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Not in Germany, for example. We still have laws that cash has to be accepted for (almost) any trade.

kzrdude 9y ago
That's nice. In Sweden various retailers and others that sell services claim that cash is a nuisance, a cost or a danger. For example, bus companies have had "cash strikes" after robberies, claiming cash is a danger against their working environment, and as a result nowadays most buses are cashless. Retail shops and banks alike publicize and complain about the cost of handling cash transports securely. We can guess these are probably complaints towards an end: yes, they want to save money. There is no vision or will to keep accepting cash.
- kuschku 9y ago
  Sadly, people aren’t replacing cash with EC (a very cheap interbanking card standard that’s local to Germany) but with VISA/MasterCard, foreign companies that demand foreign laws be followed in Germany, holding an oligopoly, and having massively inflated fees. I’d be the first proponent of a cashless society if we’d ban VISA and MasterCard from operating here.
  - kzrdude 9y ago
    Hopefully EC will survive. I used it while living in Germany and I understood the point, there were some that didn't accept anything else, obviously, because of the fees with other payment cards. German banks were also very accessible for foreigners.
germanier 9y ago
It should be noted that it can be contractually waived in most cases, e.g. by a poster saying "no cash accepted" in a store. And it's not like this law is actually enforced as anyone who has ever tried paying with cash at Berlin's city administration can attest to. If not even they obverse they law I wouldn't put much value into it.
- Fnoord 9y ago
  > It should be noted that it can be contractually waived in most cases, e.g. by a poster saying "no cash accepted" in a store. Exactly how it works in The Netherlands as well. Source: I worked in a coffeeshop, and got fed up with all the customers who wanted to pay by card which we did not accept (at that time) so consulted a lawyer on how to deal with this. It has to be communicated clearly, though I don't remember if it was at entrance or at the counter (IIRC the latter).

That's nice. In Sweden various retailers and others that sell services claim that cash is a nuisance, a cost or a danger. For example, bus companies have had "cash strikes" after robberies, claiming cash is a danger against their working environment, and as a result nowadays most buses are cashless. Retail shops and banks alike publicize and complain about the cost of handling cash transports securely. We can guess these are probably complaints towards an end: yes, they want to save money. There is no vision or will to keep accepting cash.

kuschku 9y ago
Sadly, people aren’t replacing cash with EC (a very cheap interbanking card standard that’s local to Germany) but with VISA/MasterCard, foreign companies that demand foreign laws be followed in Germany, holding an oligopoly, and having massively inflated fees. I’d be the first proponent of a cashless society if we’d ban VISA and MasterCard from operating here.
- kzrdude 9y ago
  Hopefully EC will survive. I used it while living in Germany and I understood the point, there were some that didn't accept anything else, obviously, because of the fees with other payment cards. German banks were also very accessible for foreigners.

germanier 9y ago

It should be noted that it can be contractually waived in most cases, e.g. by a poster saying "no cash accepted" in a store. And it's not like this law is actually enforced as anyone who has ever tried paying with cash at Berlin's city administration can attest to. If not even they obverse they law I wouldn't put much value into it.

Fnoord 9y ago
> It should be noted that it can be contractually waived in most cases, e.g. by a poster saying "no cash accepted" in a store. Exactly how it works in The Netherlands as well. Source: I worked in a coffeeshop, and got fed up with all the customers who wanted to pay by card which we did not accept (at that time) so consulted a lawyer on how to deal with this. It has to be communicated clearly, though I don't remember if it was at entrance or at the counter (IIRC the latter).