In reply to a post by andynormancx:

This all exists already, if you have the right phone/device.

For example the iPhone can use either facial recognition (or finger print for older ones) to unlock the wallet on the phone which enables you to pay with contactless. Without authentication someone can't use your iPhone to pay for stuff.

And the same applies to the Apple Watch, though in that case the facial recognition happens on the iPhone, when you first unlock the watch when you put it on.

99% of my retail payments are done on my watch, secure and basically instant to do (double click the button on the watch, hold to the reader).

There are other phones/devices that work similarly for the Apple averse.

Depends on how Tesco do it, like will the data be on their servers, surly they can't do it via people's phones, a lot of people don't have smartphones.


oh yeah, I can pay using my phone, Google Pay or what ever Google is calling it now is set up on my phone, I have set up my fitbit watch to pay with, but i don't really use them.
I used my watch at the beer festival a couple of months ago, they would take cash, but preferred card, it was the first time i have known them to use cards. I think the so-called pandemic scared them. But people were still using cash. You buy vouchers and swap the vouchers for the beer.

I can use face ID on my phone, but it is not as good as Apple version i don't think, not that I use it, I use fingerprint to open the phone.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

And NatWest even trialling a plastic card (debit or credit, not sure) that had a fingerprint reader to confirm owner before it activated contactless feature.

I heard about this or something like it a few years ago. I may be more willing to have a contactless card if they done that.

Oh, I know it was a pinpad on the card that was being looked at, but by the time you muck about with that, you may as well use the keypad on the terminal.

In reply to a post by bobble_bob:

Countries like Sweden and Denmark are virtually 100% cashless and manage to run an ecomony

Personally im 100% cashless other than when i have to like some taxis

Good for them, so is china, but China is doing it to track their citizens and to be honest I think this is the reason why we are moving to a cashless society

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I used my watch at the beer festival a couple of months ago, they would take cash, but preferred card, it was the first time i have known them to use cards. I think the so-called pandemic scared them.

A bit on the pandemic, but mostly the cost of banking all that cash, paying for a secure van & guard to move it to the bank, and the charges the bank make to the company account for processing it. These have all increased a stunning amount. If only 30% of customers were paying cash, its suddenly become uneconomic to accept.

I read that supermarkets want to stop doing cashback at the till, because so few are paying cash now they don’t have it in the till to give out.

Auto-tills where the customer does the work, these did take 20% of the till area in my super huge tesco near me, but now they’ve increased to about 50% of the till area, and of the other half, closed 30% of the old tills (now surrounded by 8ft signs) so there are only 20% left, and not all of those are open even on a sat lunchtime. With self-scan handsets the number of people at the self-pay tills is a very small queue, people get through fast.

People costs (wages) are one of the biggest costs in any business.

The BBC article also mentions that more and more cash is being deposited and withdrawn at post offices. It might be due to the fact that so many branches are being closed across the country?

Another thing is where I've looked at Lloyds Bank's new changes to T&Cs. They are saying: "We've added a new condition that says if it's necessary, due to economic circumstances that affect the banking industry, we may restrict the amount you can have in your accounts either by applying a limit or by imposing a charge. If we have to do this and it applies to your account, we’ll write to you with more information."

Basically - no one (within reason, I hope you know what I mean?) can physically impose a limit or question an amount of money if someone hasn't gotten somewhere to track it, like a bank. It's getting absurd at this point and I think that people are just getting scared, especially with direct debits for energy going to 'magically increase' very soon with no way of turning back.

As humans, we are losing more and more control over ourselves, our lives and our money.

A complete aside Adrian. You keep misspelling ‘surely’ as surly.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

A bit on the pandemic, but mostly the cost of banking all that cash, paying for a secure van & guard to move it to the bank, and the charges the bank make to the company account for processing it. These have all increased a stunning amount. If only 30% of customers were paying cash, its suddenly become uneconomic to accept.

I read that supermarkets want to stop doing cashback at the till, because so few are paying cash now they don’t have it in the till to give out.

Auto-tills where the customer does the work, these did take 20% of the till area in my super huge tesco near me, but now they’ve increased to about 50% of the till area, and of the other half, closed 30% of the old tills (now surrounded by 8ft signs) so there are only 20% left, and not all of those are open even on a sat lunchtime. With self-scan handsets the number of people at the self-pay tills is a very small queue, people get through fast.

People costs (wages) are one of the biggest costs in any business.

I work in a supermarket, sure I work in the warehouse these days, but I see what is happening. I voice my opinions to managers fend or please, even about the scan and shop system that is in use. i am told that no one have lost their job due to it, not yet, no. But they are removing most of the manned checkouts in the next couple of months, leaving 4, a lot of the people on checkouts are on there because they can not do much else, so what happens to them?
It is all about making more profit for the shareholders and stuff us.

Our local Tesco still an express checkout, which shocked me as every other store I have been in have removed these.
Our Morrison's don't do cashback on their self scans, but then they never have, not that I use the self scans that often.

Selfscans may work well in places like London and Birmingham, large cities, but removing the normal checkouts here will just annoy more people. A colleague who works on the checkout said to me a few weeks ago, you can't force them, I said what the hell are you on about, he said customers, you can't force them to use self scans or scan and shop. They would rather wait in a queue.

We are not in London, we have a huge population of older people and they will not be forced.

When ever I go into Tescos, most of the handsets are still in the cradles, I presume they don't have a App for scan and shop like Sainsbury's do. I am shocked about the amount of people that use it in Sainsburys, but I think they were pushed when we had the pandemic, use a safer way to shop, use a handset with a load of germs on.

I will stick with manned checkouts for large shopping, at least I am doing my bit to try and save jobs,.

Its the fees but also many other reasons. Security is a big factor. Costs alot for a good safe and to have the contents insured. Also cashing up at the end of a night takes time. A friend used to accept cash before moving contactless only for her business because she could spend 40 mins in the bank queuing for money for the till

And for the few that paid cash ( before covid she was estimating only 20% did), it wasnt worth it

In reply to a post by jroj:

The BBC article also mentions that more and more cash is being deposited and withdrawn at post offices. It might be due to the fact that so many branches are being closed across the country?

Another thing is where I've looked at Lloyds Bank's new changes to T&Cs. They are saying: "We've added a new condition that says if it's necessary, due to economic circumstances that affect the banking industry, we may restrict the amount you can have in your accounts either by applying a limit or by imposing a charge. If we have to do this and it applies to your account, we’ll write to you with more information."

Basically - no one (within reason, I hope you know what I mean?) can physically impose a limit or question an amount of money if someone hasn't gotten somewhere to track it, like a bank. It's getting absurd at this point and I think that people are just getting scared, especially with direct debits for energy going to 'magically increase' very soon with no way of turning back.

As humans, we are losing more and more control over ourselves, our lives and our money.

Yep, you are not wrong, we are getting pushed into more and more technology, and tracking and people are just accepting it.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

A complete aside Adrian. You keep misspelling ‘surely’ as surly.

You are correct, I must stop doing that.