Tips for the cashless

“Sorry, I haven’t got any cash” used to be the line you dropped to avoid paying a tip or putting money in the charity pot, but as we move ever-faster towards a cashless society, that statement is becoming much less of a blag. I’ve oft pondered the need for an electronic device that would let me pay for my Big Issue or give a tip that goes direct to the waiter, when I have a purse full of cards, not cash. With mobile phones and the likes of Apple pay changing how we operate and move money, a person to person small payment scheme like this shouldn’t be far off. Interestingly, The Big Issue along with Monzo bank have been giving the cashless society some thought too. They’ve devised a clever way for The Big Issue vendors to receive electronic payments – not on the street quite yet but when a reader sells-on their copy of The Big Issue to someone else to read. Scan a QR code and your £2.50 payment will go to the vendor, multiplying what he or she receives for one copy. Currently being trialled with 20 vendors, the scheme also aims to help people without fixed addresses set up bank accounts. And in the process, Monzo proves its metal as a responsible, innovative digital bank. With one copy potentially being sold on 10+ times, that’s much more income for the vendor from the £1.25 they invest in an issue, and some print and paper is saved for the environment too. An all-round winner for everyone involved. I hope it takes off.