Before moving to London, I had nearly gotten rid of cash altogether.
I had my trusty Visa Debit card (issues by my bank and tied to my
checking account), along with a Visa Credit Card for emergencies or
large purchases. These cards were accepted nearly everywhere, from
grocery stores to restaurants to gas stations to clothing stores to
cinemas to even the cafeteria and coffee stand at work. I almost never
had cash in my wallet, except for rare occasions where I’d need to pay
a friend (or a friend paid me), or had to buy something from a street
vendor.
Then, I moved to London.
In the UK, they have the same debit system we had in the US. Out
here, your bank will issue you a debit card tied to your current
account. They even have a slightly more secure setup whereby you insert
your card into a reader to have a chip read, rather than swiping the
magnetic strip. Different mechanics, but same overall effect.

However, for whatever reason, far fewer places accept debit cards,
and are ‘cash only’. Some places will charge a card only if there’s a
minimum payment (usually around £5-10). These places exist in the US
too, but seem far more rare. I’m constantly asking to borrow money from
my coworkers when we go out to lunch… not because I’m hard up for
money, but because I don’t have any cash on me, only my debit card!
A very good example of this, is McDonald’s. When I first moved to
London, McDonald’s restaurants were cash only (I think they finally
joined us in the 21st century a few months back). As an American, that
completely boggles my mind. McDonald’s only accepts cash?!? Preposterous!
I think this is either partially caused by (or affects) the cash
machines. In the US, a completely ‘free’ ATM is very very rare, almost
unheard of. If the ATM itself doesn’t charge you $1.50 for withdrawals,
your bank will charge you to use another bank’s ATM. The only ‘free’
ATMs are located at your bank branches. As a member of a Credit Union
with only 3 branches in the state, that’s not an ideal solution.
In the UK, the vast majority of Cash Machines are free. All Cash
Machines operated by any of the big banks are free, neither the Cash
Machine’s owner nor your bank will charge you to use it. I’ve still
seen a few Cash Machine’s that do charge, but they’re usually located
inside a small corner store or something.
Cash Machines here in London almost always have a queue
(line). Even at my local corner store at 2am, there always seems to be
1 or 2 people waiting to get cash. This problem is very bad near the
office in Covent Garden. There’s only 1 cash machine anywhere within a
6-7 minute radius of Neal’s Yard. Rather unsurprisingly, there’s
typically a massive queue during lunch time (I’m talking a
Football-Stadium-ATM-At-Halftime line!).

Part of my aforementioned lunch-money problem stems from my Cash
Machine/ATM habits. As I mentioned earlier, it was very rare for me to
pull money out of an ATM in the US. When I did so, it was usually $20
or $40. I didn’t like carrying too much cash with me at one time. Here
in the UK, those kinds of habits leave you cashless quite quickly. I
brought this up to a couple friends, and they told me their average
withdrawels were £80-100 at a time! That explains why I run out of cash
so much quicker than they do.
So, for those of you that have graciously purchased my lunch on
several occasions over the past year, I encourage you to pester each
and every vendor you encounter who only accepts cash. It will make all
of our lives easier, I promise. Nothing could possibly go wrong with an
entirely cashless society!