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Small businesses and cash vs card

Journalist: Callum Mason, i

ended 04. April 2024

Keen to speak to small business owners on how they feel about customers paying in cash rather than via card.

Do they encourage customers to pay by cash generally, and how dramatically do card payments affect their profit margins?

In some cases, is it easier to have payments made by card?

1 responses from the Newspage community

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Barry Whitehouse
Owner / Tutor at The Artery
As a small business, we accept all forms of payment, and I personally do not feel any should be discouraged. In some cases and with customers we know well, we still take cheque payments!
If whatever it is, is someone's sole means of paying, why refuse and risk losing a sale or even a customer? It is a broad misconception that somehow cash is 'free', but we not only get charged for having a business account, but also for paying in cash more often than not, as we also get charged a tiny percentage for taking card transactions.
Fewer people carry cash, but we would never dream of banning it. Having cash helps keep the float in the till at a constant, it helps with petty cash purchases too. However I do not believe society will ever become fully cashless, and I understand for some businesses not having cash on premises helps reduce the risk of theft/burglary, but as a small community retailer, all forms of payment are happily taken and will always be!