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> the battle is partly won in several U.S. cities (including NYC & SF) which passed laws to mandate acceptance of cash In SF, despite the laws, many businesses

by varenc 5y ago

> the battle is partly won in several U.S. cities (including NYC & SF) which passed laws to mandate acceptance of cash In SF, despite the laws, many businesses openly had a no-cash policy once the pandemic started. "Sorry, Credit Cards Only. Touching money might transmit Covid" is too easy of an argument, even though it's essentially a non-concern now. And I haven't seen businesses go back to accepting cash as lockdowns have ended. Will be interesting to see if SF authorities actually try to enforce this law.

walterbell 5y ago
Whole Foods created a dedicated checkout lane for cash during the pandemic, in some stores surrounded by a 6-foot plexiglass walls. It was usually the fastest line. Now they are back to all registers accepting cash. > Will be interesting to see if SF authorities actually start trying to enforce this law or not. Great opportunity for a city journalist to assemble a news story. Collect footage to document their experiences across a diverse range of SF stores which do and don't accept cash. If "peer" stores accept cash, have good traffic and happy customers, then cashless competitors may reconsider their stance.
- Kalium 5y ago
  For a lot of businesses, the overhead that comes with handling cash isn't worth it. Especially smaller businesses that would really rather not deal with the risk of being robbed or having a staffer mugged for the nightly drop. Credit card processors charge a processing fee per transaction, but the overhead of physically managing cash and so on isn't free. I expect many stores will decide to stay cashless for that reason, no matter what their peers decide. Being cash-friendly or cash-only is not free, even if people do tend to think of it that way. As for SF's law, I think it's worth bearing in mind that it was originally written as a shot at the Amazon Go stores.
  - walterbell 5y ago
    Businesses whose existence is contingent on cost management may find themselves replaced by those that can manage both top line (demand, revenue, culture, brand) and bottom line. Especially IF the economy continues to fragment into online escapism for the poor and 3D experiences for those with discretionary spending, aka "inequality".
pvarangot 5y ago
Yeah. I only saw that sign a couple times during the early COVID days and just payed with cash to see what happened and they took it without questions.
- XorNot 5y ago
  That's because you were being an asshole to a retail worker, who doesn't want to get into it with you and maybe get assaulted about company policy. You foisted a potential risk onto someone without power. Don't do that.
  - pvarangot 5y ago
    My experience with this no-cash signs was only on owner operated shops. Maybe I was being an asshole, and they were being assholes to illegal immigrants that can't have bank accounts, and maybe we are all assholes but I really don't care. What I do care is about being able to buy stuff anonymously and without banks or the government getting in-between me or my friends and our food. Any place big enough to afford having retail employees that I've been to in SF was always still taking cash.
  - walterbell 5y ago
    No one here knows either of the parties in that transaction, perhaps avoid projecting? There are companies which empower workers to make decisions.

by varenc 5y ago

walterbell 5y ago

Whole Foods created a dedicated checkout lane for cash during the pandemic, in some stores surrounded by a 6-foot plexiglass walls. It was usually the fastest line. Now they are back to all registers accepting cash. > Will be interesting to see if SF authorities actually start trying to enforce this law or not. Great opportunity for a city journalist to assemble a news story. Collect footage to document their experiences across a diverse range of SF stores which do and don't accept cash. If "peer" stores accept cash, have good traffic and happy customers, then cashless competitors may reconsider their stance.

Kalium 5y ago
For a lot of businesses, the overhead that comes with handling cash isn't worth it. Especially smaller businesses that would really rather not deal with the risk of being robbed or having a staffer mugged for the nightly drop. Credit card processors charge a processing fee per transaction, but the overhead of physically managing cash and so on isn't free. I expect many stores will decide to stay cashless for that reason, no matter what their peers decide. Being cash-friendly or cash-only is not free, even if people do tend to think of it that way. As for SF's law, I think it's worth bearing in mind that it was originally written as a shot at the Amazon Go stores.
- walterbell 5y ago
  Businesses whose existence is contingent on cost management may find themselves replaced by those that can manage both top line (demand, revenue, culture, brand) and bottom line. Especially IF the economy continues to fragment into online escapism for the poor and 3D experiences for those with discretionary spending, aka "inequality".

pvarangot 5y ago

Yeah. I only saw that sign a couple times during the early COVID days and just payed with cash to see what happened and they took it without questions.

XorNot 5y ago
That's because you were being an asshole to a retail worker, who doesn't want to get into it with you and maybe get assaulted about company policy. You foisted a potential risk onto someone without power. Don't do that.
- pvarangot 5y ago
  My experience with this no-cash signs was only on owner operated shops. Maybe I was being an asshole, and they were being assholes to illegal immigrants that can't have bank accounts, and maybe we are all assholes but I really don't care. What I do care is about being able to buy stuff anonymously and without banks or the government getting in-between me or my friends and our food. Any place big enough to afford having retail employees that I've been to in SF was always still taking cash.
- walterbell 5y ago
  No one here knows either of the parties in that transaction, perhaps avoid projecting? There are companies which empower workers to make decisions.