Legal Tender - are businesses breaking rules

"Legal tender has a strict definition.

"It means if you have a court awarded debt against you, if someone tries to settle and they’re paying in legal tender you cannot refuse it.

“And that’s all it means.”

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And your point is?

I did not know this, not given it any thought. Just Sunday
morning minutiae in the newspaper.

Supermarkets & shops have every right to insist on card only payment.

 The UK continues to march towards a cashless society, with ATMs disappearing and thanks to coronavirus, stores increasingly preferring card payments over potentially dirty cash.

But Martin is not a fan of this trend, and he went on to explain why.

He said: “I know many people are saying ‘why don’t we just switch to a cashless society?’ - I don’t want that, because there are many vulnerable people who need cash.”

And it seems the government agrees with Martin, as he explained: "The Government has said that once we leave the EU in January it will change the rules so if you want to get cash out from a supermarket you don’t have to buy anything.

And it seems the government agrees with Martin, as he explained: "The Government has said that once we leave the EU in January it will change the rules so if you want to get cash out from a supermarket you don’t have to buy anything.

I don’t see the point of this because you don’t have to buy anything at our local Tesco, you just use the free-to-use cash machines in the car park.

Cashback but that has limits.

Paying for goods in some cafes/stores in Oxford not only insist on card only but insist on contactless. More than once in a coffee shop, I have put cash to the correct amount on their counter, saying take this as I do not have a card. All I have got a bewildered look.

 Which? said that while digital payments are on the rise in the UK, 2.2 million people are still almost entirely reliant on cash in their daily lives.

It warned that the UK risks drifting into a “no-cash” society which could shut people out of paying for local goods and services.

It is urging the government to appoint a regulator to ensure no-one is denied the ability to access cash.

Did they serve you?

In a way I suppose. I just walked out with the goods. It had already gone through the till …

Good for you David !!
Take it or leave it ??
My local pub is just the opposite, the contactless gadget is always
broken???

Donkeyman!

Cashless means big brother is watching every penny you spend.

Oh I’m sure they’ll be fascinated by my spending, I’m sure…:roll_eyes:

Think about the information that builds up across months & years. Not just where you shop but exactly what time of day, you statistically shop on. Who you get your paper & milk from. Who does your car maintenance. Lots & lots of marketing information.

Big brother knows when you pay for insurance & to whom. Without cash, they will know if you do a lottery, if you support a charity, if you buy a drink in a pub. Every single detail of your life will be known & that has a massive commercial value to them.

Data analysts will be able to look at your payment histories & know who you probably vote for & lot of other statistical details about you.

Ok…but you sound like I should be concerned about this?

Why would any sane person not be? Once your data has been misused, there is no going back. You cannot undo fraud or data that has been sold on, hacked or shared. It is like anything else, once it becomes available it is too late.

Do you know what companies have access to your data? What they do with it? Or what the long term implications could be for you? Doing nothing now, is like leaving your house with the doors open & a large come & steal from me sign in the front garden.

We may not be able to stop all abuses of our data, but we should at least treat our own data with the same respect as any other form of personal security.

I’m more worried about what is legally done with our data. Nobody seems too concerned about the amount of information being gathered. It’s like sleepwalking off a cliff.

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Interesting that today Amazon announced they will no longer accept visa cards. What happens if shops follow suit? So they convert to cashless and then may not accept cashless. The whole system is reliant on the existing systems which are privately owned. There’s a whole project in the background to digitalise us inside out. The Bank of England is undergoing consultations about this.

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