Advertisement
CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: HALF PRICE Big Issue magazine subscription
SUBSCRIBE
News

Nick Cuthbert is the first vendor to get a card reader in Cornwall

The popular seller is now offering cashless payments on his pitch as more and more vendors receive card readers across the UK thanks to our iZettle trial

Nick Cuthbert card reader

Popular vendor Nick Cuthbert is the latest vendor to join The Big Issue’s cashless revolution after becoming the first vendor in Cornwall use a card reader.

The 54-year-old, who sells the magazine outside M&S at Lemon Quay in Truro, started offering contactless payments on May 25 after spending two months setting up the device to allow his regular customers to pay by card.

Now, Nick is keen to get the word out about his new offering to his regulars and the Truro public.

“I’ve had three customers so far because I was a bit nervous to use it but it was a bit easier to use than I expected it to be,” said Nick. “Now I just want to get the word out locally that I have it. It has taken me two months to get this together, updating my ID and care-of address.

“It was possible because someone gave me an iPhone at Christmas, otherwise I couldn’t have done this anyway because you need a smartphone.”

As society becomes increasingly cashless, the Access to Cash Review has issued warnings that as many as eight million cash users could be financially excluded should notes and coins be jettisoned altogether.

Advertisement
Advertisement

That’s why The Big Issue is working with iZettle to ensure more and more vendors across the country can carry card readers and offer contactless payments.

But as Nick’s experience suggests, there are a number of hurdles to overcome, both administrative and technological, to set up the offering.

However, the Truro vendor insists that his customers have been clamouring for a cashless option.

“I’ve had customers asking me in the last two weeks whether I was getting contactless but I had been saying to quite a few people that I will be contactless very soon,” he said. “I get people telling me every day, “I don’t do cash, I haven’t got cash”.

“More and more people don’t use cash but now it’s all about building up the trust with my customers – there’s a receipt with it via email or text. I’ve got a pretty good name in this town, it has taken me years to build up.”

I get people telling me every day, “I don’t do cash, I haven’t got cash”

Nick recently featured in The Big Issue after he was caught up in a Carl Benjamin rally that erupted into scuffles when a protestor threw a milkshake at the failed UKIP European elections campaigner.

And the vendor insists that his intervention to help a man trapped on the ground in the aftermath has been praised in Truro.

He added: “It was a bad move that was actually a good move. I’ve been inundated with well dones, so many people have come up to me to shake my hand.”

Advertisement

Buy a Big Issue Vendor Support Kit

This Christmas, give a Big Issue vendor the tools to keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing.

Recommended for you

View all
People with disabilities and ill health more likely to leave work, study finds – the DWP must fix this
dwp
Work

People with disabilities and ill health more likely to leave work, study finds – the DWP must fix this

From the NHS to 'spreading opportunity': Here's what should be in Keir Starmer's 'plan for change'
Plan for change

From the NHS to 'spreading opportunity': Here's what should be in Keir Starmer's 'plan for change'

Millions of Brits living in 'Dickensian conditions' in cold, damp homes this Christmas
snow covered houses
Damp homes

Millions of Brits living in 'Dickensian conditions' in cold, damp homes this Christmas

Two-child benefit cap to be scrapped in Scotland as Labour challenged to 'step up' and follow suit
keir starmer and john swinney
Two-child benefit cap

Two-child benefit cap to be scrapped in Scotland as Labour challenged to 'step up' and follow suit

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