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What Happens When Restaurants Go Cashless (usatoday.com)
There's a new trend starting: restaurants that won't accept cash. USA Today reports:
Restaurant owners say ordering is faster from customers who slap down plastic instead of dollars, cutting a few seconds out of the process. But most of the benefits appear to accrue to the restaurants: less time taken counting bills, reduced pilferage, no armored-car fees or fear of stickups. It's a risky strategy. For starters, upscale Millennials -- among the most coveted of diners because of their youth and affluence -- prefer to pay in cash, according to Bankrate.com data. Also, more than a third of Americans between the ages of 18 and 37 do not have a credit card. For customers, patronizing restaurants that don't take cash means one less payment option when they need a quick meal during an all-too-short lunch hour. Plus, it raises questions about whether it discriminates against cardless teens and the poor... A committee in Chicago is weighing Alderman Edward Burke's proposed requirement that merchants accept cash. Massachusetts has had a Discrimination Against Cash Buyers rule on the books since 1978... Lana Swartz, co-editor of the book Paid: Tales of Dongles, Checks, and Other Money Stuff, says "One of the cornerstones of American capitalism is everyone's money is equal."
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports: Many business owners would rather be cashless. Cash actually costs money -- banks charge fees for cash deposits and to handle coins... And counting and checking cash and preparing it for deposit takes up time a manager could spend with staff or customers... Millions of consumers use little or no cash. In a survey released last month by the financial services company Capital One, only 21 percent of 2,000 people questioned said cash was their most common way to pay for things. But going cashless isn't a slam-dunk. Some customers who want to use cash point to a statement on paper money: "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." However, the Federal Reserve says on its website that private companies can make their own policies about cash unless there is a state law saying otherwise.
One Houston restauranteur changed his mind about going cashless, saying "You can't compete if you think you're going to create a whole set of rules and expect people to follow them." One Chicago restauranteur admits that "it has generated the most negative pushback of anything we've ever done," estimating revenue fell 2% just from angry cash customers who never returned.
But he persisted because his eight restaurants had experienced six burglaries, break-ins or armed robberies over the last eight years -- and got "dozens and dozens" of counterfeit bills from customers -- while by going cashless, he no longer has to pay for bank fees and armored car pickups.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports: Many business owners would rather be cashless. Cash actually costs money -- banks charge fees for cash deposits and to handle coins... And counting and checking cash and preparing it for deposit takes up time a manager could spend with staff or customers... Millions of consumers use little or no cash. In a survey released last month by the financial services company Capital One, only 21 percent of 2,000 people questioned said cash was their most common way to pay for things. But going cashless isn't a slam-dunk. Some customers who want to use cash point to a statement on paper money: "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." However, the Federal Reserve says on its website that private companies can make their own policies about cash unless there is a state law saying otherwise.
One Houston restauranteur changed his mind about going cashless, saying "You can't compete if you think you're going to create a whole set of rules and expect people to follow them." One Chicago restauranteur admits that "it has generated the most negative pushback of anything we've ever done," estimating revenue fell 2% just from angry cash customers who never returned.
But he persisted because his eight restaurants had experienced six burglaries, break-ins or armed robberies over the last eight years -- and got "dozens and dozens" of counterfeit bills from customers -- while by going cashless, he no longer has to pay for bank fees and armored car pickups.
So the cashless restaurants are going to have lower prices and not charge like 12 bucks for a mixed drink?
Seriously, when I don't pay cash, I literally never leave a tip. When the machine ask if I want to leave a tip, I just press Ok on 0.00$ to skip that and go quicker.
So pay your employees a living wage instead a relying on tips.
I have to disagree with those who assert it is possible to refuse to pay in cash.
When you go out to eat you are being extended credit paid at the end of the meal prior to leaving.
By the time you pay your check you are paying off a debt. They can't refuse payment of that debt in cash.
They can require payment up front in bitcakes or credit corns BEFORE serving you. The second they extend credit in the form of paying after the meal is the second they lose their right not to accept cash.
Cash costs money but credit cards take a lot more depending on the size of the purchase.
If you don't have a credit card, what are they going to do, throw you in jail? After eating if you have cash in hand and the place refuses it, then just walk out. The place has established they do not want your money.
I don't eat there.
The real question was never whether or not dealing with cash costs money and causes hassles. It's how those costs compare to merchant fees and securing your POS, and how much leverage is created by a process not dictated by Visa and Mastercard. It's a complex and fragile equation that, in practice, ultimately boils down to accepting any form of payment that still has a decent enough market share ot be worth accepting.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I've seen enough stories where the restaurant has a fault with their credit card system, and thus has an extremely long delay in processing them (assuming that they still get processed.)
If there's any major failure, which will happen when an ice storm causes scattered outages across the city, the restaurant has no way to receive income. Either they accept cash, or they don't get the day's income.
I've also went into a fast food restaurant which also had a cash register failure. They still did business using pen-and-paper, taking payments in cash, and thus didn't have to close down. Even if slightly slower or less reliable, it's as if the cashiers knew how to handle the situation.
If they make that clear before the fact, I walk out.
If they only make that clear when I'm ready to pay, I tip a penny. In cash.
Screw businesses that don't care about customers' privacy and anonymity.
Other reasons for this: (1) Classism. "We don't want poor or immigrant customers who don't have a credit card or check card. We cater to millennial hipsters only." Good to know. (2) Bribery. There was an article last year about a major credit card company paying businesses $10,000 to go cashless. Good on Chicago for thinking about regulating this and Massachusetts for actually regulating cashfree businesses out of existence. Nice to see that some jurisdictions actually stand up for their constituents' privacy.
Like privacy, people wonâ(TM)t realize how important cash is until they give it up. Once cash is gone, everything you purchase is tracked.
> They can require payment up front in bitcakes or credit corns BEFORE serving you.
> By the time you pay your check you are paying off a debt.
> They can't refuse payment of that debt in cash.
Exactly. Before giving you the food they can say "we're not going to give you food until you give us a card.". Afterwards, if they don't like your payment offer, what can they do? They could sue you - and you could pay the judgement in cash :) The judge would be annoyed with them, so you'd be sure to countersue for wasting your time with a frivolous suit. The judge would probably enjoy having them pay YOU since they were being dumbasses.
I hate it when I get cash because I don't have an easy way to get rid of it. I bank with an online bank and have no means of depositing it. I have no cash in my wallet or coins in my pocket and haven't in ages. If forced to take change for some reason, I just tell the cashier to apply it to the next person's bill.
I've not seen a business that was cash only in years, but if one were, I wouldn't consider patronizing them.
I am Canadian. When I slap down money, it IS plastic.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
when dinner is finished, you hand your card to the wait staff and it's denied ?
I'm sorry, I don't have another card. Do you take cash ?
I prefer to use cash because every card compromise I've ever had ( including the latest chip cards ) have been wait staff at restaurants who simply copied what they needed from my card.
( They do it with gift cards too so use low denomination varieties so it gets used up in one go )
I don't have these issues with cash.
Take away the banks fees for dealing with cash, and they'll just raise other fees to compensate.
It's all about tracking your every expense and earning.
I shouldn't have to go through a credit card company to make purchases.
when the system goes down you just bill the servers for the free food or do you lock in diners for hours waiting for the card system to go back up?
make the server pay for it!
Probably go back to the old imprint-type credit card machines. Cha-chunk. Cha-chunk. Sign at the X. And you hope everyone's card turns out to be valid after the system comes back up.
good thing for the ADC or it's prison as the only place to get health coverage for some.
A lot of these places don't print receipts. They either want to email you the receipt or not give you one at all. I don't want to give my email to another business, but I do want my receipt.
by crooks. Lobby was Open 24 hours. I never did get robbed, but I knew people who had been. The owner of that restaurant? Started closing the lobby only after the police threatened to hold her criminally liable if anyone got hurt. They knew the robberies were happening, but they were sporadic enough that the profits from keeping the lobby open were > what was stolen.
Being cashless is a big plus for the employees at 24 hour restaurants.
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you can do offline transactions with handheld POS machines. you slide the card and do the transaction manually, then it prints the receipt with a longer blank area, place it above the card and rub something so the thermal paper picks up the embossed numbers.
some debit cards, like most of the ones here in Argentina, don't have raised numbers. they very explicitly say, on the front of the card, ELECTRONIC USE ONLY. So if the system is down, it's done. You can't use the card.
1. If the power fails, any burden falls on them to handle it.
2. Servers will always accept a cash tip. And unless they've screwed up royally, my tip is as close to 20% as I can manage.
When I eat in a restaurant, I usually pay for my meal with a credit card. However, I never charge a tip. Instead, I always leave a cash tip.
Why? There are several reasons.
Some restaurants divide charged tips, giving some of it to the non-service employees such as cooks and dishwashers. That way, the owner does not have to pay everyone the legal minimum wage. This practice was prohibited by the Obama administration but reinstated by Trump. I give a cash tip in an attempt to provide my server the full amount and also to force the owner to pay non-service employees properly.
When a restaurant submits my charge to its bank, there is a fee deducted from what is credited to the restaurant. Some restaurants reduce charged tips proportionally. I want the server to get the full amount, not a discounted amount.
If the total amount of a purchase is less than $10, I pay with cash, not a credit card. Whatever happened to "The customer is always right."? If they do not want my cash, I do not want their product or service.
Only problem with that is that it's (slowly) becoming a thing for companies to issue non-embossed cards.
Not to mention I imagine most businesses don't even have them on hand. I've asked that very question before when the "system went down" at a McDonald's I patronized last year. The manager just looked at me like I was speaking another language. I could have sworn it was required by most credit card processors that their clients have them for backup, but maybe that's not actually a rule.
If I go into a restaurant place an order or sit down and eat and they refuse my cash at the end of the transaction, I will assume I am no longer in debt to them and just walk out. If i offered my cash and they refused it id like to see what cop will arrest you or judge will hold up that arrest in court because they would not take the cash.
Could you have a machine that captures a photo of the card or the magstripe data and phones/Internets it back to the company when the connection goes back up? Basically a modern equivalent of the old ka-chunkers.
Cash or check only line. Itâ(TM)s probably going to be slower, but the # of them can be demand sized and higher speed customers donâ(TM)t have to wait. I would do this if it were my business, I donâ(TM)t want to turn paying customers away, but I donâ(TM)t mind penalizing the slower ones a bit.
"I'm sorry sir, but I can't accept this form of payment unless all of your bills are oriented in the same direction."
Very few businesses find success by refusing customers who are willing to pay, regardless of the method. That is just bad business.
Ah this is wonderful! Soon we'll have that chip in our forehead, or hand that will be the ONLY way we can do commerce.
if your bank charges your small business or franchise location fees to take cash deposits... find a different bank (better ones often spell that as "credit union").
we don't take cards, nor do we don't pay fees to deposit currency or coin at our bank. we would rather have the expense of 'handling' cash. which is minimal.. compared to the ridiculous fees charged on merchant accounts to take plastic.
until fees decrease, substantially, and merchant banks, processors and issuing banks and cards protect customer data, and quit selling it.. we'll keep taking cash.. and only cash, or check, or for established customers, net30 terms.
how do they pay their illegal immigrant staff? with no cash, you can only use illegals that have stolen identities.
ACA? Sure, it stands for now, but GOP is doing its level best to shoot it down.
They aren't going to. Get out of uour bubble once in awhile. That makes the andwer to your question: 'Nothing. Absolutely nothing.'. Yiu cannot force anyone to adopt your pet projects against their will, and it's that simple.
As long as they clearly indicate that they don't take cash it's not a problem. I just don't want any surprises. I use my card occasionally at restaurants if the bill is over 50 dollars or so. But mostly I prefer cash for small purchases, certainly any in the 20-30 dollar range. As long as I know their policy though I can avoid them. Not likely to be a problem for me in the near future as there are plenty of place to eat that don't treat their customers like shit.
How is the /. business model going to do with out tips?
Gently reply
Waitstaff. In the US IRS rules assume you make 10% of your sales in tips. You are requires to report the actual amount, but that's the minimum the IRS will accept. Needless to say, most tips go under-reported. With credit cards, however, when the tip is left on the card it goes into the resturant's POS system and your actual charged tips get reported.
Of course the IRS loves the idea I'm sure.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Anyone who has spent any sort of time at a bar will see the difference in transaction times between cash and card. The card has to be swiped, receipt printed, receipt signed and tip left.
Cash you walk up and order hand exact cash and tip and walk away. even if you have to break a larger bill it is still typically faster than dealing with a credit card machine.
A bartender can probably handle multiple cash transactions in the time it takes to do a single card transaction.
I have infact seen separate cash/card lines at busy events because the card transactions slow down the process so much. Lets the cash payers have a faster line and usually shorter line since so many carry little cash or refuse to carry cash period. or events that refuse to deal with cards at all and just have an ATM at the event that charges a bend over and rape me fee to use it. You'll see lines at the concessions/bars be nice and short while that ATM line is a mile long.
The only way it is "slower" is the establishment needing to count the till at the end of the day, where as a cashless system will just keep a running total.
This note is legal tender for all debts public and private.
So, if I order a meal, sit down eat it, and then go to pay in cash... what does the restaurant do? If I hand them cash that covers the bill, haven't I paid my 'debt'?
I'll be damned if I am going to cater to a place when I am the CUSTOMER.
Fuck all businesses who refuse cash, they will never make money from me.
I've never seen a place that won't take cash. But I know several cash only businesses.
Why? Because the CC companies charge fees in the form of percentages of your purchase. I know several others who will charge you more for using a card too.
The online equivalent, I've seen places put the charge for using something like Paypal back on your bill too.
Usually the cash only places are awesome too, small businesses with no equivalent elsewhere, like a German meat market owned by an immigrant master meat maker.
If you want to pay with cc/dc then then you walk in, if you dont simply turn around a restaurant that accept cash! (Like I do)
It's not discriminatory providing cards are available to everyone without having to pay fees... Providing there are prepaid cards widely available, anyone can go to a convenience store and exchange their cash for a prepaid card.
However, by using cards we're handing too much power to the card issuers.. Cash is issued by the government, but cards are entirely commercial so the companies wouldnt think twice about cranking up the costs once you're locked in and cashless becomes the norm.
There's also the issue of standardisation... Visa and Mastercard are pretty universal and work almost anywhere, but there's also various local payment schemes. Many customers of restaurants are tourists, so if they're accepting a payment method that's only open to local residents you're cutting out these foreign tourists.
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Anyone who doesn't know why - has never owned a restaurant.
Cash business is not a problem - it's a solution
Though, with the advent of Square and PayPal, a business which truly accepts only cash has become rare indeed.
Do you visit a lot of yard sales or garage sales? I do, and most homeowners running them haven't upgraded to Square or PayPal. Yard sale transactions are typically so small (very often below $5) that the 30 cent transaction fee is a far larger fraction of the total than the 3% rake.
When I shop online other than on Amazon, I prefer to pay with PayPal. PayPal can be set to draw from a checking account instead of a credit card.
"For starters, upscale Millennials -- among the most coveted of diners because of their youth and affluence -- prefer to pay in cash, according to Bankrate.com data."
I'm sorry, what? I'd love to meet these people. I'm in this demographic and there's 0 people I know who prefer cash. It seems like every time we go out, everyone is trying to throw down a card, occasionally there's a flurry of Venmo payments, but it's almost never cash. Upscale millennials are not unbanked, nor are they without access to technology or credit cards. Why would any one of them prefer cash?
Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
"where our location is tracked 24/7/365" so you don't have a mobile phone, or take the time to switch it off when not making a call, and never receive call ? Because if you do , you are tracked 24/7/365 much MUCH better than if you were paying cashless.
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Here in Europe we have bank card (e.g. called giro card - they are not CC, maybe you call them debit card?), they are accepted *everywhere* (they obey a standard) and they use chip and pin and cannot be copied by the staff. All your problem can be pointed back to your own reluctance as a country to adopt modern banking practice.
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> Cash actually costs money ...
I love how bits like this pretend that credit card processing is free. It isn't, and far from it. It's going to cost an average restaurant a couple of percent of the check plus a per-check fee plus a couple hundred bucks for a terminal plus a dedicated land line for the terminal (because we apparently live in the 1980's) plus chargebacks plus merchant account fees.
Neither Paper nor Plastic is free.
In state not requiring to accept cash payment, because by the moment they warned you they accept card only, YOU were the one knowing you would not be able to fulfill that, you are the one having committed fraud : the serving was bound to you accepting the cashless condition, which you accepted by ordering, and then you suddenly refuse the condition. Any judge worth their salt would point that out and you would lose. Fraud is not funny so I would advise strongly you don't take legal advise from a slashdotter (not from me either, but all those "they have to accept cash" no they don't in some state and this is clearly indicated by the reserve web site that in state where they may they can have their own policy, and you breaking that policy willingly is fraud).
Instead of this how about restaurants start charging enough to pay their employees in the cost of the product instead of me having to figure out how much I feel like paying them..
BTW to the "journalist" who wrote that article, credit card cost money, more than you are going to spend on handling the cash.
Since the US currncy has printed on it the words "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private", if the restaurant doesn't accept your cash after you have attempted to use it to pay for your meal, you are legally free to walk out of the restaurant without paying. Any restaurant that has such a policy is saying that eating there is free once they decline your cash.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/sdut-widespread-power-outages-across-san-diego-county-2011sep08-htmlstory.html
The power went out in the San Diego are for over 6 hours. It was pure chaos. People that relied on credit cards could not pay for their lunches (businesses lost revenue by people walking out), buy gas (stranded cars at stations), or even use the ATM to get cash.
Until be have a rock-solid electrical infrastructure that can guarantee at minimum 100% uptime (which they never will) I will not stop using cash.
Relying solely on a credit card is pure stupidity. You deserve what you get.
FYI: I was able to pay for my lunch which the restaurant was grateful for. They ended up losing a days worth of revenue that day.
Remove cash, I stop going there. Simple.
The personal mandate has been removed. The IRS can no longer fine us for not having health insurance. The whole scheme should now start tumbling down.
Until states put a similar mandate in place. Besides, many people WANT insurance -- better than begging for expensive treatment on GoFundMe and hoping people like you enough to pay for you not to croak.
Actually, you're not going to be able to do that much longer. The new cards I've been getting are flat. No impression is possible.
Right, they don't have to give you the food, if you offer them cash. They do not have to accept cash and THEN give you something for it.
AFTER you've eaten the food, they say you owe them the money. That's a debt. "For all debts, both public and private" means that once you owe them money (you've already gotten the food), you can pay that debt in cash. They can't force you to go get a credit card. They CAN ask you not to come back again with cash.
I honestly stopped caring years ago. The folks who want to oppress me have much, much better ways to do it than keep track of where I buy gas & food (and no, they don't know what you're buying, that much data isn't collected by the businesses).
Everytime I hear about privacy I think if this xkcd comic. I'm not saying we shouldn't work to stop oppression, I'm saying there's better places to spend your time and effort. For example, show up to your primary so you can get some candidates that aren't corporate sell outs.
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Try to name one single state that attempts to override federal law, Section 31 U.S.C. 5103 (the Coinage Act) by saying any debt whatsoever can't be paid in cash.
After you've searched for a while, you can read Section 10 of the US Constitution: ... make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts;
No state shall
Which pairs with Section 8: ... To coin money, regulate the value thereof
The Congress shall have power to
The US Congress, and Congress alone, has the power to determine what is valid payment of a debt. The exercised that power in 31 U.S.C. 5103. It would be UNCONSTITUTIONAL under section 10 of the Constitution for any state to purport to set any other method of payment.
Until states put a similar mandate in place. Besides, many people WANT insurance -- better than begging for expensive treatment on GoFundMe and hoping people like you enough to pay for you not to croak.
I'm pretty okay with that, the one health insurance company left in my area is one I know is going to make me do that anyway--last time I was stuck with them, they actually were willing to spend money on hurrying that along. Either that, or they don't like any of their customers enough to ensure that their staff has the basic training for understanding the whole idea of "Not everybody can take the same medications." I'd settle for them not attempting to practice medicine or pharmacology sans license or--since they'd be doing it as employees of the insurance company--the company itself being liable for all such practices. (Either it's with their approval/knowledge and therefore they're doing it as agents of the company, or they're failing in their obligation to properly monitor their employees.)
Last time I was at a cash only restaurant, I only had 3 bills in the denominations of $5, $50, and $100 dollars. My bill was $15.
So I try to pay (at the register) with my credit card and they say "cash only". At that point I am excited, because I actually have cash, which I rarely bother to carry. So I pull out the $50 and they would not take it because of fear of counterfeit dollars. They said they won't take any bill higher than $20.
I was like "uh, your sign says 'cash only', it doesn't say 'cash only in bills less than $50'. If you don't take credit cards, you actually have to accept the cash".
Long story short, they let me have my meal for free because they were afraid to lose money by making change with a possible counterfeit $50. I eventually went back later and repaid them because I felt bad, but it highlights the issues that they're facing: Afraid to take cash, afraid to pay the credit card fees.
It also highlights how fucked up the money situation has become in the US. Some places won't take ANY cash. Some places won't take bills over a certain amount. Some places won't take credit cards. And if you are going somewhere new YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THEY WILL TAKE! You used to be able to just leave the house with a $50 bill and be good to go. Now you have to have a bunch of $20s, your credit card, your ID (in case they check), and maybe your phone to pay with that. Things seem to be getting harder, not easier.
You might think you are right, but the existence of sanctuary states and recreational MJ states indicates that although the law might be on your side, the courts interpreting the law are not on your side.
The same articles of the Constitution that say the feds set the money and states can't, also say that the feds CANNOT do anything other than the listed powers and all other powers are reserved to the states. So Constitutionally the states, not the feds, regulate possession of marijuana.
The feds Constitutionally regulate *interstate commerce* - in marijuana and other things. Try getting caught selling weed across state lines and see how that goes.
Section 8 of the Constitution also assigns to the federal government the establishment of uniform immigration law. It does not, however, compel states to use their police forces to enforce immigration law.
If its such a hassle to take cash, take 5% off the cost when people don't. Otherwise GTFO.
Just got a huge tax cut. So shut up about it costing money to handle money..
Why do affluent millennials prefer cash at restaurants? Are affluent millennials too poor to rotate tabs? Are they too luddite to pay each other with Square? I'm really confused by this fact. I don't use cash for anything legal.
Will someone knowledgeable please explain, what does "legal tender" mean if it does not mean they have to accept cash to settle my debt?
A cashless society is a disaster waiting to happen.
I wonder how much of this is really the merchant wanting to know WHO their customers are so they can track better and target the regulars with coupons or other offers when they haven't been in for awhile or stop coming to their restaurant. It's your surrender of privacy that the merchant may want.
I have had lunch in local restaurants from 5 to 7 days a week and dinner 3 to 5 days a week for decades. Many local restaurants personnel recognize me but I have always paid cash. I don't want any of them pestering me to come back when I choose other restaurants most of the time.
If any of my favorite restaurants stop taking cash, they will never see my business again.
Apparently the ones trying to mandate restaurants accepting cash because plastic discriminates against credit-card-less people don't realize that plastic also comes in the form of pre-paid credit cards (same as cash), gift cards (lesser, but as good as cash).
They still accept cash, but your cash needs to be loaded on a piece of plastic.
Or you can eat elsewhere.
as well as pre-paid "credit" cards. So there is no discrimination when going cash less.
Here in Canada, debit card is the preferred option by restaurants (and most merchants), since they avoid the high fees of credit cards and the hassle of cash.
This is not far-fetched in the US at all.
See also, widespread blackouts and telecomm outages in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy. 2003 Northeast blackout. And that's just one decade, in one part of the country.
That's why I have a pile of squirrel pelts that I plan to use for bartering when things collapse.
Every time you swipe your Credit Card the business is charged merchant fees and transaction fees. Oh wait, but they will just pass those costs on to YOU! SO your food, your drinks will end up costing you MORE than if you paid cash!
We have some restaurants near me that we used to go to all the time. They wet to "cashless" only. We stopped going to those restaurants. So not only is that restaurant losing our business, the waitresses are losing out on much needed tips (which we ALWAYS do in cash). Taking away the cash option - is a lose-lose for the restaurants. The ones that do will probably long term close up or change back.
The Truth is a Virus!!!
Which is illegal after you have already racked up the debt. You have to sign off on that kind of understanding and even then it might be considered usury.
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My bank has a service that can send anyone a payment by email.
Many banks offer that, and it works wherever you have Internet access. But when you're at a garage sale, you're often in range of neither your home LAN nor a public hotspot. How much do you pay per 12 months for a cellular Internet connection in order to be able to email money while out of Wi-Fi range?
Bullshit: 'Upscale millennials prefer to pay in cash'
The exact opposite is true.
Horseshit: The entire pretense of this story.
The fact is that merchants(restaurants or otherwise) will accept whatever payment their customers demand. The goal is to make transferring money form suckers(customers) to merchants as frictionless as possible. If the masses want to pay in Bitcoin(LOL) then the merchants will accept it and roll any incurred costs into the product price.
Not many years ago, fast food restaurants didn't take credit cards at all. None of them wanted to because the transaction costs were such a large percentage of their small ~$3-10 transactions. But, their customers wanted to pay with credit, whether it was for convenience or because they had to finance their food, and today they take plastic. The cost of the food has risen to cover the transaction costs. And, Slashdot is posting articles about cashless.
If a meaningful sized group wants to pay with cash, or Bitcoin, or used anal beads(assuming they have value), the merchants' greed will compel them accept whatever payment it is. Even the Chicago restauranteur that went cashless in the summary isn't happy about the 2%(LOL) loss after going cashless. I guarantee you that at loss levels of around 6%, he'll take cash and if the supposed "upscale millennials prefer to pay in cash" it'll be a lot more than 6% of his business.
This story is horseshit and was probably commissioned by a credit card company propagandizing the utopian(to them) cashless society.
Cash is for those who need to hide something.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
A) In finance, if you owe an money, that's debt. It doesn't have to be money - because you borrowed money. If an airline has 50 planes delivered and hasn't paid for them yet, that's included in debt load. Compare liabilities, which can be non-money things owed.
B) We're talking about law, not finance. Let's look at the preeminent law dictionary, Black's Law Dictionary:
--
A debt is a sum of money due by contract. It is most frequently due by a certain...
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> That's a sales contract that has been fulfilled by one party and not the other ...
Which is almost EXACTLY the legal definition of debt, when a contract says money is due and it hasn't yet been paid. :)
There is a globalist push to surveil many aspects of a person's life in order to establish a one-world corporate totalitarian government. This requires knowing every single financial transaction which can only be done through a digital log. The article may be one of their propaganda pieces to drum up support of a cashless society.
I'll eat elsewhere. Fortunately I'm not too lazy to cook my own food and VERY rarely eat out. I hate eating out.
I won't eat there. Not risk using CC for $12 meal.
For anything under $25, I use cash.
If you want to have a private club, which is illegal in many places, fine. I won't be a member.
When the terminal is down, how does the business remain open?
Guess he never read the laws about "legal tender"?
That seems to be what some systems do now. I had a paywave transaction timeout yesterday. The cashier then tried inserting the card into the slot, but the machine told him to swipe it, which never happens these days but I guess it makes sense - all the chip communication is encrypted, so the only way to store and forward is to take the data from the magstripe. It then had him reinsert the card and present it to me for PIN entry, so there was still some sort of challenge-response handshake to verify the transation, and after that it had another attempt at putting through an online transaction, this time printing the usual slip after the timeout. I imagine the delays between timeouts could cause a significant slowdown in a busy restaurant, or worse - a supermarket, though once they know the system is down, they can limit it to one timeout by not attempting the paywave transaction first.
And while I realize it's easier for someone to point a gun at you and take your cash than it is to steal credit card transactions, how often does that really happen to the average restaurateur?
I used to have more cash on hand because I operated a small laundromat. People would refuse things like "$20 in unrolled quarters" to pay for gas (back when you paid after you pumped) with reasonable frequency.
Here is how not to be refused cash payment:
"Here is your payment."
"I'm sorry sir, we do not accept cash."
"This note is legal tender for all debts public and private. It says as such on its face."
"I'm sorry sir, we do not accept this as payment for your private debt at this establishment."
"That is a real shame. I tell you what - I'm going to leave this cash here in exact change and walk out. You may call the police or press charges for theft if you wish."
No one ever called the police or pressed charges. I *think* it is legally ambiguous if you take items and leave money (is this theft? you actually paid...). It could be settled via small claims court (if the judge rules against the cash customer), I suppose, but both parties would have to show up. Further - the business would have to prove that you "stole" with video evidence... of you pumping gas, going inside, leaving cash, and leaving.
That said, the whole idea of expected tipping is quite ridiculous and causes all manner of problems.
Yeah, right. Tipping well at a place you regularly visit is how you get better service, including complimentary items. I paid for exactly 0 of my drinks at the bar I ate at this past weekend. Heck, some places will even give you free lodging if you're a good customer.
No one's forcing you to leave a tip.
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