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That assumes the cost of cash handling is zero (or close to it), which isn't true. When I worked retail around the turn of the century, here's an estimate of th
by ac29 8y ago
That assumes the cost of cash handling is zero (or close to it), which isn't true. When I worked retail around the turn of the century, here's an estimate of the time added by cash handling:
- 5-10 minutes at beginning and end of shift to count cash drawers in and out, and make deposit bags, per employee
- 10-15 seconds per cash transaction to count payment and make change
- 60 minutes to prepare daily cash bank deposit and restock change (once, done by a supervisor)
- Employee theft from cash drawers, while not a common issue, did happen probably at least once a year
Now, I couldn't say if that all adds up to an extra 1-2% overhead, but I think its disingenuous for people to suggest that merchant fees charged by credit cards have little to no benefit to retailers. I think we'll see way more businesses go to electronic payments only within 10 years or so.
- Mediterraneo10 8y agoThree of the four problems in your list of cash-handling downsides are solved in some places through self-service checkouts where the machine automatically counts the cash and dispenses change, so a human doesn’t have to. Sometimes there is an actual human at the checkout, but when you wish to pay with cash, you are directed to put the money into a machine placed there, so that the cashier does not have to actually handle cash. In recent months I have seen the latter system (human cashier + cash-handling machine) in a Madrid airport restaurant and a Romanian hypermarket.
- ac29 8y agoIf the company servicing these cash machines charges 0%, sure. I'd bet they end up charging fees close to what credit cards charge, though.