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Philadelphia Bans Cashless Stores (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: This week, Philadelphia's mayor signed a bill that would ban cashless retail stores, according to The Morning Call. The move makes Philadelphia the first major city to require that brick-and-mortar retail stores accept cash. Besides Philadelphia, Massachusetts has required that retailers accept cash since 1978, according to CBS. The law takes effect July 1, and it will not apply to stores like Costco that require a membership, nor will it apply to parking garages or lots, or to hotels or rental car companies that require a credit or debit card as security for future charges, according to the Wall Street Journal. Retailers caught refusing cash can be fined up to $2,000.
Amazon, whose new Amazon Go stores are cashless and queue-less, reportedly pushed back against the new law, asking for an exemption. According to the WSJ, Philadelphia lawmakers said that Amazon could work around the law under the exemption for stores that require a membership to shop there, but Amazon told the city that a Prime membership is not required to shop at Amazon Go stores, so its options are limited. A top official in Philadelphia's Chamber of Commerce said that the ban will prevent Philadelphia from modernizing with the rest of the country. Cashless companies argue that cash slows down transactions when change needs to be counted and creates security risks for employees locking up at the end of the night. Supporters of the new law argue that "not accepting cash hurts poorer residents who may not be able to afford or qualify for a credit card or who want to avoid fees that come with changing cash into a prepaid debit card," reports Ars. "Additionally, privacy advocates say that being forced to use a digital form of payment to buy things is a de facto requirement to share records of their purchases with third-party companies."
Amazon, whose new Amazon Go stores are cashless and queue-less, reportedly pushed back against the new law, asking for an exemption. According to the WSJ, Philadelphia lawmakers said that Amazon could work around the law under the exemption for stores that require a membership to shop there, but Amazon told the city that a Prime membership is not required to shop at Amazon Go stores, so its options are limited. A top official in Philadelphia's Chamber of Commerce said that the ban will prevent Philadelphia from modernizing with the rest of the country. Cashless companies argue that cash slows down transactions when change needs to be counted and creates security risks for employees locking up at the end of the night. Supporters of the new law argue that "not accepting cash hurts poorer residents who may not be able to afford or qualify for a credit card or who want to avoid fees that come with changing cash into a prepaid debit card," reports Ars. "Additionally, privacy advocates say that being forced to use a digital form of payment to buy things is a de facto requirement to share records of their purchases with third-party companies."
Supporters of the new law argue that "not accepting cash hurts poorer residents who may not be able to afford or qualify for a credit card or who want to avoid fees that come with changing cash into a prepaid debit card," reports Ars. "Additionally, privacy advocates say that being forced to use a digital form of payment to buy things is a de facto requirement to share records of their purchases with third-party companies."
I think that's a good point. While I have some sympathy for Amazon Go trying to do something revolutionary, their stores are effectively closed to people who can't get a credit card. Their model is fundamentally incompatible with paying cash. Doesn't bother me, but I have all the choices of places to shop.
From the privacy perspective, you're boned regardless if you shop at Amazon Go, since lack of privacy is how their system works. That's fine as long as the other option remains.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Remember when stores used to try to charge fees for using credit cards, and when that didn't fly they started offering discounts for using cash, because it was cheaper dealing with cash than credit? Did that change at some point? Is that why some stores want to go cashless all of a sudden?
A restaurant told a group of us the other day that they had a one bill per table policy and didn't want to split the bill. We all said we don't want to cover the whole bill. Split the bill or we walk, they split the bill. A restaurant cannot force you to cover someone else's order, they also can't say you have a debt with them and are going to refuse your legal tender.
The guy in charge of collecting cash and distributing change throughout the day for the booths at a festival was a friend of mine. During pre-festival prep, I noticed him working on the price display boards. He was setting the prices to all end in 99 cents. I pulled him aside and asked him, "Do you *really* want to run around all day collecting and distributing pennies?" The light bulb went off in his head and he changed them all to end in 95 cents. After the first day, he changed the prices again, so they all ended in multiples of 25 cents, with most of them ending in round dollars.
Lesson: Make sure the guy setting the prices is also the one who has to deal with the hassle of dealing with change.
Creation was racist.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
To make this totally clear, you can make six figures and be turned down for a checking account because you bounced checks. I know because I've done that.
You can flip burgers for a living and have two checking accounts. I know because I've done that.
It's not a rich or poor thing, it's a "don't write checks for more than what's in the bank" thing