Is a Virtual ‘Thon a possibility?

[The Mighty Trin]

I paid cash for my haircut today. Wanting value for money, I now have a clear line of pasty white skin from the bottom of my hair to where my neck tan starts.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

My Dad said that something in Asda cost a 'tanner' the last time I saw him.

Accuracy not your Dad's strong suit I take it. A "tanner" was a sixpence, equal to 2 and a half decimal pence, and the decimal half penny ceased to be legal tender in 1984, which I hate to realise was 36 years ago. Arithmetical pedantry is my thing, sorry!

At the age of 12, totally green behind the ears and awed by the company of somewhat older girls at our local Youth Theatre group, I heard a joke shared amongst those girls which stuck in my mind in the way that sexually novel stuff does when you're on the cusp of adolescence. I forget the details, but the humour was basically around how people having sex speed up as they get more excited, and it involved a woman trying to keep a steady "rhythm" by repeatedly counting 4 pre-decimal coins out loud, "penny, penny, tanner, bob, penny penny tanner bob ..." The punch line was that she was eventually just shouting "one and eight, one and eight!"

[Hot Pepsi]

I can't remember the last time I used a coin...

I can't remember the last time I used cash. It's discouraged during the pandemic and everywhere I go has a card reader thing.

[ursus arctos]

One local grocery still prefers cash.

The other type of venue where it is still ubiquitous are coffee carts and food trucks.

[ad hoc]

The little shop in my village has had a card reader for about a year, which is very high tech for us (if you could see the shop you too would probably find it a bit like one of those bloopers where you see an extra on a mobile phone in the background of a film version of a Thomas Hardy novel ). Anyway, it's broken down and the owner is in no hurry to fix it, which means we have to have cash, and that's a fucking pain

(The reason he;s in no rush to fix it I strongly suspect is that cash payments can be siphoned off and not put on the books easier than electronic ones. There was always a policy that you had to pay by cash on Sundays, because the shop wasn't technically open)

[caja-dglh]

Due to merchant fees and the like, cash is always a preferable option to the seller. Even before we get into any form of illegality.

[ursus arctos]

A number of service providers that we used in Milan had three tiered pricing (from lowest to highest)

Cash with no record of the transaction
Cash with a hand written receipt
Electronic payments or anything else that generated a paper trail

[Sporting]

Many small transactions in small bars here are never rung up.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I paid cash for my haircut today. Wanting value for money, I now have a clear line of pasty white skin from the bottom of my hair to where my neck tan starts.

Yes, I paid cash for my trim at the weekend. One of the best cuts I've had in years, as it goes.

[S. aureus]

I haven't used cash since March, mostly as I haven't really been anywhere except to buy groceries and even the smaller shop down the street prefers cards right now. I'm going to be on the hook for a ton of pocket money whenever the kids are able to spend it again, though.

Actually, come to think of it, I have used cash, as the tooth fairy has visited a few times.

[Hot Pepsi]

The little shop in my village has had a card reader for about a year, which is very high tech for us (if you could see the shop you too would probably find it a bit like one of those bloopers where you see an extra on a mobile phone in the background of a film version of a Thomas Hardy novel ). Anyway, it's broken down and the owner is in no hurry to fix it, which means we have to have cash, and that's a fucking pain

(The reason he;s in no rush to fix it I strongly suspect is that cash payments can be siphoned off and not put on the books easier than electronic ones. There was always a policy that you had to pay by cash on Sundays, because the shop wasn't technically open)

I assume that anyone that insists on cash is cooking the books.

It used to be that most cab drivers would insist on cash, which could be a real hassle at airports. But one time - I forget where - I just forgot and just didn't have it and the driver realized his only choices were to be stiffed or kidnap me or somehow run a card, so he miraculously pulled out one of the old fashioned crepe paper credit card things from under the seat.

[pebblethefish]

Of the pubs I regularly go to, two don't accept cards (one is way too disorganised, one is definitely falsifying the books to scam the brewery), ans there are five or six that know me well enough to run a tab that I can pay at the end of the day. If I'm going somewhere new though I'll always pay cash, simply because I don't want to have six or seven separate card transactions for a pint each showing up on my statement.

[Various Artist]

I love Trin's 'Decimal D-Day' tea towel, that's a cracker.


I've had the exact same small scattering of loose change sitting untouched on my chest of drawers/dressing table for months now. I haven't paid cash for anything since before lockdown kicked in, and I'm not sure exactly when. The last shopping trip as such was about a week beforehand, when seeing which way the wind was blowing – mainly thanks to OTF – I made a tour of the shops like Asda, Boots, Wilko, Home Bargains, Ikea and various other places in the shopping park on the outskirts of Cardiff (PT will know them) to grab a few essentials and possible-essentials from vitamins to shower gel to USB charging cables... and I consciously used contactless card payments for everything that day.

As someone who didn't really like the idea of contactless at first (I remember first experimenting with it when I went to London for the World Athletics Championship in early August 2017, then didn't use it again until I think last year), I've been grateful I overcame my reservations about it not that long ago as being able to gaily waft your money away without any physical interaction has obviously been a godsend these past few months.

I still have some chocolate I bought that day – a Cadbury Dairy Milk bar (122.5g) in the Choca-Latte variant that won a 'new flavour' competition last year. I've been keeping to my determination to hold it in reserve until this is all over, and somehow have maintained the willpower to do so, to my surprise.

[WOM]

I've tapped for about 90% of purchases since March. Walmart and Home Depot still have those horrible old 'insert and PIN' machines.

[Hot Pepsi]

I've tapped for about 90% of purchases since March. Walmart and Home Depot still have those horrible old 'insert and PIN' machines.

That's what I use. I haven't tried the "tap" method at all.

[ursus arctos]

The US continues to trail the developed world by miles in payment technologies.

The majority of US outlets still haven't gotten to requiring PINs (instead of signatures), let alone going contactless.

[Hot Pepsi]

That's not been my experience. I always use my pin when I used my debit card, though some places with the iPad-based systems have you so a signature with your finger.

The one place that I can think of that still has me sign a piece of paper is the parking at the airport. Of course, that's inconvenient as one is in one's car and they have to hand you the little clip board and all that.

[ursus arctos]

NYC tends to require signing a screen

[San Bernardhinault]

Debit cards are generally PIN in the US. Credit cards nobody seems to care about. I have discovered since covid that a lot of cards and places are contactless equipped, but just never advertise it.

[WOM]

Sorry, the tap is for credit cards. Debit cards still require a PIN, even if they're chip cards.

[Lang Spoon]

Wow.

[Cal Alamein]

Cash for tips in the USA - always.

[Hot Pepsi]

Cash for tips in the USA - always.

You can put a tip on the card.

[Cal Alamein]

You can put a tip on the card.

Aye, but the workers that I talk to would rather split the cash. Less fuss.

[Hot Pepsi]

They can cope. I’m sure.