Waitrose is opening a cash-free supermarket. Roger Lytollis asks whether cards are going to take the place of currency permanently.


Billy BoneBilly Bone, owner of several Foreways grocery shops and Post Offices in Carlisle:  Cashless might be the future to some extent. There’ll definitely be less cash. We’ve seen that already in the last few years.

There’s a lot of cards about. People don’t seem to carry as much cash as they used to.

I think that’s a good idea. We have contactless payment at our shops, not on smartphones but with cards.

The only thing is you’ve got to be careful you don’t lose your card or phone or get it stolen.

With a cashless system, somebody’s got to trial it. Let’s have a trial first and see how it works.

Even if it takes off at Waitrose, we’re out in the sticks up here. It would probably be a while before it found its way to Cumbria.

Who knows what the future will hold? I would imagine in five or 10 years, the way technology develops, cashless will be the way forward.

But I don’t think cash will die out. I think there’ll still be a need for it. If people are shopping at Foreways, they’ll still be able to use cash.

They’ve got rid of swapping a bag of tatties for a bag of turnips. But there’s still cash and there always has been – look at the Romans.


Keith JacksonKeith Jackson, retail analyst at the University of Cumbria:  Contactless payment has taken off quickly and it’s going to continue.

London Transport has introduced contactless payment with credit cards. It’s treated like an Oyster Card. It automatically works out the cheapest fare for your journey.

It’s all about convenience. It’s about the time it takes for the customer to sort out their money and hand it over and get their change, and for the retailer the time it takes to put it through the banking system.

Instead you’re just waving a card or a phone. Security is the potential downside. You have to trust the system.

It’s like having cash in your hand all the time. People can brush past your wallet with a scanner and read the card number and expiry date. A lot of people have started carrying wallets with shields.

Whatever form is used, people will find a way to get around it. The Waitrose cashless store is in a workplace. It could be a while before we start to see cashless shops on the high street.

But if you’d said three or four years ago people will be able to go in a coffee shop in Carlisle and pay by waving a card, it would have sounded unlikely.


Jayne Hyde-DrydenJayne Hyde-Dryden, Carlisle Society for the Blind:  The main problem is that every shop’s chip and PIN machine is different. Sometimes there are extra buttons on the top, extra buttons on the bottom or extra buttons on the side.

A lot of blind people have a bit of useful vision, and want to be as independent as possible, but they can’t always get near them with a magnifying glass.

If all shops had the same machines it would make everyone’s life a lot easier.

On the other hand, some people struggle with cash. They have looked at it all their lives and getting used to knowing it by touch is very difficult.

Some blind people will hand over their purse and tell a shop assistant to take the money out. Nine times out of 10 that will be fine, but there’s always the chance that you could be cheated. Once I handed over a £20 note but I was told it was a tenner. When you can’t see it you can’t prove it.

But a 90-year-old woman who doesn’t have an iPad and doesn’t want to use a credit card will always prefer cash.

The more choice there is for people the better it will be. If you start taking away choices it is very limiting. For a shop to refuse legal tender is not on.


Mike RaysonMike Rayson, Carlisle newsagent: If you lose your card you’re in trouble. And what happens if the bank’s computers go down, as happened recently. When the bank is faulty, do you go hungry?

We charge 25p for card purchases under £10, which nearly covers our processing costs, but people will still use them – it doesn’t deter them. Cash won’t disappear immediately – the older generation won’t allow it – but I think in 50 years’ time it will, when people of my son’s age become the older ones. The card generation will take over.

If you didn’t handle cash you would probably have cheaper insurance, you wouldn’t have the same banking charges or night safe costs. With cash you have to make sure you have enough on site, and it costs you time and petrol taking it to the bank.

And there would be less security to worry about if you didn’t have cash– although maybe thieves would steal your stock. They’d take your marshmallows instead!

There are pros and cons to everything. Children of six or seven will come in with 50p for sweets. They aren’t going to pay with a debit card.

The older generation and the very youngest generation will still use cash.