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Explanation

On the 25. February, the shop in the MD building went cashless, supposedly for a week's trial. However, on the 5. March, I went into the shop thinking I could pay for the items I had bought using cash, however, this was not the case. This state of affairs has caused inconvenience and annoyance to quite a few students, including my friend, who had taken money out of the cashpoint in Santander expecting, as I did, to be able to pay using cash.

Therefore, I would like someone from the SU, such as a shadow councillor, or the Union Chairman/Chairwoman to ask the manager of the catering department, to whom the MD shop belongs, the following questions:

  1. Why was there no consultation, either on Canvas, Strawpoll etc., on whether the shop should go cashless or not?
  2. Why has the shop continued to refuse cash payments beyond the duration of the trial without anything being posted on Student Comms, Canvas, etc.?
  3. What other methods of payment will the shop accept if the card machines go down, whether due to IT issues or planned maintenance (cheques, or purchase on credit, possibly?)?
  4. Have any of the staff in the shop faced hostility due to this sudden change, and what could be done to lessen or (ideally) prevent this?
  5. What were the results of the week's trial?
  6. Will the shop go back to resuming cash payments, and if not, why not?

Personally, I think this has not been handled in a good way, especially for certain groups of students, such as foreign students, and students with certain disabilities, such as certain students on the Autistic Spectrum, who may have built up a routine of using cash payments, only for this to be broken, to great annoyance at the very least, and possibly verging on stress and distress for some.

The lack of transparency on the supposed permanence of the refusal of cash payments is the most annoying thing to me, and possibly many others, who have been caught out by it. Could someone please address this?

Status

Why has the MD shop been cashless for more than the weeks trial?

This Idea for Change opened on 16 Apr 2019 and closed on 30 Apr 2019.

12 students voted on this Idea, giving a score of +14.

This Idea for Change has passed to the Student Change team for action, who have until 21 May 2019 to respond or pass on to an Officer. 

 
 

Discuss

Marie Dodd
3:12pm on 30 Apr 19 This Idea has passed and the comments will remain open for discussion while the Create Change team action the Idea.
Alex Jenkins
12:13am on 17 Apr 19 Full disclosure: I wrote this create change In re Peter Bridgewood’s comment: I would love to know why the Chancellor never even asked us or (as far as I’m aware) the shop staff, or actually spent a day or few in there actually observing In re Edward Young’s comment: Fellow autistic student here I wouldn’t mind it so much if we were able to pay with cash as well as with cards. It’s the card only thing that bothers me the most. I’d developed the routine of paying for everything in there in cash, and I’d really like to know how they’ll accept payment if we can’t use cards. Perhaps they’ll actually see the benefit of having multiple payment options in the first place. If I were happy to use my card in there,I wouldn’t particularly fancy going into the shop, only to find I can’t use it(due to IT issues probably?) when I’ve got my hands full of things I want to buy. I fear I’d probably go into a massive panic or very close to a meltdown with all the stress of not being able to pay for what I wanted to buy, and even if the shop staff just let me walk out with a bill, I’d probably feel really guilty about walking out with things that I hadn’t paid for there and then. I just hope the shop staff haven’t faced a loat of abuse because of this whole fiasco. If they have, they don’t deserve it at all.
Peter Bridgwood
4:29pm on 16 Apr 19 Chancellor's decision, the staff working there aren't happy about it either.
Edward Young
3:48pm on 16 Apr 19 With regards to autistic students, as one myself, the shift to cashless has been highly beneficial, as it brings the SU shop inline with the rest of the university and most of the other shops in wolverhampton. It means I can homogenize my routine and processes rather than having to check every single time I might risk going to the SU shop that I have cash on me to pay for what I want.
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