5 ms·

No one is interested because we don’t use that much cash to make it an issue. Even most vending machines have machines for cards or NFC payments on cellphone.

by wil421 5y ago

No one is interested because we don’t use that much cash to make it an issue. Even most vending machines have machines for cards or NFC payments on cellphone. The only people still using checks or pennies are more than likely elderly. They vote in droves and will probably strike something like that down.

chrisseaton 5y ago
The US and Germany are two western countries that have relatively high use of cash, and relative distrust of electronic payments - it's only been in the last decade or so that the US has slowly started moving away from signatures for payment and I'm still regularly asked to do it. That's unheard of in almost all comparable countries. You can also see people paying with literal $100 bills at the supermarket.
- dr-detroit 5y ago
  You should listen to those "take control of your finance" coaches on the scam radio stations they advocate for the thing where you go to the bank and withdraw 1 days worth of money in cash and keep it in little envelopes.
- sneak 5y ago
  Use of $100s is in sharp decline for most retail transactions in most of the US, as is cash in general. Most USians under 30 don't carry any cash at all. As someone who always pays in cash, this is increasingly inconvenient. There are occasionally shops that won't take cash at all. Cash can still be found in poor communities, as well as the big cities in NY and CA, as well as Las Vegas. Everywhere else is rapidly going cashless.
  - Beached 5y ago
    I always carry some cash, even if I usually pay with card. many many stores have a minimum purchase to use a card, and most these days no longer accept checks. cash is my only option. I ran into only one store that had a minimum purchase to use card, and they didn't accept cash or checks at all. I just left the stuff on the counter and walked out.
  - dfxm12 5y ago
    Philadelphia has banned cashless stores: https://www.inquirer.com/business/cashless-ban-philadelphia-stores-sweetgreen-bluestone-lane-20191004.html https://www.inquirer.com/business/cashless-ban-philadelphia-... I've noticed some out of towners come in and get surprised at how many businesses are cash only, from humble produce stands to fine dining establishments. With that in mind, there is at least some inertia that people know to expect when they need cash (or at least when to tap MAC). Not everyone can get a bank account or credit card. So, it's important that stuff like grocery stores, clothing retail, etc. accept cash. This is orthogonal to whether or not we really need pennies though :)
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      High-end restaurants being cash only? That’s bizarre. I’d never go out to dinner carrying like 200 dollars.
      - sneak 5y ago
        I never go out of my house without my passport and enough cash for a week in a hotel and a brand new laptop. $200 won't even get you a cab and a new phone after you get mugged for all your cards and mobile.
    - HideousKojima 5y ago
      Philly also banned stores and restaurants from using bulletproof glass. Seems to me they care more about avoiding the appearance of racism than they do about the ability of store owners to protect their employees or property from criminals. Going cash free would effectively eliminate the threat of armed robbery for most stores, while also limiting the ability of employees to steal and reducing expenses related to handling cash, but we can't have nice things because disparate impact or whatever the buzzword of the day is.
  - armenarmen 5y ago
    I was at a cafe and a homeless dude came in wanting to buy a coke for cash, the barista pointed to the “card only” sign and the guy left without buying. Seems explicitly anti homeless at times.
    - ac29 5y ago
      A small business never having to handle cash would have a non-trivial labor savings. Counting cash drawers in and out, preparing bank deposits, etc takes time that you have to pay for. No cash also means no theft of cash (by employees, generally).
      - armenarmen 5y ago
        Totally fair points, good call
      - usefulcat 5y ago
        That's true but it's not all savings; if you accept credit cards then you get to pay credit card fees.
        jdeibele 5y ago
        Yes, but there used to be elaborate systems for handling cash. Department stores had pneumatic systems that would take deposits of cash and zap it to the strong room. When I first started shopping at Costco #2 they had such a system. The armored car fees, the bonded employees in the strong room, the extra guards, insurance, etc. weren't cheap. I remember reading an article about how happy businessmen (we're talking the 60's, so men) were to reduce the cash handling part of the business. Can't find it now but they felt the fees were worth it. Of course, they were much lower then.
salamandersauce 5y ago
The U.S mint made 7.5 billion pennies last year. Each of those pennies cost more than a penny to produce. The people asking for pennies to keep being produced is the Zinc lobby. Over 20% of transactions are still cash and using pennies just adds extra inefficiencies to that process while wasting money just making the things. I don't recall vending machines ever taking pennies in my lifetime to begin with either. They've been that useless and annoying to deal with for that long.
- pomian 5y ago
  I remember a town, not too long ago (5 years?) Hilo I believe, that had parking meters that stated: "Nickel or penny for convenience" For 10 minutes of parking.
  - MR4D 5y ago
    But at least you don’t get your info stolen when you park [0]. It’s a nice side-effect of using physical money. Also nice that it’s cheap. [0] - https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/04/parkmobile-breach-exposes-license-plate-data-mobile-numbers-of-21m-users/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/04/parkmobile-breach-expose...
- toast0 5y ago
  > I don't recall vending machines ever taking pennies in my lifetime to begin with either. They've been that useless and annoying to deal with for that long. Bus fare boxes often will, although they don't show it on the sticker. I got rid of a ton of pennies when I was riding a bus regularly.
  - coldpie 5y ago
    Hahaha! YOU'RE the guy taking five minutes to pay! Cling cling cling cling cling whrrrrrr cling cling cling cling whrrrrrrr cling cling cling..... :)
    - toast0 5y ago
bityard 5y ago
> The only people still using checks or pennies are more than likely elderly. And of course almost every single brick-and-mortar business...

by wil421 5y ago

chrisseaton 5y ago

The US and Germany are two western countries that have relatively high use of cash, and relative distrust of electronic payments - it's only been in the last decade or so that the US has slowly started moving away from signatures for payment and I'm still regularly asked to do it. That's unheard of in almost all comparable countries. You can also see people paying with literal $100 bills at the supermarket.

dr-detroit 5y ago
You should listen to those "take control of your finance" coaches on the scam radio stations they advocate for the thing where you go to the bank and withdraw 1 days worth of money in cash and keep it in little envelopes.
sneak 5y ago
Use of $100s is in sharp decline for most retail transactions in most of the US, as is cash in general. Most USians under 30 don't carry any cash at all. As someone who always pays in cash, this is increasingly inconvenient. There are occasionally shops that won't take cash at all. Cash can still be found in poor communities, as well as the big cities in NY and CA, as well as Las Vegas. Everywhere else is rapidly going cashless.
- Beached 5y ago
  I always carry some cash, even if I usually pay with card. many many stores have a minimum purchase to use a card, and most these days no longer accept checks. cash is my only option. I ran into only one store that had a minimum purchase to use card, and they didn't accept cash or checks at all. I just left the stuff on the counter and walked out.
- dfxm12 5y ago
  Philadelphia has banned cashless stores: https://www.inquirer.com/business/cashless-ban-philadelphia-stores-sweetgreen-bluestone-lane-20191004.html https://www.inquirer.com/business/cashless-ban-philadelphia-... I've noticed some out of towners come in and get surprised at how many businesses are cash only, from humble produce stands to fine dining establishments. With that in mind, there is at least some inertia that people know to expect when they need cash (or at least when to tap MAC). Not everyone can get a bank account or credit card. So, it's important that stuff like grocery stores, clothing retail, etc. accept cash. This is orthogonal to whether or not we really need pennies though :)
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    High-end restaurants being cash only? That’s bizarre. I’d never go out to dinner carrying like 200 dollars.
    - sneak 5y ago
      I never go out of my house without my passport and enough cash for a week in a hotel and a brand new laptop. $200 won't even get you a cab and a new phone after you get mugged for all your cards and mobile.
  - HideousKojima 5y ago
    Philly also banned stores and restaurants from using bulletproof glass. Seems to me they care more about avoiding the appearance of racism than they do about the ability of store owners to protect their employees or property from criminals. Going cash free would effectively eliminate the threat of armed robbery for most stores, while also limiting the ability of employees to steal and reducing expenses related to handling cash, but we can't have nice things because disparate impact or whatever the buzzword of the day is.
- armenarmen 5y ago
  I was at a cafe and a homeless dude came in wanting to buy a coke for cash, the barista pointed to the “card only” sign and the guy left without buying. Seems explicitly anti homeless at times.
  - ac29 5y ago
    A small business never having to handle cash would have a non-trivial labor savings. Counting cash drawers in and out, preparing bank deposits, etc takes time that you have to pay for. No cash also means no theft of cash (by employees, generally).
    - armenarmen 5y ago
      Totally fair points, good call
    - usefulcat 5y ago
      That's true but it's not all savings; if you accept credit cards then you get to pay credit card fees.
      - jdeibele 5y ago
        Yes, but there used to be elaborate systems for handling cash. Department stores had pneumatic systems that would take deposits of cash and zap it to the strong room. When I first started shopping at Costco #2 they had such a system. The armored car fees, the bonded employees in the strong room, the extra guards, insurance, etc. weren't cheap. I remember reading an article about how happy businessmen (we're talking the 60's, so men) were to reduce the cash handling part of the business. Can't find it now but they felt the fees were worth it. Of course, they were much lower then.

salamandersauce 5y ago

The U.S mint made 7.5 billion pennies last year. Each of those pennies cost more than a penny to produce. The people asking for pennies to keep being produced is the Zinc lobby. Over 20% of transactions are still cash and using pennies just adds extra inefficiencies to that process while wasting money just making the things. I don't recall vending machines ever taking pennies in my lifetime to begin with either. They've been that useless and annoying to deal with for that long.

pomian 5y ago
I remember a town, not too long ago (5 years?) Hilo I believe, that had parking meters that stated: "Nickel or penny for convenience" For 10 minutes of parking.
- MR4D 5y ago
  But at least you don’t get your info stolen when you park [0]. It’s a nice side-effect of using physical money. Also nice that it’s cheap. [0] - https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/04/parkmobile-breach-exposes-license-plate-data-mobile-numbers-of-21m-users/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/04/parkmobile-breach-expose...
toast0 5y ago
> I don't recall vending machines ever taking pennies in my lifetime to begin with either. They've been that useless and annoying to deal with for that long. Bus fare boxes often will, although they don't show it on the sticker. I got rid of a ton of pennies when I was riding a bus regularly.
- coldpie 5y ago
  Hahaha! YOU'RE the guy taking five minutes to pay! Cling cling cling cling cling whrrrrrr cling cling cling cling whrrrrrrr cling cling cling..... :)
  - toast0 5y ago

bityard 5y ago

> The only people still using checks or pennies are more than likely elderly. And of course almost every single brick-and-mortar business...