LEE BOYCE: It’s vital we have the choice to pay with cash

When will our leaders – and I’m talking especially ministers, councilors and bosses of big companies – wake up and realize that this digital future they crave isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

Three times in three days I have had an absolute nightmare of paying with a debit card due to ‘malfunctions’ in the computer.

Each time there was a big song and dance about accepting cash (or rather, not accepting it).

First it happened in a small cafe in London. The barista couldn’t get the ticket machine to work.

I had exactly £3.50 in cash. Would he take it instead? No. So I waited five minutes for the machine to reboot, got fed up and walked away.

Second, I was at a local pub (again in London) and the internet went down.

I took the drinks away and went to the garden and waited 20 minutes for the bar staff to come out to pay. Because, again, cash was not acceptable.

The third time this happened I was at an independent gift shop in Essex where I live. They were waiting for a new card machine to take payment as the only one they have was about to flash.

“We have to accept cash again for now,” I was told by staff.

“Maybe that should be a permanent change,” I suggested.

Little chance!

Whether making payments, closing bank branches, forcing us to pay for parking over the phone, replacing supermarket staff with self-scanning machines or scanning a QR code to get a restaurant menu – the easy, reliable options (i.e. cash and paper) left, right and center are taken away from us. Is that really “progress”?

It is vital that we can choose how we make payments in our daily lives. And that means ending this utter madness of forcing everyone to depend on unreliable modern technology. Time to get your money back I’d say!

Loyalty is important

A week ago, this column reported on a suggestion from Money Mail reader Keith that loyal bank customers should get a reward for every decade they stick around.

Dozens of you have reached out to give his idea the thumbs up. Some of you say you qualify for your seventh gift under his plan – that’s how long you’ve been with the same bank.

Yet quite a few people say the only “gift” they can remember receiving in recent years was the closure of their local chapter.

One reader, Peter, says he started banking at Midland Bank – now HSBC – in 1957. That’s 66 years of loyalty.

He adds: ‘The only way they thank me is by closing the branch in my hometown of Burgess Hill in West Sussex – the nearest is now five miles away in Haywards Heath. Not really a loyalty reward.’

Peter also asks if 66 years is a record. I’m afraid not, given our mailbag.

Gordon, 85, from Southwick, West Sussex, tells me he opened his Lloyds Bank account in 1955 — before Elvis released a studio album and the average home in the UK cost £1,937, according to Nationwide Building Society, or £63,169 against the current prices.

He says: ‘I have been a customer of Lloyds for 68 years, but this has never been recognized by the bank. A small token of appreciation would be very welcome.’

Big banks, it’s time to show your gratitude.

Thank you…

This week will be the last time I write this column. It has been a great privilege to edit these pages and devour the thousands of letters and emails you send us.

Your bright ideas, thorny questions and captivating stories are the lifeblood of Money Mail – long may it continue.

They have made me laugh, cry and bubble with rage at the way so many companies treat you. Don’t stop reading – and certainly don’t stop writing!

In the future, if you don’t mind a little plug, you’ll find me on Money Mail’s sister website, This Is Money, which is packed with personal finance tips and tricks to make you richer.

For now, adios – I wish every reader a prosperous future.

l.boyce@dailymail.co.uk