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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.
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.
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.
You must not eat in the same restaurant twice. I can only imagine what's happened to your food...
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
> 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.
Bank with a community bank/credit union; they'd be happy to take your deposits. Many have deals that allow you to use different banks' ATMs for free, so you can deposit and withdraw as needed.
Or just spend the cash the next time you buy groceries or whatever, what's the issue. You have to buy food, gas, etc at some point, right?
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?
Cash costs money but credit cards take a lot more depending on the size of the purchase.
Indeed, because they add a lot of services into that "credit" side of it like for example travel insurance and kickbacks where customers appear to be "saving" money. In Europe there's actually a lot of alternative debit card systems run by the banks, like here in Norway there's "BankAxept". In Germany they have "Girocard". Without all the bells and whistles here in Norway at least they pay roughly $0.02/transaction, which is way below the cost of actually handling cash. So honestly, the only reason businesses accept cash here is because they must. The moment the law changes and they're not required to I imagine very many businesses will go cashless. So if you're thinking cashless won't happen because companies won't accept it, well you're wrong. Really the only compelling argument is that in a real emergency society would collapse if people couldn't pay for basic necessities, so everyone should have a cash reserve. But it's like fire insurance on your house, hopefully you'll never ever need it.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
For me, I simply limit credit card purchases. Never ever buy consumables with a credit card, makes it a whole lot easier to track shonky transactions. So go to cash machine and get cash for all consumable purchases. Credit card or more accurately debit card, just to pay bills to produce an independent record of payment and tech gear or stuff ordered online to enable payments to be contested should they fail to meet required expectations. Out and about, always cash, maintains a level of privacy, less purchases from often somewhat less reliable billers and far fewer transactions to track.
Never pay a tip, seems pretty tacky, denigrating must be because where I live, they get a living wage and not just fucked over.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
So the cashless restaurants are going to have lower prices
Restaurants are in a very competitive business, with a high failure rate. So cost savings are very likely to be reflected in prices.
not charge like 12 bucks for a mixed drink?
More likely they will cut food prices instead. Drinks are less price sensitive. Especially after the first few rounds.
Do you pay upfront when eating in a restaurant?
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
If you can't or won't pay the tip (assuming the service is OK), you can't afford the meal.
If you can't or won't pay your employees a living wage, you can't afford to run a business.