
UK Card only disaster
UK apparently permits companies require "card only" for transactions now. Let me tell you how this works from a foreign perspective.
I use a card, it has to be an accepted one, Indonesian card are not accepted, UnionPay only sometimes. So I'm stuck with Visa's Plus network and Mastercard Cirrus cards.
The local card processing company charges 10-15% conversion fee to the currency of the bank account.
The credit card company (Visa Mastercard) don't want to be held responsible for that ripoff, so they print out a disclaimed on the receipt and require a signature: "I accept that Mastercard are not responsible for the conversion rate of this transaction signed....". If you cannot sign the receipt then you cannot use the card, it is rejected. e.g. M6 toll road has gone card only and does not have a screen or a way to print receipts or accept signatures.
So UK has added a hefty penalty to it's tourism industry, and it's made its card payment systems unreliable and its cash worthless. It's prices are notional prices only, foreigners pay far more than those prices.
A pre-agreed transaction, for example a meal, that's already completed at an agreed price, and simply awaiting payment, suddenly changes price and the buyer has no option but to pay. I had cash, but the cash was worthless.
Sterling cash worthless.
Covid19 was the excuse, but typing a pin on a screen to accept a ripoff exchange rate is also a disease vector.
You need to restore the value of cash, or when/if UK goes totally cashless, card companies will rip you off too, far more than the 2-3% they do now. 1 pound sterling is 1 pound sterling. You need to anchor your prices to the your currency again, and establish the value of the pound. Or bend over and lube up for the card companies.
Today its tourists getting ripped off by the card companies, and you lot only getting a slight fee, but where do you think the profit increases will come from, if you go completely cashless? They'll rip you lot off too.