Demise of the city centre

[cent05zr70]

No need in Wales, plenty of water all the time, mobile brothels in the fields, and a ready source of food in the fields

No reason to panic for a while here

You eat hooers? Yeuuch!

 

[lokiuk]

You eat hooers? Yeuuch!

Hooers with mint sauce, pop them into your slow cooker and job jobbed

 

[cent05zr70]

Hooers with mint sauce, pop them into your slow cooker and job jobbed

Slow cooker? Nah. Spit roast.

 

[Teeblerone]

Every shop these relies on the internet to run its point of sale (POS) system. They have no means of manually entering prices into their tills. Their stock ordering and bill paying are entirely online, so they can’t restock. Without connectivity, they can’t take you cash.

When was the last time you visited a retail outlet of any kind that doesn’t have a connected POS?

Ah, gotcha.
I have no idea how connected tills are. Though I would bet a few grand that it's not 100% in the UK.
I was impressed by EFTPOS in Aus in 2000...tap & pay was magic!

 

[bobthebuilder]

Ah, gotcha.
I have no idea how connected tills are. Though I would bet a few grand that it's not 100% in the UK.
I was impressed by EFTPOS in Aus in 2000...tap & pay was magic!

Most surveys show the UK as being the third most cash-free market it the world, after Sweden and Canada. Big UK retail is not far off the cutting edge of digitisation in its automation. Even most small independents have connected POS. For honest businesses, cash is now just a vehicle to move money from one computer system to another.

Australia is now lagging behind in 8th, although I’ve seen surveys show that 85% of Australians want to go cashless. The problem is EFTPOS which is now a dated legacy system. If you use tap and go, it defaults to credit which often costs the retailer more than a debit transaction. Aldi were charging 1/2% extra for tap and go transaction before Covid.

 

[solomon88]

Ah, gotcha.
I have no idea how connected tills are. Though I would bet a few grand that it's not 100% in the UK.
I was impressed by EFTPOS in Aus in 2000...tap & pay was magic!

I remember another issue years ago. Major telecoms failure and apart from tills not working the banks and building societies lost their security systems. That in itself was reason to close. Mobile phones didn't work either because a lot of that goes through wires at some stage.

 

[CaptainRidiculous]

The Otterbury Incident should be compulsory reading!

Just found it on a book piracy site.
there's a few hours sorted.
Just need a packet of jelly tots for the full nostalgia trip

 

[Roger Out]

There’s no point in crying about a dying high street if the people moaning about it do nothing to support it. Obviously covid has stopped that for now.
Coffee shops and charity shops seem to dominate town centres now.
If people actually want actual shops to shop in, they need to actually spend money in them.

 

[ancienturion]

There’s no point in crying about a dying high street if the people moaning about it do nothing to support it. Obviously covid has stopped that for now.
Coffee shops and charity shops seem to dominate town centres now.
If people actually want actual shops to shop in, they need to actually spend money in them.

That is something I used to do but the shops shut anyway.

 

[stacker1]

There’s no point in crying about a dying high street if the people moaning about it do nothing to support it. Obviously covid has stopped that for now.
Coffee shops and charity shops seem to dominate town centres now.
If people actually want actual shops to shop in, they need to actually spend money in them.

People put their money where their mouth is? Are you having a laugh?

 

[Richard Headicus]

There’s no point in crying about a dying high street if the people moaning about it do nothing to support it. Obviously covid has stopped that for now.
Coffee shops and charity shops seem to dominate town centres now.
If people actually want actual shops to shop in, they need to actually spend money in them.

Except...if the council are charging exorbitant rates to the shops, charging car owners to park in city centres, suggesting supermarkets should charge their customers for parking to encourage shoppers back to city centres...do you see a pattern here? Simple mathematics.

 

[Roger Out]

Except...if the council are charging exorbitant rates to the shops, charging car owners to park in city centres, suggesting supermarkets should charge their customers for parking to encourage shoppers back to city centres...do you see a pattern here? Simple mathematics.

Yes agreed. Seems simple logic. The supermarkets and out of town retail centres which offer free parking certainly do not help the high street.
In addition to that it’s the high rents the landlords charge these companies.
Hardly surprising they just shut up shop.

 

[Mbongwe]

Depends on what research you read and how much you trust it, but the UK is supposedly the third most cash free society in the world. Most state that ~85% of transactions are cash free.

So 15% of the economy are either so old or vulnerable that they can’t get a bank account or use a debit card or are using cash for criminal purposes.

My bet it that amongst the former, the old and very vulnerable, there is a tiny percentage who genuinely can’t get or use an account. Most could if they were given support and guidance. The government’s Financial Inclusion Report is pretty clear on how lack of access to banking and living off cash makes people more vulnerable. TBH it’s a pretty poor reflection on UK education and social services that there are supposedly 1.2M without a basic bank account of some sort. Whatever, their expenditure in cash is around less than 2% of the economy.

So in essence the very expensive infrastructure that is cash is being kept in place for less than 2% of the economy and being paid for by the 85% who no longer use or need it.

Very informative, @bobthebuilder. Of the people I've met in recent years who don't have a bank account / Post Office account, most were long-term living off benefits or working exclusively in the "black economy".

Which kind of fits, given that the former have no reason to care that employers no longer pay cash, and the latter have to avoid any audit trail.

 

[Mbongwe]

No. It’s near impossible to spend cash without the internet working.

Not in most parts of London, it ain't. Most local grocery stores (not supermarket chains, mind), off-licences, fishmongers, greengrocers I use have those manual, typewriter-style cash registers for their cash payments.

I've no idea what their inventory system runs on, but if you pay cash they're certainly able to sell you your food and drink without immediately connecting to the inter-webby thing.

 

[bobthebuilder]

Not in most parts of London, it ain't. Most local grocery stores (not supermarket chains, mind), off-licences, fishmongers, greengrocers I use have those manual, typewriter-style cash registers for their cash payments.

I've no idea what their inventory system runs on, but if you pay cash they're certainly able to sell you your food and drink without immediately connecting to the inter-webby thing.

So how do they bank their cash?

 

[History_Man]

So how do they bank their cash?

With great difficulty given the rate of closure of bank branches on the high street.

 

[Mbongwe]

So how do they bank their cash?

I couldn't care less how they bank their cash; at long as they let me spend mine with them, I'm as happy as Larry!

 

[solomon88]

Except...if the council are charging exorbitant rates to the shops, charging car owners to park in city centres, suggesting supermarkets should charge their customers for parking to encourage shoppers back to city centres...do you see a pattern here? Simple mathematics.

I think it's already been mentioned - central Govt sets the business rates. Local councils probably don't have any flexibility, so they have to try other things.

 

[Roger Out]

People live online, work online, die online, have funerals and births online ! Everything will be virtual!
See where this is headed? We’re all sleepwalking into a digital takeover.
Sure Amazon and online shops are good but look at the jobs they cost...
Even Amazon will be staffed by robots soon who won’t need to go the toilet or have meal breaks!...

 

[kelvin_273]

People live online, work online, die online, have funerals and births online ! Everything will be virtual!
See where this is headed? We’re all sleepwalking into a digital takeover.
Sure Amazon and online shops are good but look at the jobs they cost...
Even Amazon will be staffed by robots soon who won’t need to go the toilet or have meal breaks!...

Yep, another industrial revolution on it's way.