Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Supersonic value. Subscribe for £13.99 and receive a free Oasis collector’s issue.
Subscribe today
News

The Big Issue goes cashless with the help of iZettle

Big Issue vendors across the UK will now have access to cashless technology, thanks to our partnership with tech innovators iZettle

Cashless payments now far outweigh cash transactions, with one in five Brits ditching notes and coins entirely, while tapping a card against a reader accounted for 5.6 billion payments last year.

That means Big Issue vendors, working hard for a living across the country, were financially excluded by only accepting cash. We have seen that reality take hold in recent times so that’s why we decided to do something about it.

Some enterprising vendors have already decided to take it upon themselves to offer cashless payments. But we want to give everyone who sells The Big Issue the opportunity to have a card reader so we launched a trial with iZettle in December to assess how it could be done. The Swedish firm report that 80 per cent of their overall payments in the UK are now contactless, so they were the perfect partner to help us include our vendors in the cashless present and future.

Hugh’s story

In London’s St Paul’s Underground station vendor Hugh Palmer says offering contactless payments has enabled him to “fit back in society”.

The 73-year-old started selling The Big Issue after going bankrupt in 2011 and he believes that offering contactless payments as part of the iZettle trial has given him renewed confidence. “It’s promoting you and people think, ‘Ooh he’s got contactless, he must be OK,’” said Hugh. “You fit back into society; before when it was cash only you would get days when people just didn’t buy the magazine from you.”

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

As one of the vendors in the vanguard of The Big Issue’s cashless revolution, Hugh also features in the above short film that shows what a big difference being able to offer cashless tap-and-go payment for the magazine can make to vendors. He is filmed at his pitch, showing exactly how it works – and how the speed and ease of each transaction is helping to drive up vendors’ sales.

Help us spread the word over on Twitter and Instagram.

If you are passing his pitch, stop to say hello, buy your copy of the magazine and be part of our #CashlessBigIssue revolution!

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

SIGN THE PETITION

Will you sign Big Issue's petition to ask Keir Starmer to pass a Poverty Zero law? It's time to hold government to account on poverty once and for all.

Recommended for you

View all
Will fixing the NHS be enough to save Starmer's government? Maybe. But only on one condition
NHS

Will fixing the NHS be enough to save Starmer's government? Maybe. But only on one condition

Labour wants to shake-up the controversial Right to Buy scheme with these three steps
Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner and housing minister Matthew Pennycook
Right to buy

Labour wants to shake-up the controversial Right to Buy scheme with these three steps

Is a four-day working week inevitable? Latest UK pilot sees 100% success rate
Four-day working week

Is a four-day working week inevitable? Latest UK pilot sees 100% success rate

Over 10 times more women sleeping rough than official stats suggest, report says
A woman on the street
Rough sleeping

Over 10 times more women sleeping rough than official stats suggest, report says

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know

Support our vendors with a subscription

For each subscription to the magazine, we’ll provide a vendor with a reusable water bottle, making it easier for them to access cold water on hot days.