Philadelphia recently passed a law outright requiring stores to accept cash; they viewed requiring a bank account and credit card to be an accessibility problem

Philadelphia recently passed a law outright requiring stores to accept cash; they viewed requiring a bank account and credit card to be an accessibility problem for homeless residents. A couple of fast-food places I (pre-pandemic) used to frequent switched from requiring credit cards to accepting both afterwards, which was kind of nice. There is reason in general to be concerned about the lack of good, private digital payment systems, but there are still plenty of cities where a pro-cash sentiment is strong, or at least a pro-"cash should be an option" sentiment. And I suspect (but can't confirm) that rural areas might also bias towards more cash transactions as well. The general trend away from cash is something to pay attention to, but depending on where you live, it may not be an emergency right now.