Cash, Card, Contactless?

[Dannytc]

Hello,

 

Glasto first timer here. Just wondered overall how many places accept card payments? From memory was Contactless widely took up last year?

Trying to decide if Should bring cash, or get one of PayB wristbands from Barclay where i can pay contactlessly all week?

Any tips for cash vs card amounts to take? 50/50?

[incident]

Card payments are sometimes but not always available, and certainly not always reliable.

It's a cash based Festival. I'd say 100/0.

[Dannytc]

Thank you, that makes it a whole lot easier to Plan for, was hoping it would of been all contactless by now haha!

[Funkyfairy!]

I'd say zero contactless - never seen it there although could be wrong. Didn't Leads/Reading trial it last year, defo not Glastonbury.

I'd rewind your tech clock 10 years and thats Glastonbury and the charm of it ... be lucky if a stall even takes cards ...cash all the way, there are a few cash machines on site, but we take a stash and stick it in the lock ups and take out what we need each day

I reckon you'd find more places where you could 'work barter'  for a meal (eg do an hours washing up) that take contactless payment - love it :-)

[stuwilky]

Remember to keep cash in the lock ups!  Only kepe on you what you need.  Its easy to loose cash when spangled!!!

[Dannytc]

^^ haha work barter!

Thank you both for the advise. I'll take cash then

 

[Slugworth]

9 minutes ago, Funkyfairy! said:

I'd say zero contactless - never seen it there although could be wrong. Didn't Leads/Reading trial it last year, defo not Glastonbury.

I'd rewind your tech clock 10 years and thats Glastonbury and the charm of it ... be lucky if a stall even takes cards ...cash all the way, there are a few cash machines on site, but we take a stash and stick it in the lock ups and take out what we need each day

I reckon you'd find more places where you could 'work barter'  for a meal (eg do an hours washing up) that take contactless payment - love it :-)

Download definitely cocked it up last year.

[carlosj]

I think I read that some bars were doing card sales last year, but the signal was iffy. I don't think it was contactless.  Some stalls may do card sales as there is less of a rush.  I'd advise taking cash, and definitely using the lockups, but split the notes into envelopes, one for each day and check them in separately, so you can take one out at a time (if you book in everything on 1 ticket, you have to take it out, to split some notes off and book back in), Photograph the tickets and location then you have a better chance of getting it out if you lose your ticket.

[marathonsteve]

Take a credit card and cash but leave the credit card and most cash in lock up as a reserve

[highwater]

first time I ever used contactless (anywhere) was in the real ale bar next to the acoustic tent in 2014.  

Used it a few times last year but it was hit and miss which bars offered the service. Also sometimes you had to ask as the bar stewards were unsure if it was a service. When they checked with managers the answer was often yes. 

[glasto-worker]

9 hours ago, highwater said:

first time I ever used contactless (anywhere) was in the real ale bar next to the acoustic tent in 2014.  

Used it a few times last year but it was hit and miss which bars offered the service. Also sometimes you had to ask as the bar stewards were unsure if it was a service. When they checked with managers the answer was often yes. 

Not surprised at all due to the way the system works and how shifts will overlap - only Bar staff on the first shift will be told if they do or do not take cards - these credit card machines are a right pain in the arse and they only keep a charge for so many hours ' and then they have to be charged for at least four hours ' so its very common in a busy bar to walk in ' and there is no active machine available ' - the front line staff have no clue when they started its charge as they cant see the machines + many of the WBC Bars are in locations where they cant get a active signal .Every bar will have a price list and if they take cards it will mention this on the price list - if there is no mention then they Don't.

 

Its the fault of the Tent Manager if the staff don't know ' as they are charged in his portacabin ' and he is supposed to call out ' we are now taking cards ' but I know that many don't      

it is best just to use cash and not depend on cards. 

[miffmiffy]

We definitely used contactless in the bar at Williams Green last year. We just used it as and when we saw it to save the notes. Definitely not something you should rely on I'd say.

[Lipgloss and Cigarettes]

As someone who works on the bars every year I can advise you to use cash. It's quicker and easier. Often there are only two or three PDQ machines per bar and when it's busy we have to run up and down the bar looking for them/waiting for them to become free or they're out of action because the battery is dead or the signal is weak. Cash will get you supping your pint quicker. 

[highwater]

glasto worker - comment not meant as a criticism - just pointing out how it worked for me.  And invariably it worked in my favour.  

My advice would be that if you have no cash ready, just check with bar as it could be an option to save you searching out a cash machine. 

[marathonsteve]

If you are serving behind the bar and there are customers who are 3 deep at the bar and someone hands over a credit card for one or two drinks it does not go down well. It was not a quick process at the best of times. In shops it takes a couple of secs but you will effectively be in the middle of a field. It will take longer and some transactions did not go through even though you have tried a couple of times. Maybe best to take cash.

[Watergirl]

Cash.  And make sure to bring plenty of it as queues at the ATMs on site an be enormous.   

I once went to an ATM at about midnight to avoid queueing, but for that you obviously need to be relatively with it at that time.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Watergirl

[musky]

On 3 May 2016 at 0:03 PM, Dannytc said:

^^ haha work barter!

Thank you both for the advise. I'll take cash then

 

Strangely enough there are places that do this. I think it's usually something like 1 hours work (washing up) for a meal!

[glasto-worker]

19 hours ago, highwater said:

glasto worker - comment not meant as a criticism - just pointing out how it worked for me.  And invariably it worked in my favour.  

My advice would be that if you have no cash ready, just check with bar as it could be an option to save you searching out a cash machine. 

I did not think it was - its just at times ' it can appear no one has a bloody clue what is going  on when in fact it may be down to poor communication - in 2006 we were at Hyde Park { for two weeks } - now you would think there would be no dead spots within Hyde Park but even there ' there was some bars that we could not get a signal ' - I happened to be in one of those bars and I spotted the Tent Manager standing on a table - now I was baffled so went to investigate - he was holding a potable C/C reader and if he held it up high enough ' he could get a signal ' - I did point out that the WBC Health and Safety officer would go nuts if he asked staff to do this.God knows what the Customers thought as it was decided that only on orders over £100 was it worth it so every so often they would see the Tent Manager standing on a bloody table - you just could not make this up.

[davidishere]

I would stick with the cash...but keep a credit card safe and handy somewhere

[Memory Man]

Odd question, does anyone know if you get cash from the mobile ATMs near west holts (Or indeed any pay for event cash machine) whether the money comes out of your account straight away like a normal city centre free cash machine or whether its more like a debit card payment that comes out the next day or 2?

i get paid on the monday of glasto so thinking if i got cash from one of these on the saturday it may not come out till monday? I would look on my bank statement from last year but ive changed banks since then and have no access to my old records. Thanks in advance if anyone knows!

[jumbomcnutt]

3 minutes ago, Memory Man said:

Odd question, does anyone know if you get cash from the mobile ATMs near west holts (Or indeed any pay for event cash machine) whether the money comes out of your account straight away like a normal city centre free cash machine or whether its more like a debit card payment that comes out the next day or 2?

i get paid on the monday of glasto so thinking if i got cash from one of these on the saturday it may not come out till monday? I would look on my bank statement from last year but ive changed banks since then and have no access to my old records. Thanks in advance if anyone knows!

They are linked to the network so no funds = no cash.

[Memory Man]

Ok cool thanks for that. 

Just to add to the previous debate re contactless, i was at lost village festival on saturday and some food traders accept cards and were openly advertising that they do. I think its mainly the ones that do the rounds at all the festivals professionally. I seem to recall voodoo rays pizza in block 9 taking cards last year as well. There was no 3g signal at lost village whatsoever so its nothing to do with that clearly.

it seems to be the more trendy / modern/ posh / stalls that take card rather than dodgy fish & chips by the pyramid.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Memory Man

[clarkete]

43 minutes ago, Memory Man said:

Ok cool thanks for that. 

Just to add to the previous debate re contactless, i was at lost village festival on saturday and some food traders accept cards and were openly advertising that they do. I think its mainly the ones that do the rounds at all the festivals professionally. I seem to recall voodoo rays pizza in block 9 taking cards last year as well. There was no 3g signal at lost village whatsoever so its nothing to do with that clearly.

it seems to be the more trendy / modern/ posh / stalls that take card rather than dodgy fish & chips by the pyramid.

You know that none of the networks had signal there?

Surely it has to authorise the funds, so unless the site gave them a wifi connection?

[Memory Man]

well no i don't know, i know that myself on O2 had nothing more than an intermittent text message only signal.

but O2 is notoriously crap for signal.

my uneducated guess is that some form of temporary festival wi fi is set up for traders and people working there and they use that.

Its different at glasto as they bring loads of extra capacity for all the networks whereas for a 5k capacity festival like lost village no extra is brought in.

My prediction is that we will see a lot more food stalls this year accepting cards at the festival, but definitely still way less than the majority. possibly 10-20%. There is no doubt that it is still very much a cash based festival.

 

Edited June 2, 2016 by Memory Man

[jumbomcnutt]

36 minutes ago, clarkete said:

You know that none of the networks had signal there?

Surely it has to authorise the funds, so unless the site gave them a wifi connection?

Last year the mobile phone signal was generally very good, even on non-EE networks, the temporary masts they put in work really well in recent festivals.

 The cash machines on site use a system called PakNet. Its a radio frequency not a mobile phone connection. It's an ancient system but perfect for rural payment solutions!

Edited June 2, 2016 by jumbomcnutt