I’m surprised it’s legal for a business in the US to refuse cash payments. Is there a reason supporting cash payments is not mandatory?
'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
91–98 of 98 posts
Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
#92If you don't want my money, so be it.
Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s plenty of free bank accounts. Almost every bank offers them, too, or they’re free with stuff that the “average” person would do (ie, have 2 direct deposits per month). Overdrafts are another story, many bank accounts allow overdrafts and even do predatory things to increase the amount of overdraft fees. Bank of America got sued for this behavior.
The federal government just put a cap on overdraft fees. IIRC, it is $3.
Even if they limit it to $3, which is much better, you can still do slimy things like process the large transaction first (say, a mortgage payment), then process all the little transactions afterwards, stacking overdraft fees for each one. This is what BofA got sued for. Can turn a $3 charge into $45 pretty quickly.
Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cash is a nuisance for a small business. You're going to lose/miscount some not-insignificant percentage, and spend a lot of time and effort counting and storing it. The benefit of accepting cash is, besides there being no processing costs, is that it makes it really easy to... uhhhh, fudge your revenue numbers. I've had a few cash transactions where I ask for a receipt from the business and the owner scowls at me. >…
> Depending on the type of business you run, I can almost assure you these customers are not going to be in your target demographic. Don't be so sure. I'm plenty "banked" and will out of principle never buy anything from a place that does not take my cash. Privacy is one of the most important freedoms we have and cash is absolutely vital to maintain that freedom. The other vital freedom enabled by cash is the right t…
If privacy is important to you, prepaid debit cards are not a bad option.
I've also seen the extreme - in the part of the country I live it's not uncommon for people to pay for things like cars and houses with cash that they keep buried in their yards.
Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Depending on the type of business you run, I can almost assure you these customers are not going to be in your target demographic. Don't be so sure. I'm plenty "banked" and will out of principle never buy anything from a place that does not take my cash. Privacy is one of the most important freedoms we have and cash is absolutely vital to maintain that freedom. The other vital freedom enabled by cash is the right t…
If privacy is important to you, prepaid debit cards are not a bad option. I've also seen the extreme - in the part of the country I live it's not uncommon for people to pay for things like cars and houses with cash that they keep buried in their yards.
> If privacy is important to you, prepaid debit cards are not a bad option.
Agreed it's an option, but why bother adding a level of indirection and extra effort, I'd rather just pay cash.
Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the fundamentally most important issue. You should not be forced to use the services of any private company to get through the basics of life. It should be an option to choose between many, but also the option to choose none. Cash is issues by the government, it's the same for all of use, anyone is free to use it. It can't be suspended or remotely wiped, cash transactions cannot be supervised (and thus someti…
> You should not be forced to use the services of any private company to get through the basics of life. How do I buy food/clothing/shelter from the government? We are already discussing the actions of private businesses.
You can grow your own food, or trade with a neighbor or buy at farmers markets etc. Also, there are thousands of options where to buy food so there is no corporation oligopoly that can ban you from buying food.
Same for clothing. Housing you pretty much always buy from a private individual, never from a corporation.
Contrast these to a dystopian world where you're only allowed to make transaction with a credit card but visa & mastercard (private megacorporations) decide to ban you. That's it, you're basically not part of society anymore. (Sure there's discover and amex but their acceptance in most places is low.)
Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fednow is only an inter-banking solution. It doesn't have any consumer facing component.
I know that; real-time interbank settlement is the first and necessary step for real-time consumer settlement. ACH, our current interbank system, is incapable of real-time settlement.
> ACH, our current interbank system, is incapable of real-time settlement.
This might be nitpicky given the outcome is the same, but: That was once true but is no longer the case. Nearly-instant and same-day ACH are available now, but not widely and not typically available directly to consumers.
Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans
#98Today, many different payment methods, virtual wallets, banking applications, and payment systems have been created. Some of them work all over the world. For example, I use Google Pay a lot, and I read here https://casinosanalyzer.com/online-casinos/google-pay that it can be used to pay almost everywhere. And although I mostly use cards and apps, I don't want to give up cash completely, I would like to be able to pay with both cash and cards.