ACS

Cash is booming! That’s the message from the Better Local Living campaign, which reveals today that cash payments are proving more popular than ever in Britain as consumers handle the tough economic climate. In community stores up and down the country, 86% of transactions are in cash, up from 56% only one year ago.

The Better Local Living campaign is backed by ACS Premier Club member PayPoint which operates in over 22,000 convenience and community stores in Britain.

The Better Local Living campaign research has also uncovered the following about our cash payment habits:
• 69% of respondents are using cash to make budgeting easier – because they are worried about debt and want to know where they stand on a day-to-day basis
• 12% of people in Britain don’t budget for their household requirements – they just spend as and when
• Although one-third (34%) of 16-24 year olds don’t budget, three-quarters (75%) of those who do rely on cash to help them budget
• The debt message is getting through to young people: one-fifth of 16-24 year olds use cash because they want to avoid getting into debt – more than any other age group
• 1 in 5 25-34 year olds are using cash more than ever before
• 15% more women than men are using cash as part of the way they budget in 2009
• Older people (55+) appear to be the least worried about getting into debt – just 13%

In addition, more than 81% of British consumers think that convenience stores are important in creating community spirit. As a result, the Better Local Living campaign is encouraging people in Britain to make more use of their local community stores.

Other effects of the recession on our behaviour identified by the campaign include:
• Over a quarter (26%) of British shoppers are cooking from scratch at home
• Inviting friends over, instead of going out for meal, has risen by 13%
• Instead of visiting pubs or bars, 16% more British consumers are drinking at home

Peter Brooker, head of corporate affairs at PayPoint, said: “When times are tough, people rely on cash more and need it to help manage their day-to-day spending. At PayPoint, we are firm believers in ‘little and often’ and local community stores are ideal for people to manage their finances in the same way. It’s surprising how many things you can pay ‘little and often’, such as topping up your gas and electricity meters, spreading the costs of your TV licence, mail order purchases and insurance products, saving for Christmas or buying your weekly bus ticket. By enabling the broadest range of payments to be made at your local community store, we hope we can make peoples’ lives that bit easier.”

Speaking to the Daily Express James Lowman, ACS Chief Executive said: “When times are tough people live on a day-to-day basis. They are not spending large amounts of money on credit cards but they are spending small amounts of cash to help manage their expenditure.

“In the recession people are struggling with money so are trying to spend less and put a bit on the side.

“We have noticed this trend in community stores as these are set-up for cash transactions and for people to make short-term food purchases.”

PayPoint offers a much broader range of cash payment services than ever before, from pre-pay energy meters, utility bill payments, mobile top-up, cash savings plans, prepaid ‘credit’ cards, bus tickets, TV licence, council tax and rent and even school meals through to money transfer and paying for online purchases, giving everyone much greater flexibility over their lifestyle choices, how they opt to use their leisure time and when they do their shopping.