News Archive 2024

Starbucks have really got to pay attention to standards in their franchise network. Starbucks HQ will tell you they have no “cashless” policy - BUT they don’t stop franchisees from refusing cash. Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan needs to smell the coffee. “Cashless” is already unacceptable - and will soon be illegal - in the United Kingdom. PLEASE STOP YOUR FRANCHI....

Cash will ALWAYS be critical for businesses which truly respect their customers wishes and needs. As regards innovation, there has been huge innovation in recent years to improve the cash supply chain and cash handling. That innovation needs to now be fully implemented to ensure cash circulates smoothly - particularly at community level - for businesses and the public. Source: chainstoreage.com....

Just a week after it became apparent that Barclays UK may well close up to 1000 of the 1400 branches they have left in the UK, the bank has announced draconian limitations on cash deposits. Read this article to see what Martin Quinn, a Campaign Director of the Payment Choice Alliance, has to say about this totally unacceptable manoeuvre by Barclays UK. Many financial services “insiders&rdq....

There are MANY reasons why British businesses and the British public want and need to use cash. Martin and Bizza have a chat about just some of those reasons.

Wiltshire Council has announced that all their parking meters are being replaced - and that the shiny new ones will continue to accept cash! Well done to this Council. They did NOT wait until a UK Payment Choice Act is passed to do the right thing. All other Councils please copy! Source: gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/24249748.council-clarify-cashless-parking-concerns-marlborough/

This is a story from Swindon - BUT around the UK, customers are starting to boycott Asda because the retailer because it is imposing “cashless”. When will businesses learn? “Cashless” is a dead man walking. When the UK Payment Choice Act becomes law, the corpse will be buried PERMANENTLY. BUT do NOT wait for that, Asda! Give your customers back their RIGHT to Payment C....

It’s GREAT when research confirms what we already knew! Cash allows us to track and control our own spending better, in addition to stopping companies and governments tracking our lives! Two WONDERFUL features of cash that can NEVER be replicated by any other payment method! Source: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13305655/amp/Handing-cash-causes-psychological-pain-using-cards-research-sugge....

Well done to the supporters of Daventry Town Football Club for refusing to accept the imposition of “cashless”! Some football clubs have gone “cashless”, which, apart from anything else, is hardly in the spirit of the inclusiveness that the sport claims to promote. Of course, ALL football clubs will be forced to revert to accepting cash when the UK Payments Choice Act bec....

Payment Choice is preferable - but businesses that only accept cash certainly rubbish the notion that “cashless” is the only sensible way to run anything successfully these days. Here in the UK, many businesses made the excuse of Covid to stop accepting cash. There are NO excuses now. Those businesses that have imposed “cashless” still have a chance to honour the wishes ....

“The world’s gone mad.” That’s the view of Oldham residents faced with Asda imposing “cashless” at their petrol forecourts. There is talk of a boycott. Who could blame the public in Oldham for taking such a firm stance against the horrors of “cashless”? Source: theoldhamtimes.co.uk/news/24246906.oldham-residents-blast-supermarket-card-only-initia....

A quote from this article “A digital payment system allows for greater economic transparency, which can help curb illicit activities like tax evasion and money laundering”. Just one of the issues? Who decides what is an illicit activity? The “Authorities”. In how many countries can citizens REALLY trust the “Authorities”? Approaching ZERO. Which is why th....

Reading between the lines of this article, the new UK Universal Parking App is going to be used to push up parking revenue - a new method to impose what amounts to a “Stealth Tax” to penalise already hard-pressed motorists. There are currently only 300,000 paid for car parking spaces in the UK, earning Local Authorities a horrifying £2 Billion a year. Why not double the number ....

“Cashless” has been imposed on an Australian island by a totally arrogant businessman. There is a danger that Australia is turning into a Dictatorship, with the “ Authorities” supporting Big Business and ignoring the wishes and needs of the public. Such anti-Democratic behaviour will NEVER be allowed to happen in the UK. Source: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13282105/amp/....

The oddly named “Strikepay” is a FinTech encouraging people to make “cashless” tips. But not many people seem to be using it. They claim to cover 30,000 venues and that they collected £15 million in tips last year. That’s around £500 per venue in a full year - or significantly less than £2 per day. Wow! And how much of that £2 went straigh....

Whilst many communities are reversing previous decisions to go “cashless”, there are always foolish outliers. How’s this for a quote? “Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Alderman Margaret Tinsley said: “These changes [ to go “cashless”] to council-owned off-street car parking should be minimal and therefore won’t present too much i....

The suggestion in this article of a 4 to 5% price hike to offset card costs is not at all acceptable. Some Unites States retailers are now again giving a discount to cash users - as they did years ago.  That makes more sense to me than cash users paying an extra amount to help cover card costs. Frankly, the huge profits accruing to card schemes and their partner banks since the first plast....

This was the sign at the Cricketers in Cobham, part of the Heartwood Collection, which also includes Brasserie Blanc. There are around 40 sites in this “collection” - and this number is increasing, so spreading the poison of “cashless”. To see this happening, in the same week that Payment Choice Alliance Campaign Director Martin Quinn drew attention to the fact that Bill&....

A good article. The main difficulty businesses say they have with cash is not being able to deposit it easily. The Big Five “High Street” banks have simply closed their branches without making excellent alternative provision for cash deposits. It was known more than five years ago that this was becoming a significant problem, yet for all the noise around the “Cash Access Pilot....

There is absolutely zero new in this “announcement” about Bank Hubs. The CEO of Cash Access UK had already “committed” to have 200 banking hubs open by the end of 2025. This article includes reference to banks agreeing to identify 225 locations for banking hubs by the end of 2024 - but MORE than that number of sites have already been requested by LINK Scheme Ltd. Further....

Over 90% of the British public responding to this survey said they did not want car parking to go “cashless”. There is still time for you to start listening to the voters, Rishi Sunak...

Source: express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1879135/cashless-parking-machines-councils-uk-car-park/amp

An excellent, illuminating report from the European Central Bank. One quote will do for now: “Personal choice, together with the diversity of individual situations, may be more important than external constraints to explain cash usage” CHOICE. The thing the British “authorities” never want to talk about. BUT  the Payment Choice Alliance has pushed CHOICE onto the ....

Why? BECAUSE CASH ALWAYS WORKS. 

Source: news.sky.com/story/sainsburys-suffering-technical-issues-and-is-unable-to-fulfil-vast-majority-of-online-deliveries-13095737

The North Lincolnshire council says the £90k cost of replacing the machines will save money in the long run.” In the “long run”? There will NOT be a “long run”. These car parks will have to switch back to accepting cash when the UK Payment Choice Act is passed. The North Lincolnshire councillors - the council  is controlled by The Conservative Party &nb....

Great to see cash withdrawals and deposits increasing at Post Offices. However, well over 90% of the cash the British public use every day is accessed via ATMs. ATMs are the only reliable and convenient channel for  24/7 access to cash. Time for both HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority to accept the vital role ATMs have to play and to stop posturing that it is possible to be &l....

The Swedish Central Bank - the Sveriges Riksbank -  proposes rules which ensure cash can be used for payments. YES. IN SWEDEN, WHICH WE WERE TOLD YEARS AGO  WOULD BE “CASHLESS” BY NOW. What does the Bank of England propose to ensure the British public can use cash? ZERO. Meantime, HM Treasury has seen anti cash former Junior Ministers put together “policies” w....

Privacy is not simply under threat - it is disappearing! Many organisations, including governments, want to know EXACTLY what each of us is doing at all times. We are told that this tracking is done so that the “authorities”, along with some banks and card schemes, can meet our needs more precisely. BUT THIS IS NOT THE WHOLE STORY. They want to know so they can push US - gently or ....

Richard Hughes, Chair of the UK Office of Budget Responsibility, has the bared faces cheek to use phrases like the “death of cash” and to put increases in VAT revenue mainly down to reductions in evasion due to the decline in the use of cash? Complete and utter nonsense, on both counts. It is easy to understand where Rich is coming from though. Harvard, for starters, where the world....

Last week, we had the Chair of the Office of Budget Responsibility celebrating the mythical “death of cash” and now “Bank of England researchers” nonsensically claiming “contactless” is best for budgeting. Don’t for even one moment think this is a coincidence. The “authorities” are rattled by the strength of  the British publics support....

Our Chair, Ron Delnevo, has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in no uncertain terms about cash acceptance in the UK and the need for a Payment Choice Act. You too can add your voice! You can use our letter as a guide for your own, and why not write to your MP too? We have a template for you to use if you click here. And, why not sign up to our Newsletter too? We will keep you posted on update....

Newcastle City Council need to think again. Other major cities have refused to have “cashless” car parks - and some that previously wrongly decided  to go “cashless” have now reverted to accepting cash. It is sad to see Newcastle City Council making this mistake, robbing ALL local residents of Payment Choice. They will have to reverse the decision anyway when a UK P....