‘Be ready to accept more notes as Britons turn to cash to stick to budget’

Cash-handling experts Volumatic are advising businesses to take note and be ready to accept more cash payments as new research conducted by ATM network LINK has found that millions of households in the UK are turning to cash instead of card payments to help them survive the cost-of-living crisis.

The research says one-in-10 shoppers have discovered that using cash is the answer to keeping a tighter grip on spending to save money and stick to a budget.

With these figures set to increase as the cost-of-living crisis continues to worsen throughout 2022, Managing Director of Volumatic, James Harris, said: “Many retail and hospitality businesses moved to contactless card only payments during the pandemic, convinced by misinformation that cash somehow helped to spread the virus.

“But while many of these businesses are now accepting cash again – especially after confirmation from the WHO that cash posed no greater threat in the spread of Covid-19 than cards or mobile payments – there are still some businesses who are not accepting cash, which means they could find themselves out of pocket and out of favour with customers as the year progresses.”

Out of the 2,000 adults surveyed by LINK, almost a quarter said they were unable to use coins or notes in a shop and forced to use a card because the business simply refused to accept cash which is something Volumatic discovered for its white paper published last year following research into the cash industry.

“Consumers are still very much demanding a choice when it comes to making payments. Even those not reliant on cash and not needing to use it to manage their spending do want to retain the option to make certain purchases using cash, alongside cards and other digital payments.

“Accepting cash really doesn’t need to be feared or avoided. Cash is safe, convenient, and beneficial to so many people and gone are the days when businesses had to rely on manual cash counting or lengthy cash reconciliation processes at the end of each day,” Harris added.

Volumatic provides a number of cash handling solutions to suit all businesses that handles cash, from its simple range of CountEasy money counting scales to its innovative all-in-one solution, the CounterCache intelligent (CCi) – a secure storage device, cash counter and forgery detector in one discrete device, meaning staff only touch cash once until it reaches the bank. In addition, all cash data is instantly available to staff or head office for reconciliation purposes, making life easier for everyone.

Volumatic MD James Harris concludes: “Although discussions about the UK becoming a cashless society have been circulating for many years, the reality is that we’re light years away from that and we would urge businesses to be listening to consumer demand. We’re not against card or digital payments, but we firmly believe consumers should have the choice and lots of industry research, including our own, supports this.

“The cost-of-lining crisis is impacting us all in so many ways, but businesses should be finding ways to support customers rather than potentially turning away customers just because they want to use cash. Cash still has an important role to play in society, not only helping people to budget but also for those who are more dependent on cash, especially the elderly and vulnerable. Businesses risk alienating more and more customers when they need more help than ever, and at a time when the retail and hospitality industry may also struggle as more and more people tighten their belts, it doesn’t make commercial sense for any business to be refusing cash payments.”