This is a consultation to understand how the membership feels about going cashless.

Currently there are 41 responses in favour, 9 against, and 3 neutral.

1. "Please go ahead"

2. "Definitely up for cashless"

3. "Sounds good to me"

4. "Good idea. You could do what most clubs do,  have a membership fee, then note how often each person plays and email them perhaps twice a year with their outstanding fees. It seems to work"

5. "This all seems very well thought out and sensible.  If the treasurer is happy with it I can see no problem with changing to this new system."

6. "The question about bridges scorers and directors - this has never been sorted out and is a long standing issue we all just have had to live with. I have frequently been on the rota but almost never receive ‘post match’ credit when results are published - this will need resolving. If this can be effectively sorted to show the correct director and scorer in published results before the change I have no issue with going cashless"

7. "Good idea! It works well at Cheltenham, easy to top up your account and much easier, and safer, for those collecting money."

8. "I agree cashless is a good idea"

9. "Sounds good to me"

10. "Even I understood all of it!!"

11. "I support this change."

12. "It makes sense. I approve"

13, 14. "Great idea Steve. Yes from Chris and I"

15. "I am on favour of going cashless.It works very smoothly at Newent."

16. "As an occasional visitor, (perhaps my ballot should count as 3/52 of a vote?), I would be happy to move to a cashless system should the club choose to adopt it."

17. "I would support any move to cashless - Marcle is one of the very few places I ever use any cash now. The Bridgewebs system seems good enough, although personally I would prefer the less automated version used by Worcester BC. The Treasurer sends out an email every three or four months to all players showing what everyone owes for table money for that period. Players are asked to settle the account by bank transfer but anyone who can't do that can pay cash. Subs are also collected by this method, they're just added to the bill for the first period of the new year."

18. "yes good idea"

19. "Thank you for all the information re 'going cashless' and I am all in favour, the sooner the better. "

20. "Happy to support this."

21. "I play at Newent with this system and think it is a very good idea "

22. "This seems to be a good idea. Even as an occasional player I can see the advantages for the players and the club officials."

23. "I don't use cash so to play at Marcle, I have to go to a cash machine and then buy something I don't want just to get change. This will save me a lot of bother."

24. "Sorry thought I had replied.  Yes all for it."

25. "I am in favour of cashless fees."

26. "Very happy to go cashless."

27. "The ‘cashless’ system appears to work smoothly at Newent and I confirm I’m fully in favour of it being introduced at Marcle. "

28. "I'm all for it."

29. "Great idea to go cashless."

30. "She asked me to say that she supports the proposal to move to a cashless system."

31. "Going cashless seems a very sensible option."

"I have already voted in favour, but better yet is to use SumUp or another similar system, using a machine or Smartphone so that members can just tap their debit cards.
The Treasurer would then get a list of who has paid. I will happily give more details if anyone is interested."

32. "Completely in favour of going cashless. Since COVID I have been used to not carrying cash. As a treasurer myself I can really see the advantages of not having to try and bank cash. I do think that we should still accommodate those members who want to continue to pay by cash."

33. "Happy with proposal."

34. "Very happy to go ahead !"

35. "Happy with the well thought out proposals."

37. "Please go ahead with proposed plan."

38. "Cashless is fine by me."

39. "I am in favour of cashless but as I have hardly been to Marcle, and maybe not go again at this rate, am wondering what to do!"

40. "Seems a very sensible move. The only time that I regularly use cash is at bridge sessions. It would save the treasurer an unnecessary journey to the bank and at the same time, stop bridge club members having to journey to an ATM to get cash. The change to cash only would seem sensible from an ecological point of view if nothing else."

41. "I support changing to cashless"

1, 2. "Richard Williams and I play at Newent but we still pay in cash. Richard collects the money at Marcle and he is in favour, as I am of retaining a cash system. Why are Club members being asked whether they want to change the system? What has been the complaint? What do those who seek change  think is wrong with our current system. Surely it is those who seek change that should make the argument, not those who see nothing wrong with the current system having to defend it. I have only heard how simple the change would be but nothing about why we are doing anything at all. I was brought up with the mantra if it’s not broke, don’t mend it.

Why abandon something so simple? We do not think the change is administratively more economical, indeed, I think just the opposite. Treasurer will have to monitor each week who played, who had lunch, who failed to pay, who paid for someone else, who said they would pay for someone else but didn’t…………the possible complications are endless. And whilst everything might work perfectly, the Treasurer would have to continually check that everything was in order for everybody that played.

And the treasurer will go on holiday. How will it operate then?

I will have to check regularly that the amount being deducted is as it should be. I have to remember to top up from time to time and finally, computer systems go wrong all the time. This system may be perfect but that would be rare

For lunch you will have a list to tick. How will you know that those taking lunch have ticked your list. I know some don’t pay now when it is cash. They forget. Memory is not what it was."

3. "I still prefer paying cash on the day please"

4. "I agree with number 4 but totally disagree with paying in advance."

5. (Contributor asked for comments not to be posted online)

6. "From a practical point of view, I don't mind either way and the chosen system is the best in the market in my opinion, having experienced three systems in other clubs.   However my vote will be for cash because I believe we should strive to maintain cash in our society.   There are many reasons for this which I won't bore everyone with here. I do take exception to one of the pro's for cashless in the first email on this subject.    One pro implied that going cashless would save the Treasurer from trudging to the bank with sack loads of gold coins.  In my 5 years as Treasurer, I never had a bag of money that I couldn't lift with one finger and I never set foot in a bank on behalf of the club.   All transactions were on-line and completed in a couple of minutes."

7. "I found the same system in operation at Cheltenham cumbersome. At Churchdown, we just pay contactless by card whenever we play. No  problem. I agree with the points made about the possible problems with inclusion of lunch payments."

8. "Xxxx says that she sent an email against, but that it doesn't appear in the list of responses. "

9. "I'm afraid I don't like the idea of the Banks getting rid of cash altogether which they'd obviously like to do. I'm not naive enough to think whether Much Marcle Bridge Club goes cashless or not is going to influence that greatly but, as a principle, I strongly believe that cash should be retained as a mechanism for trade & commerce generally. Given that I really don't find it difficult to pop a fiver in the kitty once a week, I therefore vote to keep things as they are and retain the cash system. However, I am willing to grant my vote to the Treasurer, given they have the actual job of collecting said cash and reconciling it."

1. "I don't wish to express a preference. I still use cash but much less frequently now that I have a credit card that I never use for anything costing more than £20.  In order to pay for parking using cash (wins by a mile for simplicity, where offered as an option) so I keep a large pile of change in the car. At the club, I usually pay using a note in order to replenish the pile, but I did feel obliged to go and fetch £10 in coin from the car on one occasion. But the change would work for me provided it stays as described.  I would pay enough to cover several months, thus infrequently"

2. "Cashless?  I'm easy either way."

3. "Don’t mind either way"