please empty your brain below

Yeah, cash is king, for a multitude of reasons. We've been had (again). Maybe I'm just old, or older than most than all the kids waving their phones around to pay a few pounds.
If the barmaid had given you £1 less in your change than she should have done would you have pointed it out to her?
For a business physically handling cash is a pain, remember the old cop shows where the wages snatch was a reliable story line, and people had wage packets?, another set of jobs physically handling and delivering money quietly disappeared (same with TfL regarding bus conductors and less quietly with ticket office closures).

Even with real physical cash, if you have plenty of it then you chuck stuff in the trolley without checking prices going round the supermarket (remember the myth surrounding smart meters is that we have nothing better to do with our time than to keep checking them to see how much electric/gas we're using), we only start to worry about money (and other stuff like water) when it is in short supply, not when its plentiful.
It is (amazingly) still legal for shop managers to deduct money from workers' wages if the till is short. For that reason I always try to check my change and give it back if it's over.
I'm with Flanders Valhalla and anon above - if you would have pointed out the mistake if you were a pound down, why not point out the error where the bar is a pound down? The barmaid doesn't set the price and may have to make up the difference qt the end of the night.
Yup, young folk can’t do mental arithmetic. Overpay with a note and carefully selected coins in cash because (say) you want a 50p piece in your change, and you will get a look that mixes incomprehension with terror, like a mullet turning the corner and meeting a shark

I bought some boot laces the other day: £3. The machine was immediately proffered and the hipster serving was most surprised to be offered a fiver.

I like cash too.
Or you gave her £2 instead of £1, and she gave you the correct change.
I think the real reason that banks want us to use contactless is because they get a small percentage of the transaction. And from the merchants' point of view, cash costs a lot to handle and is a security risk (as well as an arithmetic one!). I personally hate carrying cash around, and will pay for anything where possible by card!
Although the law may permit it, I doubt if staff penalties for short tills happens much. Would just encourage staff theft.
I hardly use cash these days, I swipe my bank card. Occasionally I come across a business that doesn't accept cards. My daughter tells me that this is so that they don't have to declare the income and that many small businesses aren't registered for VAT and may not even be paying tax.
I used to suspect small businesses who insisted on cash-in-hand when the only alternative was a cheque of tax-dodging, but many of them are now happy with electronic forms of payment. The real problem with cheques for small businesses was that they take time to clear, which can be problematic for cashflow. And cheques can bounce. And the person has to use some of their business hours to trek to the bank - that this is a nuisance is manifested in the time some of the cheques I do still write take to clear.
A 330ml bottle is invariably the same price, give or take, as a draught pint - and, as far as I can remember over 35 years of pub-going, always has been. That's why I drink pints.
I find it much much easier to track my spending using contactless. Indeed my bank even categorises it so I can see how much I'm spending.

Indeed I could see how much exactly every round cost, rather than trying to remember it all as I stuff the change back into my pocket. Also you get a notification on your phone, so if the barmaid put the wrong number into the card reader both parties would have an instant record of the incorrect amount. As you've shown on your short change scam (it's stealing really) that doesn't work with cash.
I probably use cash more than the average person of my age. Having fallen foul to card fraud a couple of times I'm a bit reluctant to use the card all the time. I also find budgeting easier with cash.

That said, I'll use card instead of cash for transactions over around £70-£80 and do use contactless now and again.
"former work colleague"...is there more to this story? could it be the long-awaited premise for the mystery count to register a point? ...perhaps we shall never know!
DG, I think like me you're a 99.99% honest bloke. There's always room for the odd lie, or withheld information in life.

But when it comes to change from bank notes I think I can count the number of times in my lifetime - on one hand - where the transactional error has gone in my favour. On a couple of occasions I did point it out.
I'm not implying staff are out to con you; but on the other hand, where the advantage has gone to the vendor - perhaps 20-30 fold! When I notice I quietly point this out, to be followed usually by a profuse apology.

And I'm old enough to remember and use £sd. Still basically very honest though.
We have all sorts of payment method down in Hong Kong, but I only use my contactless for trabsport, my card for petrol, and my mobile to pay between friends. Yeah, security concerns.
Cash is still King everywhere else.
I love the people on here getting all high and mighty over a transaction working in the customer's favour. It was a Pound for goodness sake.

No doubt these same people would source the nearest police station if they found 20p in the street. Because keeping it would be stealing right?
@milliem if you were to work on a checkout for <£10 per hour you would quickly notice losing a quid here and there.
I still use cash some of the time. Today's lunch cost me £6.05. By paying in cash I was able to get rid of a 5p that I didn't want.
@Gav
"your short change scam (it's stealing really)"

Is it? The transaction was a contract - DG offered to buy some beer using money. Some money was accepted in payment for the beer. The fact that the beer was advertised at a higher price doesn't mean the contract was invalid. Nor was there any fraudulent intent. (It would be different if the money was counterfeit, or if he had switched the contents of the box for something more expensive)
Since 2001 I use cash less and less. I still carry cash because you never want to be totally reliant on the commerce.
I pay by card most of the time, but makes having a "whip-round" tricky! Not one comment about the cost of the little bottle of beer..?

dg writes: You're the second.

I love London, and I love pubs. I've never known a time when the differential between pub and real-world prices have been wider. Central London prices are borderline criminal, and that's why the "pubs" with the notoriously awful carpets thrive, despite everything else about them.
Counterpoint: two days ago I bought something for £4.99 and paid contactlessly, but pointed out to the attendant that they had only typed in 49p and so should charge me another £4.50. (Which they did, for which I paid contactlessly a second time.)

I'm not always that honest - there are a few places from which I nevertheless buy which I sufficiently dislike to the point that I would happily accept an error in my favour - but I'm good enough that I don't lose sleep over it.
I have to say if I was your former work colleague I would've gone up to get your drink but there you go.
I've gone back to almost totally using cash. I take out the amount I have at the beginning of the month and give myself the allotted amount each day (whether I am going out or not). That way I consider each purchase against the day's allocation and sometimes then don't buy. I never spend more than I have, and I usually end up +ve at the end of the month so I save some.
When I was using cards (never had or wanted contactless) I was usually borrowing from savings at the end of the month.
The good feeling I get from pointing out an error in my favour tends to be worth it, and the bigger the overpayment the more guilty I'd feel not mentioning it.
I'm with GeoffL, I use cash 99% of the time. Cashless encourages overspending and debt.
Bad management of money and lack of will power encourages debt, not cashless technology.

I use card - easier to actually track spending, instant notification, and lighter on my wallet. Major benefit - points. Every single pound I spend earns me points and therefore goes towards holidays or other benefits.

As for the price of the beer - much nicer things to drink than bottled beer in a bar.
@timbo

It's stealing. No different to going to a shop and as a shop assistant goes to put the change in the till due to their incompetence they drop a quid on the floor and you pocket it.

In the case of the change above, I would say that lots of people would pocket it, it's socially acceptable. I may well have (particularly given the price of the beer), but it's still stealing, albeit justifiable and socially acceptable.

Re: The price of the beer. You're not really paying for the beer, you're paying for the time of the bar staff, the chilling of the beer, and the bloody expensive cost of land for people to socialise in.
Were your supermarket Becks and pub Becks both the same unit size? I remember around 15 years ago, they started selling it in a 275ml bottle, while still charging what you'd expect to pay for a 330ml one - which struck me as naked profiteering.
Nanny state article. If he was too stupid to check then that’s his fault. Or perhaps he knew the price beforehand. Stop worrying about other people and take a look at yourself first!










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