{"id":84385,"date":"2023-07-22T07:57:26","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T06:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/?p=84385"},"modified":"2023-07-22T07:57:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T06:57:26","slug":"a-re-think-is-needed-from-swansea-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2023\/07\/22\/a-re-think-is-needed-from-swansea-city\/","title":{"rendered":"A re-think is needed from Swansea City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The subject of cashless payments at the Swansea.com Stadium raised its head again yesterday when a video circulated on social media from a supporter who had clearly been riled by an inability at first to pay for items in the club shop via cash.<\/p>\n<p>It should be made clear at the beginning that nobody can condone abuse to any staff member at the club and none of us &#8211; other than those present &#8211; know what happened before the start of the video that has been seen widely on social media.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='fRutXeZ9RvRQ2EeIsDbKVg' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1241668316' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'fRutXeZ9RvRQ2EeIsDbKVg',sig:'2j2ju7Q6SZ5KAZwmJcGJ_fg2Ow_Dz2DNXZZvVfKhprk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1241668316',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Whatever that &#8216;pre-video&#8217; incident looked like, it certainly prompted the club to release a statement that said &#8220;The incident involved a member of the public verbally abusing a staff member and leaving the premises without paying via the correct procedure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The club strongly condemns such behaviour, and we are taking steps to ensure the individual in question is both identified and appropriate action taken.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Swansea City announced earlier this year that they would become fully cashless from Monday March 13 in all areas which included the Park and Walk facility used on matchdays at Landore.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday&#8217;s statement added\u00a0 &#8220;We would like to remind supporters that the club is fully cashless across all its sites and trading outlets, with clear signage on display both in and around the Swansea.com Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This has been clearly communicated on several occasions, and we would like to thank the vast majority of supporters who have been supportive of this move.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The move to a totally cashless facility was always going to be a contentious one and whilst most supporters will be comfortable with the move there will always be an element (and a not insignificant one) who will prefer to operate with cash and that should be supported.\u00a0 \u00a0Inclusivity can come in many elements beyond the ones that are naturally thought of when that word is banded about.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='_6yL6jYdTvBLdyiMHsOcMA' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1504264373' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'_6yL6jYdTvBLdyiMHsOcMA',sig:'_sOAr_pPZtszWXnH83_3AA59uXM5OADN0fd5YNCvV-Y=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1504264373',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>The club have effectively excluded part of their support from purchasing items from them at the moment.\u00a0 Whether that is merchandise in the club shop, a cup of tea at the stadium on a matchday or even, it seems, the ability to park a car in an facility that allows them to get to the stadium.\u00a0 \u00a0Surely that feels shortsighted at best.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst the advent of contactless payments and many people now having apple or google pay on their phones there will always be people who are not comfortable in making payments that way.\u00a0 \u00a0The nature of personal finances should not be dismissed and budgeting with cash is often much easier for many then randomly tapping cards or phones where it is exceptionally easy for people to lose sight of what they have spent at any stage.\u00a0 \u00a0Almost every major retailer will accept cash and, indeed, you often see local business who express a desire for people to use cash ahead of the convenience that many see in cards.<\/p>\n<p>It is certainly not right that staff get abused for a club decision &#8211; everyone should remember that it is not the front line staff who make the decisions &#8211; but it is easy to see why this would cause frustration when someone wants to pay via cash.<\/p>\n<p>This is something that the club should be considering to overturn although the statement yesterday suggested that it was nowhere near the front of their minds to do so.\u00a0 But surely a simple change to &#8220;our preferred method is cashless&#8221; just ensures that everyone who wants to transact with the club can do so.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Access to Cash report, published before the pandemic in 2019, up to one in five British citizens could be left behind by a transition to digital-only transactions.\u00a0 Whilst the pandemic may have amended that number it still remains the case that is a significant percentage and the club have effectively turned their back on those people no matter what the number currently is.<\/p>\n<p>In an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unbiased.co.uk\/discover\/personal-finance\/budgeting\/a-cashless-society-what-are-the-pros-and-cons#:~:text=Is%20the%20cashless%20society%20really,comes%20to%20straightforward%20everyday%20budgeting.\">article published in February this year on trusted site unbiased.com<\/a><\/strong> they noted &#8220;Cash matters to people on lower incomes and also the older age group, so it\u2019s important to ensure that they\u2019re not locked out by a no-compromise cashless economy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Choice is key. Everyone has the right to spend and bank on their own terms. If that means facial recognition, apps and biometric authentication then the technology is ready. But cash-preferred customers who seek physical interaction matter too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It seems that the UK Government is listening. They recently held a consultation on Access to Cash, to ensure that they take steps that protect the UK\u2019s cash infrastructure, for the long term.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It seems though that Swansea City has a different view and one that probably needs to change.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-84386\" src=\"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless-640x360.jpg 640w, https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Cashless-1068x601.jpg 1068w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The subject of cashless payments at the Swansea.com Stadium raised its head again yesterday when a video circulated on social media from a supporter who had clearly been riled by an inability at first to pay for items in the club shop via cash. It should be made clear at the beginning that nobody can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[293,49,203],"tags":[1509],"class_list":["post-84385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-team","category-news","category-opinion","tag-the-2023-2024-season"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}