Minimum spend shops :(

[Callie]

Is anyone else fed up with being told they can't take card payments unless it over ?5 or a whopping ?10 as in the ED newsagents on Lordship Lane! Popped into Dulwich DIY to get a radiator key, overpriced at nearly ?2 only to be told can't take card payment unless over ?5, old staff seem to have left too:(

[Penguin68]

Small shops in particular pay a large fee for credit card transactions. On small purchases that will destroy their margin.

[tomskip]

No, I generally find it's pretty easy to carry ?10 or so around with me all the time.

[Callie]

I never carry cash on me I only pay by card.

[rendelharris]

Since January 13th it's been illegal to charge for debit card transactions, but it's still permissible to impose a minimum spend, so many small retailers have gone down that route whereas previously they would have just imposed a small charge. I think it was fair enough for retailers to ask a customer to cover fees, if they were reasonable about it - but a certain local retailer last year charged me a quid for a ?8 payment on my debit card, citing a ?10 minimum spend not to be charged. Out of curiosity I checked what the bank would charge the retailer - eightpence! I suspect as plastic payments become more and more ubiquitous minimum spends will disappear, for now, as tomskip said, I don't find it a great hassle to dig out a handful of change if I know I'm going to a local shop (for local people) and only going to spend a couple of quid.

[tomskip]

Callie Wrote:

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> I never carry cash on me I only pay by card.

So if you carried a bit of cash then you wouldn't resent small business owners from having a minimum spend on card transactions. Easy.

[Callie]

Good for you that you always have cash on you but there will be a time when you pop into one of these shops & find you don't have cash then you will know how annoying it is.

[uncleglen]

even worse is the common practice of leaving expired goods on the shelves like the newsagent in CPRd

[rendelharris]

Callie Wrote:

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> Good for you that you always have cash on you but

> there will be a time when you pop into one of

> these shops & find you don't have cash then you

> will know how annoying it is.

Given its place in the grand scheme of things I'd do my best not to become too aerated. I'd probably just take the fifty yard stroll to the free cashpoint outside the Co-op, get some money and go back.

[Callie]

yes you probably would but I was carrying 2 heavy bags of shopping walking on slippery snowed iced road so it wasn't practical for me to do that.

[rendelharris]

Sorry, just to recap, you expect shops to lose a portion of their profit margin on an item (as Penguin points out, on a small item, a large part of their profit margin) because you can't be bothered to carry a few pound coins or a fiver to pay for smaller purchases?

[Lynne]

It doesn't seem much of a hassle to carry a bit of cash about, it's not as if you had to barter with half a chicken or something. If I thought shops would not take a card, I just might come prepared.

[tomskip]

You could have asked for cashback with your food shopping! :)

[Calsug]

Firstly some people don?t like to carry cash so I?m with the OP on this one, very rarely have money in my wallet. That said minimum spend doesn?t really bother me, take it as part of the cost of convenience for not carrying cash if you want to pay at a small business as I totally understand they have transactional costs to cover and it?s unfair for me to expect them to absorb it.

[rendelharris]

Calsug Wrote:

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> Firstly some people don?t like to carry cash so

> I?m with the OP on this one, very rarely have

> money in my wallet.

A big wedge I quite understand - and I don't carry much myself - but a fiver just in case it's needed is hardly going to put one in danger of being mugged (or any more danger than anyone else, anyway). Just as an anecdote, and not saying one should do this, but if worried about being mugged, a former colleague of mine used always to carry ?50 on the basis that muggers would be satisfied if you handed that over, whereas if one had nothing they might force one to go to the nearest cashpoint and take out more. Don't know how tenable that was but an interesting theory.

[Robert Poste's Child]

I was always told to carry a small amount of cash for personal safety purposes and although we now have mobiles and cards I just don't feel safe without it. Also means you've got something to give to a homeless person or anyone else who needs it.

[Pugwash]

I usually carry a purse with around ?10 in loose change in it. Also a ?5 or ?10 note in my bus pass. I had to go on a course one day and forgot to take my wallet and purse with my cards in. I remembered that I had money with the pass and was able to pay for coffee and a small lunch that day otherwise I would have been stuck in an unfamiliar environment where I did not know the other attendees.

[Loz]

I always keep a tenner tucked in with my Oyster card for emergencies.

[mrcee]

rendelharris Wrote:

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> Calsug Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Firstly some people don?t like to carry cash so

> > I?m with the OP on this one, very rarely have

> > money in my wallet.

>

> A big wedge I quite understand - and I don't carry

> much myself - but a fiver just in case it's needed

> is hardly going to put one in danger of being

> mugged (or any more danger than anyone else,

> anyway). Just as an anecdote, and not saying one

> should do this, but if worried about being mugged,

> a former colleague of mine used always to carry

> ?50 on the basis that muggers would be satisfied

> if you handed that over, whereas if one had

> nothing they might force one to go to the nearest

> cashpoint and take out more. Don't know how

> tenable that was but an interesting theory.

Won't be eight pence for a small business for all card related costs, would go for about 30 pence once all costs are factored dependant on volume

[rendelharris]

mrcee Wrote:

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> Won't be eight pence for a small business for all

> card related costs, would go for about 30 pence

> once all costs are factored dependant on volume

Yes, it happened to be eightpence on that particular transaction but - as I understand it - different cards can run up as high as eighty pence or even more, in which case on a two pound transaction as described by the OP you're effectively asking the store to lose money on the deal!

[east-of-the-Rye]

Some shops, i believe one in Brockley, and the Beer Shop in Nunhead have gone cash-less. I guess this works if you completely cut out the cost of banking the cash, and accept the cost of taking card payments:

from the Beer Shop website:

WE'VE GONE CASHLESS

After trialling a cashless period throughout February we have decided to go cashless. Thanks to everyone who gave their feedback.

On average only 21% of our take is cash and if these takings were on card it would save us 60% in costs to accept, count and bank the cash. (Over ?1300 a year!) Card payments are also more secure, avoid human error and make transactions quicker.

So from now on we'll only be accepting card and contactless payments. As always there is and never will be a minimum spend or any charges.

[edcam]

Poor lamb. Too difficult to go to a cashpoint once in a while? Get a grip.

[FightingFit]

edcam Wrote:

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> Poor lamb. Too difficult to go to a cashpoint once

> in a while? Get a grip.

Agreed

[Robert Poste's Child]

A bit harsh, surely? She's entitled to her opinion and it can be confusing as businesses have different policies on this. It's been a couple of years since I had a business account, but I assume you still choose a package that suits your trading pattern, so a heavily cash-based business like a newsagent will have one that lets them bank cash more cheaply but perhaps pay more for cards, transfers and cheques.

I always feel a bit guilty when I buy something small like a bottle of water from a supermarket and pay by card; I presume they're losing out but I guess they know what they're doing.

[NewWave]

I thought it was only the Queen who didn't carry cash?