I hardly ever use cash these days. Partly that’s because I get rewards on my credit card, and partly it’s because I carry so many membership cards, loyalty cards, cards for paying for EV charging, that there isn’t room in a traditional wallet to fit them. I now have a wallet designed for cards. If I carry any cash I have to fold the notes in four.
As a writer of historical crime fiction, I’m always on the lookout for interesting facts that I might use in my books. I don’t think this story will work well for Sir Anthony Standen, but I found it vindicating, in a small way.
I appreciate that some retailers prefer cash because the card companies take a small slice of their profit margin. However, there was an item on the BBC news that made me feel better. Criminals like cash because it can’t be traced. Apparently the National Crime Agency have established that around £1 billion of criminal cash is being laundered on UK high streets every year. The BBC talks of dodgy barbers, vape stores, pubs, etc. Heaven knows we are losing so many good shops from our high streets every year, and nature abhors a vacuum.
So maybe, just maybe, my reluctance to use cash can do some good. It certainly wont suit the criminal gangs laundering cash, and it might just open more high streets every year space for the shops that we do want.