How much cash to take in a contactless world...

[DTichborne]

So, I last went to Glastonbury in 2016 and it was still very much the case of working out how much cash you needed for the entire weekend. 

For people that went to the more recent two that I missed, was contactless payment very prevalent? To be clear, I know that the smaller outlying stalls are very unlikely to have such facilities and I want to support them as well. I guess my question is, did it work at the last Glastonbury to take a small amount of cash but mostly pay with card? 

[balti-pie]

im going with £50 initially, to see how far that gets me- card payment where poss, cash if necessary

[AndyC___]

I'm in a similar boat, last time was 2015 and I just paid cash from what I remember. Curious to know if the infrastructure for card payments is going to be ok

[Losing my hair]

At Bearded Theory 2 weeks ago, traders were reporting problems with the WiFi and at times were unable to take card payments and so a cash backup was needed. 

The issue with card payments is just keeping track of what you're spending and because you don't get a receipt (and to be fair you'd just lose them anyway) it's impossible to reconcile your statement when it lands. It might be easier if you get push notifications when your card is used, I've no experience on this.

I'll be taking cash , keeping it in the Property Lockup and just taking out my budget each day. My card will be in there too just in case.

[alanr]

I've got a prepay card to make sure I don't overspend, also if I lose it I only lose what's on the card at that time. I can top up from my usual debit card ( which will live in the lockups ) via a phone app. I will still have some cash with me for anywhere which requires it

 

 

[JohnEW]

I understand from our WaterAid volunteers webinar that the site will be a lot more cashless than the last time, which was after all three years ago. BUT, it won't be completely cashless so you should bring some with you. As for WaterAid you will be able to buy water bottles from us cashless this year.

[Alvoram]

I'll be taking a minimal amount of cash. £50 each max. As I'll be using my watch to pay for most things, it just seems safer. If I run out of cash and a vendor doesn't take card then I guess I'll go elsewhere, until I can find a cash machine without massive queues. 

It surprises me, given the amount of thefts that seem to happen, that the festival don't insist on vendors offering a cashless option (as well as cash as a backup.) The mobile payment technology has been in place for years now, and doesn't require wifi anymore, it can run quite happily on a minimal mobile data connection. (which shouldn't be an issue with EE.) 

[sedra]

I’ll be taking cash since I sold a few things recently sorting out the house and happen to have £200 cash that I can’t be bothered to bank. Will keep it in lock up and just take out  £20 per day in case needed

[March Hare]

£50 in the wallet and £150 in the lock up in case the card machines stop working

[incident]

9 hours ago, Alvoram said:

It surprises me, given the amount of thefts that seem to happen, that the festival don't insist on vendors offering a cashless option (as well as cash as a backup.) The mobile payment technology has been in place for years now, and doesn't require wifi anymore, it can run quite happily on a minimal mobile data connection. (which shouldn't be an issue with EE.) 

They don't need to regulate / impose, as cashless makes enough sense from all angles that it's already been adopted naturally. As best I can tell the only sanctioned traders that didn't accept cards etc in 2019 were a handful of the tiniest stalls in the lesser visited parts of the site (50p Tea Tent etc). Even those stalls will likely do so this year given that they'll have seen the way things have moved over the past couple years, and will have been able to pick up SumUp/Zettle readers for 20 quid.

Anyone who wants to leave their cash entirely at home will be able to do so and shop at nearly any official trader - just as they could have done so last time out. Of course the real reason people may choose to bring cash is that not all traders are sanctioned by the festival, and those that aren't likely won't wish to have the audit trail created by electronic payments.

[Alvoram]

1 hour ago, incident said:

They don't need to regulate / impose, as cashless makes enough sense from all angles that it's already been adopted naturally. As best I can tell the only sanctioned traders that didn't accept cards etc in 2019 were a handful of the tiniest stalls in the lesser visited parts of the site (50p Tea Tent etc). Even those stalls will likely do so this year given that they'll have seen the way things have moved over the past couple years, and will have been able to pick up SumUp/Zettle readers for 20 quid.

Anyone who wants to leave their cash entirely at home will be able to do so and shop at nearly any official trader - just as they could have done so last time out. Of course the real reason people may choose to bring cash is that not all traders are sanctioned by the festival, and those that aren't likely won't wish to have the audit trail created by electronic payments.

Ahh, so those that aren't bringing a vintage jar of their own? 🙈

Those days are a couple of decades behind me, not sure I could hack it these days... 😂😂😂

[moogster]

I'll take about 20 pounds for emergency, and to donate to the lock ups! It's a great service and I doubt they'll have a "donate with your bank pass" system.

[irnkrtn]

I'm taking £50. I'll only use cash where I can't use card. I'll be putting my festival spend money on my monzo, which doesn't get used for any direct debits so I'll have a good idea of what's festival spend and what's not, distinct from the account my salary goes into. 

For most traders who trade even semi-regularly, I would imagine taking card is standard now. We've gone cashless in work. The cost associated with card transactions is absolutely tiny compared to the cost of taking cash, banking it, genuine errors from staff who can take cash without logging against stock etc. Where I would expect to be using cash more is in the Healing Fields, where treatments are by donation, and workshops potentially.

[blutarsky]

28 minutes ago, irnkrtn said:

I'm taking £50. I'll only use cash where I can't use card. I'll be putting my festival spend money on my monzo, which doesn't get used for any direct debits so I'll have a good idea of what's festival spend and what's not, distinct from the account my salary goes into. 

More or less the same plan here, although I'll probably take a bit more than £50. I currently have £65 in my wallet which I won't bank, so will top that up to £100. 

[irnkrtn]

1 minute ago, blutarsky said:

More or less the same plan here, although I'll probably take a bit more than £50. I currently have £65 in my wallet which I won't bank, so will top that up to £100. 

Like most people, I usually get paid over the time I'm at Glastonbury. One year, I was due to be paid on the Thursday morning. Must have been 2008 some time like that. I got in the queue, forever, at Natwest. Card wouldn't work. Finally got through to the bank (Co-Op). They had cancelled my card due to fraud prevention and there was absolutely nothing they would do to rectify it. To the point that my salary had bounced back to my employer. 

Still have night terrors about it! What a week that was.

[jimmillen]

2 hours ago, irnkrtn said:

Like most people, I usually get paid over the time I'm at Glastonbury. One year, I was due to be paid on the Thursday morning. Must have been 2008 some time like that. I got in the queue, forever, at Natwest. Card wouldn't work. Finally got through to the bank (Co-Op). They had cancelled my card due to fraud prevention and there was absolutely nothing they would do to rectify it. To the point that my salary had bounced back to my employer. 

Still have night terrors about it! What a week that was.

Good grief, what did you do? Nightmare start to the festival. ☹️

I got all my money nicked on the Weds night in '97 - I don't think I knew about the lockups then! - and honestly don't know how I coped. I guess mates must have helped me out... hope I paid them back. 😂

[irnkrtn]

20 minutes ago, jimmillen said:

Good grief, what did you do? Nightmare start to the festival. ☹️

I got all my money nicked on the Weds night in '97 - I don't think I knew about the lockups then! - and honestly don't know how I coped. I guess mates must have helped me out... hope I paid them back. 😂

I think my mates must have helped me out as well? I just remember the extreme panic and also struggling to get a signal with the bank. No one was particularly rich so struggled through somehow clearly.

I have found wallets at a few festivals now - I can't imagine not making it your sole mission to return that for swift karma, let alone nicking someone's back in the day when you must have known that was IT for them. 

I wouldn't nick someone's wallet full stop, mind!

Edited June 14, 2022 by irnkrtn