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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

I went for a haircut on Green Lanes recently and the hairdressers are still only accepting payment in cash. Luckily I had plenty, as the cash I'd taken out several weeks ago was still in my purse, unspent.

Is this unusual, and if so, why are they doing this? I can understand not wanting to take cards for tiny amounts, although many places accept them for all payments or even require card payments only. But for a £30 haircut I would expect to pay by card almost everywhere.

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Money laundering ?

Or perhaps the chairs are occupied by freelancers and it's easier to collect and distrbute cash.

My experience has been of an extreme increase in the number of small shops willing to take electronic/digital payment. Last week, a visit to a ‘corner shop’ on Priory Road near the bottom of Muswell Hill was the first time I’d been declined for digital for a long time. Their limit was £3.00.

I assume that if a hairdresser on Green Lanes is taking cash only, it’ll mean they have a client group who, in the main, are quite happy with it. Their motivation may be a mix of keeping money out of the hands of the banks and increasing their ‘accounting flexibility’. 

I’m quite used to paying hairdressers, manicurists etc in cash.  In most highstreet salons the stylists are generally self employed so you pay them directly in cash and usually round up to include a tip, and they pay rent to the salon manager for their chair. It’s always been the way for as long as I remember, either locally or in the West End. Only time I’ve paid by card was at a corporate chain such as Toni & Guy or Headmasters. 

I have always paid my independently owned salon by card, it's never occurred to me to pay cash! I never have any cash, let alone the £200 it cost me last time I went. (That made up for 18 months no haircut due to the pandemic...)

As Hugh implies its simply tax avoidance. The fact some of the hairdressers are freelancers is irrelevant. 

I think a good response to a hairdresser who styles your hair and then claims not to accept card payments is to say you don't carry cash. I'm sure a card machine will mysteriously appear and if it doesn't just tell them you've tried to pay, they've decided not to accept so you simply leave. Taxi drivers used to be notorious for this or for claiming their card machine was down.

Any business can refuse card payments - they are under no obligation to accept them.  Walking out without paying at a hairdresser who probably has your contact details from your appointment booking isn’t a very wise move.

I'm not suggesting deliberately not paying. I'm suggesting forcing the hairdressers hand to accept card payment. 

One the reasons hairdressers and other service providers sometimes prefer cash is to avoid the situation where the customer asks their card company to stop the payment afterwards if they're not happy with the service.

I'm sure if we insist on offloading real hair on our longsuffering barber, he has a right to expect real money in exchange. All this card gimmickry is an excuse for avoiding a tip.  And I'm sure my Drycleaner has a right to a bit of money laundering on the side. 

Why did a buisiness have to take Card and loose a percentage of sales to a Bank ? 

They can pass on the bank fee to the customer. I would happily pay it to avoid having to deal with cash. 

You are to be reminded cash is legal tender,we don’t use cards for anything.It is absolutely essential that cash remains as a form of payment,many older people especially cannot function without it,visually impaired are another group who survive on cash these are just a few examples ,the list is endless.At the moment we all pay on average 2% on every card transaction,do you think that once the majority of the population is using cards it will stay at that rate ? it will go up to 5% then who knows,we are mugs because all this money is going to the banks.Do you not think we give them enough of our hard earned?

People should also be reminded to consider implications of a blinkered race to a world of digital-only payments and CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies). 

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