody something or accept the payment they offer ;)

No. As above, not “any” reason.

The general case is no shop is obliged to sell to anybody. The customer is offering to buy,,and the seller can decline to accept. Same applies to providing services. But there are “reasons” explicitly prohibited by legislation that overrides that basic case, most notably discrimination legislation. Try telling someone you won't sell to them because they're black, or gay, or muslim, etc.

Quite rightly, “any” reason isn't the case.

Well you don't quite say it's because of a racial reason do you. Enough to say he seemed shifty and the money appears to be fake….

Again… *any* reason probably not the best way to say it but I'm tired and ill. But the point is you do not have to accept a form of payment if you are not happy with it. That includes the woman who turns up with £5 worth of 1p's in her pocket. As happened to me a few times. Obvs if you make a habit of not accepting a payment your business will cease to be ;) But the sentiment stands. If you are not happy with the payment don't accept it

3dcandy
That includes the woman who turns up with £5 worth of 1p's in her pocket.

But that one is better, it isnt legal tender, so you are fully entitled to refuse it, rather than just “not being happy” about it.

To pay £5 in a single denomination of coins, they need to be 5p or higher, 1 and 2ps are only legal up to 20p.

3dcandy
That includes the woman who turns up with £5 worth of 1p's in her pocket.

I didn't twig until recently that the self service tills at the supermarket have a little coin bin that copes superbly with dumping a bag of small coins into.

When at the office I've started taking a bag with all the small change that has accumulated around the house, and using it to buy lunch. It's a bit slow in counting so I usually tip too much in but being a machine it just counts it up without complaint and spits a few coins back as change (getting the amount right would mean being careful and slow and I don't want a queue building up behind me). I wouldn't want to buy the weekly shop like that, but a £2.50 sandwich in mostly 5p pieces is pretty quick.