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A lot of them have wiggled around this problem by offering “atms” at the cash register. You pay with a debit card, but it’s not a normal transaction, it’s an AT
by andrewxdiamond 2y ago
A lot of them have wiggled around this problem by offering “atms” at the cash register. You pay with a debit card, but it’s not a normal transaction, it’s an ATM withdrawal! I don’t understand how the money is vended to the business, but it keeps it out of the store
- swalling 2y agoYes this seems to be increasingly common, at least on the west coast. The suboptimal part is that the buyer typically gets hit with an out-of-network ATM fee for doing this, so the consumer is paying $2-5 for processing per transaction.
- toomuchtodo 2y agoYou can use a brokerage account that reimburses atm fees.
- kstrauser 2y agoOr a credit union.
- zoklet-enjoyer 2y agoOr some banks
- ghaff 2y agoThat’s pretty small potatoes though compared to going to a bank yourself and making a transaction for cash you don’t normally have around. Maybe there’s an ATM down the block but that’s not the case for many people.
- filoleg 2y agoAnd those ATMs around the block from a dispensary (or even in the same buildimg) would still charge a fee for withdrawal anyway (as they are always a third-party ATM and not a bank one, so you get that big message on the screen about an extra fee for withdrawal).
- garciasn 2y agoUse a credit union or bank that doesn’t charge ATM fees; that’s what I do. Any CU-related ATM withdrawal is always free and I get 10 ATM withdrawals a month with fees reversed.
- hunter2_ 2y agoUnlimited fees reversed with Schwab checking. No monthly fee to figure out how to avoid, either.
- ada1981 2y agoSo they just eat the fees?
- hunter2_ 2y agoYes, even exorbitant ones like on a cruise ship or casino. Free checks, too. And mutual funds with lower fees than Vanguard. But virtually no physical branches (most locations are brokerage offices only) so not ideal for depositing cash or getting a cashier's check... use something else for that.
- Semaphor 2y agoThe Neo-Bank I use in Germany (N26) works similarly. 3 or 5 fee-eaten withdrawals per month, but the always free option is supermarket registers. There’s a large network of supermarkets that are connected to the network, and I can generate a code on my phone, scan it, and it registers the negative value (e.g. -50 €), which I then get handed. Deposits work the same way (scan code, generate positive amount that you then pay), but at least for free accounts deposits incur a fee.
- CydeWeys 2y agoThey eat the fees because operating physical branches is much more costly still. And if you're truly abusing it and costing them massively with fees, they can always close your account.
- 2y ago
- wnevets 2y agoThat's a fairly a common practice for cash only businesses, normally a different company is supplying the ATM and its cash. For example I've seen cash only ice cream shops with the same setup.
- mattmaroon 2y agoThat's not what he's describing. In this case there actually is no cash or traditional ATM involved on-site. It's connected to the dispensary POS, not a physical ATM. (They often have a regular ATM like you describe also, though.) So you do an ATM transaction, but the money goes to the dispensary somehow. I do not know how it works on the back end, but I've used it as a customer. It's lovely and can even be done over your phone.
- wnevets 2y agoOh interesting. Does it appear on your end as a cash advance when using a credit card?
- andrewxdiamond 2y agoNope. ATM withdrawal. My bank even reimburses the ATM fee associated with it
- czscout 2y agoAn ATM withdrawal with a credit card is a cash advance.
- andrewxdiamond 2y agoOh my bad, read the question wrong. They just don’t support CCs. Debit only
- cgriswald 2y agoIsn't that how a traditional ATM transaction works? You use the ATM and the money goes to the ATM owner (plus a fee). The only difference here is you get weed instead of cash.
- NewJazz 2y agoDoes it actually keep cash out of the store? They might just have to keep track of it at the back of house still.
- justsomehnguy 2y agoyou answered it yourself
- ethbr1 2y agoSigns that times are a' changing -- you can buy illegal drugs with a card now. (Call me crazy and old-fashioned, but I don't think I'd want 50+ illegally-correlated transactions on my financial record that the government could lump into other charges...)
- coffeebeqn 2y agoDo they have jurisdiction to go and do that?
- ethbr1 2y agoIf you get hit with a federal charge and they care enough, federal prosecutors can absolutely dig into your financial records. That said, I imagine it would only get done if they really wanted to throw the book at you...
- biomcgary 2y ago"For my friends, everything. For my enemies, the law."
- denimnerd42 2y agosure they do. for example it's illegal to be in possession of marijuana and a firearm. the purchase of said MJ would be pretty good evidence that could lead to other warrants. That's the Hunter Biden gun charge.
- beaeglebeachh 2y agoIt's oddly not. Only to be a user or addict with a firearm. IIRC if you just like the way weed looks in your hand that doesn't make you a user, and there's plenty of reasonable doubt you're guarding it for grandma or whoever. Of course people are still being convicted of weed and firearm, but it gets recorded as gun law violation and nobody cares, cuz left hates guns and right hates weed, so they'll never repeal it.
- bobthepanda 2y agothere is still a lot of cash on site due to the presence of an ATM though, and in the cash registers. the primary problem is that weed shops are incredibly attractive robbery targets due to being one of the few businesses in 2024 that handle large amounts of cash.
- CydeWeys 2y agoI think the ATM isn't actually dispensing cash. You're doing an ATM transaction for a certain amount of money, but what you're actually getting is weed. It's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank."
- mikestew 2y agoIt's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank." I have heard from a very reliable source that the ATMs in most weed shops on the Eastside of Seattle dispense cash because you're going to be required to pay with cash at the counter. There are allegedly a few exceptions, but the majority of shops accept only cash and the ATM dispenses bills.
- hughesjj 2y agoOut of the 15+ SWIM has been to in WA state, SWIM has never seen a dispensary take anything but physical cash (bills and coins).
- 14u2c 2y agoNope, it's just a regular ATM operated by a 3rd party company. You get cash from it then give them the cash. The store will also often reimburse for the ATM fee.
- CydeWeys 2y agoNope, see other comments. My interpretation is correct.
- loeg 2y agoThe ATM is usually registered to a different business around the corner or something like that.
- hirsin 2y agoBusiness 2 owns the building and the atm, renting it to business 1, the dispensary. B1 pays the cash as rent to b2 who puts it into the ATM again. A SWAG but it's common enough in other business setups to alter costs as I understand it.
- reshie 2y agoWhich most take off the couple of bills for processing fee's.