General Chat

We still use a lot of real money, eg, when dealing with small businesses such as the coffee shop, the little corner grocery, the hairdresser etc. Why??

Two reasons ............ because we like using cash. We have more control over spending when those notes disappear from the wallet rather than charging to credit or debit card! But also because the credit card companies charge businesses for using their card, and that means that the business loses money on every sales that involves one of the major credit card companies. Of course, that often translates into higher prices for the consumer as businesses add a little extra to the sales price.

That's why you might see "Discount for cash" signs around in some places.

I don't know whether they are charged for sales using debit cards, eg for the machine, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Plus we do like to tip for services, even at the coffee shop, but also the hairdresser, and most certainly on the train for extra services and help ............... people don't carry card machines around and I'm certainly not going to get into electronic transfer, so cash it is.

Thanks for telling me about paying cheques in online. I did a bit of research and found I can do this if I download the app to my phone or tablet. I’m probably being a bit finicky but I’m loath to do this. We try to minimise the risk of fraud by keeping all our online banking to one desktop computer. Many years ago someone for whom I had power of attorney was subjected to a serious bank fraud which I had to try to sort out. There was a great deal of money involved and I can’t tell you how stressful it was dealing with the bank’s fraud department and the police for months on end. I did get all his money back as I was able to show the bank had been negligent but it’s not an experience I want to repeat. It’s made me very cautious.

On a happier note my research into paying in cheques mentioned the ability to pay at a post office which I had totally forgotten about. As we have a P.O. somewhat nearer than the bank I’ll be taking my cheque there.

I pay for everything with my credit card which I clear every month. Not only do I get points and special offers from stores when I use their loyalty cards (Nectar, Tesco, Boots, Sparkles etc) I amass points with my bank through use of its card which has a range of ‘treats’ that you can choose from when you feel like it. It’s a win, win situation. :-D

Vera, it's easy to pay a cheque online - strange though it sounds :-D

Cx :-)

Suffolk vera

My local Barclays Bank closed last year and the nearest is six miles away that you need transport to get to plus pay for public car parking
But I bank online anyway so it’s not a problem so far

Barclays app too does have the facility to pay in cheques online which I sometimes do as I get my share dividend cheque in the post

SuffolkVera ........ if you lived here and had a smart phone, you could pay that cheque into the bank, just scan it with your phone, click send and it's done.

Not having a smart phone, I can't do that. I do use online banking for paying bills and moving money around, but OH still has to go physically to the bank and get out cash, usually from the teller as we're trying to make sure that the bank stays open!

Linda ................ I have nothing against credit cards, used to have several store cards, some of which gave loyalty points. But I stopped that when almost everyone went to joining with a major credit card company, usually M/c, so you had to have, eg Tesco M/C

I just don't need to have more than one M/c in my wallet ............... so I now use my Visa card when I buy from those stores, so I am down to just 2 credit cards.

I have been phoned by the credit card company when putting on an unusually large amount ............ the last time I bought our train tickets, it actually turned out that the card company had "texted your phone". Unfortunately my landline doesn't accept texts!

TBH ...... it doesn't worry me to have to show photo ID when boarding the train, at the airport, at a hotel, or when voting ......... we've been doing all that for many years.

The modern technology rescued me today when I went to Tescos and realised that I had forgotten my credit card. I have had Apple Pay linked to my credit card set up on my iPhone for ages, but have never used it.
So I had a go, it was so simple, just a double click on the phones side button brought the credit card onto the screen. I then held near the card reader and it paid the bill. I was very impressed with myself. I have it set up on my Apple watch as well, so I will try that next time. It is actually safer than having to get the card out of my purse and put it away again.

I know some people don’t like using credit cards, but I have a Tesco one which gives me extra points for using it in store or the Tesco petrol station where I get my fuel. The bank automatically pays the whole bill every month, so I never pay any interest on the card

Agree with everyone woes but will add I've been questioned in the past when buying gift cards in-store in case I was a victim of scamming....I'd get it if I was buying hundreds of them but it's usually only been for a few dollars.
Currently most things I do online have started sending a verification code for each transaction a little annoying but if it stops fraud I'm okay with it.
I do carry my cell phone all the time mainly for work but also to count my steps so I don't feel so guilty when I eat that treat :-D

I’m much like Cynthia but I also have 2 desk top computers and an iPad and, apart from the Genes boards, I prefer not to use social media. I do think, however, that doing most things online should be a matter of choice and I think people are being forced into it and lots of older or non technical people are worried by this.

As an example I have a friend who needed to sort out a money issue. She went into 3 banks and a building society and all but one of the banks said she could do what she wanted but it had to be done online. When she said she didn’t bank online she just got a shrug of the shoulders. One bank offered to help her with it. Guess which one got her custom?

2 more banks in our area are shortly closing. Their reason is that most people bank online now. What option do they have if the banks direct their customers online? I have a cheque that came in the post recently. I can't pay that in online. If the banks close everyone will have to use online transfers and I don’t want to give all my banking details to a company or person that I don’t know well.

Now I’m ranting. Better stop before I get carried away.

I am another who has embraced technology and wish I was younger so that I could learn more.

Smartphone - yes
Laptop - yes
Washer - yes
Dryer - yes (but used rarely)
Stick vacuum - yes

A couple of kitchen 'gadgets' but not many. Would rather be on computer than cook!

Online banking - yes
Online appointments - yes
Online research - how else?

Facebook - most definitely
Twitter - occasionally (boring)

and so it goes on! :-D :-D :-D

Cx :-)

JoyL ....... we've also actually become "no visitors overnight".

We only have 2 bedrooms, and we now mostly sleep separately (his rolling over across the bed and my "snoring"), so "no room at the inn" as the 2nd bedroom is kept ready for one of US!


As far as "toys" are concerned, I just see no point in having anything more modern than my little flip phone. I know what it was like for OH being constantly phoned when he was head of department back in the late '90s, I'm only glad that cell phones (your mobiles) didn't exist then, at least for ordinary mortals.

I like to go out without getting calls, and only carry the cell when we are on holiday, on the trains or in Nova Scotia. I do set it up to get updates from the train company when we are travelling, but that only works for that particular trip, then it is deleted from the system. In fact, only 2 people have the number of the cell phone, my daughter and a friend in Ontario. As they don't use it very often, I know that almost every call can be ignored as "spam".

We refused a "smart" thermostat some years ago ...... we're mostly in the house so why need anything other than the manual one? To me, it seemed just lazy to use a remote to change the heating instead of walking less than 10 steps (usually) to do it. Besides which, the energy required to get up and walk, even those few steps, is good for me ;-)

Still, daughter does call us "dinosaurs", but it's what we want not what she or anyone thinks we should have that matters ................. I get so tired of all the ads that we SHOULD have this new model of iPhone, that smart house update, etc etc.

To me, it's getting like the ads for gifts to wife/mother/girlfriend at whatever time of year including Mother's Day .............. buy this diamond ring, that gold necklace, that new car, etc etc. Fortunately "she needs this fur coat" has died out in the last 3 or 4 years.

In other words ................ spend, spend, spend.

Like you, names and Linda, I have all of those things plus a ‘proper computer with a proper keyboard’. At one time I could make telephone calls via my computer but that was before I retired when I updated things. I get Granddaughter’s cast-off when she updates her mobile every couple of years. However, I will admit that when I am coffeeing with pals, I do not answer anyone who calls.

My OH loves gadgets so, as far as I am concerned, we have too many!

I have Netflix, which I do watch, downstairs, courtesy of daughter and upstairs, courtesy of son, along with a couple of other channels - included in their monthly payments as the extra payment was so minor, according to them. When I am in my nineties I may drop out and let them organise everything for me …. Haha.

I stopped online banking just before I retired many years ago after our finance officer told me that, at that particular time, accounts had been hacked, so since then I use phone banking, never having to speak to a real person, and it is simple. But I appreciate it would be hard for anyone with hearing problems.

Judging from my pals, we are not alone names and Linda.

The one pal I find amusing is the one who used to teach computer and technology - she refuses to use a computer now and has a mobile phone for convenience only. She is not acquisitive so does not update it to the latest model either. :-D

I rarely go into grocery stores unless it is an absolute necessity as I hate grocery shopping, unlike a friend who enjoys it!

Everything is delivered and I think it would be a step back to do huge grocery shops now, something which I rarely did even in the 1990s. In fact, it was then that I began to have grocery deliveries, placing my order on Friday lunchtimes and having it delivered on Saturday morning. That particular firm recognised my 1990s password when lockdown came. It was a nice surprise.

I can recall how easy life was for my Mum who used to place her grocery orders and have them delivered - and this was in the 1940s and 50s - so why would I take a step back and go back to the old way of shopping in store with all the hassle that goes with that? Shopping is nowhere high on my enjoyment list!

Each to his own, though, and I have another friend goes for groceries every day rather than do a weekly shop, something that she has done for years.

Edit: Sylvia, my OH and I have separate bathrooms too - plus a downstairs loo. We would not like to share now - which, if we have overnight visitors, we would have to do. The OH of my bestie has said he is not having any more visitors to stay as they want to keep their own bathrooms - we have not yet declared ‘no more visitors’. :-D

I'm not anti technology as such and anything that stops scammers is good, but I don't see much decline in the scamming , where one door shuts for them they find another way.

With the romance scammer I reported yesterday, even with my limited skills I was able to find the photos he's pinched of a real person but FB won't remove him or any of the others I've reported ( who came on genealogy groups to stalk middle aged ladies, often who have mentioned they are widowed).

And then there's AI. Aside from the security concerns awaiting action from the countries that have it, from what I have seen it is going to distort truth even more than it is already.

To be honest I am glad that I won't see too much of this brave new world, but I feel for the young ones that will have to negotiate it, in more ways than one.

Linda I have all those things except for a smart phone & smart tv & dishwasher ( no room for that).I also use the hand scanner in one of the supermarkets I use.

I just don’t use my mobile phone much and like the little flip phone that weighs nothing and can fit easily in a pocket.

The problem with technology is that eventually it will overtake your ability to use it, even though you are quite capable of using the system you are used to.

I think I am in the odd one out category because I have embraced the new technology. I have a laptop, iPad and the latest iPhone full of apps which I use regularly. Also a smart tv, dishwasher, tumble dryer etc.

I use the hand scanner to do my shopping at Tesco’s, it makes shopping so much simpler and no, they haven’t got rid of any of the normal checkouts or staff.

I still have. A passport and driving licence, I will make sure to renew my passport even when I give up using it, so I have it for a means of identity.

I have noticed that transferring money from the online bank account has become more difficult recently. I was paying a builder yesterday and because it was someone I hadn’t paid before, I had to go through several layers of security. I don’t mind that because they are only making sure that I am transferring the money to a genuine account, not a scammer, or to some random account because I have mistyped the number.

I o appreciate that some people choose not to have these newfangled things and it makes life difficult, but sadly with all the scamming that goes on these days, the authorities are in a difficult position if they don’t have tight security in place

Our local paper ( The West Briton) has an article today saying that Cornish car parks are being asked to stop the new ways of paying. More and more of them are only accepting payment by smart phones using some app or other, which it claims is stopping a lot of older people ( like me) who don't have one and haven't a clue what an app is anyway! I still have my trusty old Nokia which I only have for emergencies anyway and have no wish to have a newer model. My family ( esp the grandchildren ) have despaired of me!

I think I must have looked older even when I was still at school. I was once asked to pay full fare when travelling to the coast with pals - who, by the way, were all in my class and all of us were child-fare age.

Also, when we visited a country pub at 16 the landlady came up to our table to say that I could have a choice of drinks but the rest could only have lemonade.

More recently, when shopping one Tuesday - a day when pensioners get a 10% discount when they showed proof of age at the check-out - driving licence, bus pass etc - I was waved through saying no need to show proof of age.

I am wondering what comes next. :-D

I was well-and-truly dragged into the present-day on Mothers’ Day when daughter put a good number of free coffees at Cos*a onto my phone. First use - I found it eventually, second use - worked, third time - could not find it but the assistant (who knows our little coffee group) offered to find it if I gave him my phone which I did. He found it (for some reason I had moved it from the previously easy place Dtr had placed it) then he suggested he move it to make it easier to use if I was happy about it - so, yes, of course I was; anything for an easy life! He put the square bar-like doofer back to where Dtr had placed it originally.

I always considered myself tech savvy as I used computers from around 1982 at work but technology has come on leaps and bounds since then, particularly with mobile ‘phones since I retired almost twenty years ago. Not working has meant there is no need for me to keep up with changes and I have become complacent about everything (read LAZY). :-D

I don’t do FB, Twitter etc, only GR for chat.

I'm in exactly the same position as you Rose in that I have no passport or driving licence and have the same trouble as you in bank branches. Also have the same issues with everyone assuming we all have smart phones - I don't. Don't use Facebook so that isn't one of my annoyances

It's raining here too :-( :-)

Kath. x

I'm guessing that they are being watched so that is why they have to ask you those sorts of questions.

Our bank has a small branch in the village and the cashier knows most of the regular customers. When I had to transfer a large sum of money to a builder, the cashier said "I'm very sorry, Mrs W... but I have to ask you these questions". I said I didn't mind and she cut it as short as she could. :-)