Opinion: what do you think?

[oliverthecat]

Some places do not accept cash only credit or debit cards but is it legal? do to what a bill says on it "This note is LEGAL TENDER for ALL debts, public and private" just wondering what you think?

 

[kdonnel]

Some places do not accept cash only credit or debit cards but is it legal? do to what a bill says on it "This note is LEGAL TENDER for ALL debts, public and private" just wondering what you think?

Federal Reserve says you do not have to accept cash.

Is it legal for a business in the United States to refuse cash as a form of payment?

There is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise.

Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," states: "United States coins and currency [including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve Banks and national banks] are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." This statute means that all U.S. money as identified above is a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor.

 

[fla4fun]

The company I used to work for went cashless for a while. They ended up making an exception that if the customer had exact change, a manager could approve the cash transaction. The whole reason was to eliminate the need for keeping a cash bank at each retail location to stock the registers each shift. They checked into it very thoroughly before moving forward, and it is legal to go cashless.

I personally don’t like going totally cashless, as I hate balancing my checking account with tons of small transactions. Based on the commercial where the developer of a new app that keeps track of all your spending comes right out and says he never balances his checking account or credit card statements, maybe I am in the minority for actually keeping track of my money and where it goes.

 

[JimMIA]

I think it's clearly legal, and I don't have a problem with it. I can see two reasons why a merchant would want to implement a "no cash" policy:

• Cash on hand creates an armed robbery risk, which is obviously a serious safety issue for employees, customers, and anyone in the area.
• Cash also creates expenses in accounting, maintaining change banks, making bank deposits, etc, etc. The transaction is really just starting when we hand the merchant a bill and receive our change -- and all that work is an expense for the merchant vs. a credit/debit card transaction for the exact amount of the purchase at a very nominal cost. Credit/debit transactions are less costly than cash.

The counter-argument is that the EFFECT of "no cash" is discriminatory against people who don't have bank accounts for whatever reason. I'm confident that's obviously not the intent of the merchant.

I get benefits from my credit cards that outweigh the costs of having them.

If a person makes a personal choice not to have one, IMHO that's on them -- not on anyone else.

 

[superme80]

I try to avoid places that refuse to accept cash. I get why a lot go that way, but I hate the direction our society is going.

 

[JimMIA]

I personally don’t like going totally cashless, as I hate balancing my checking account with tons of small transactions. Based on the commercial where the developer of a new app that keeps track of all your spending comes right out and says he never balances his checking account or credit card statements, maybe I am in the minority for actually keeping track of my money and where it goes.

I can see that being an issue with debit cards, and also with digital payment apps that deduct the payment directly from your bank account. My DD uses Cash App all the time with her friends for little stuff, and it's a mess having to balance your checkbook with a ton of small transactions.

But again, it's a choice.

 

[JimMIA]

Also, for me as a consumer being able to just tap a chip to a reader to pay makes the checkout process much quicker and easier. And that translates to shorter lines at Publix, etc.

Turning the question around, if a merchant was cash-only, I would never set foot in their store.

 

[tvguy]

I think it's clearly legal, and I don't have a problem with it. I can see two reasons why a merchant would want to implement a "no cash" policy:

• Cash on hand creates an armed robbery risk, which is obviously a serious safety issue for employees, customers, and anyone in the area.
• Cash also creates expenses in accounting, maintaining change banks, making bank deposits, etc, etc. The transaction is really just starting when we hand the merchant a bill and receive our change -- and all that work is an expense for the merchant vs. a credit/debit card transaction for the exact amount of the purchase at a very nominal cost. Credit/debit transactions are less costly than cash.

The counter-argument is that the EFFECT of "no cash" is discriminatory against people who don't have bank accounts for whatever reason. I'm confident that's obviously not the intent of the merchant.

I get benefits from my credit cards that outweigh the costs of having them.

If a person makes a personal choice not to have one, IMHO that's on them -- not on anyone else.

No disputing the armed robbery risk.
However, in talking with the owner of the local Gourmet Hamburger place, credit/debit transactions cost him three times as much as cash. He never went cashless during the pandemic and I asked what form of payment he preferred and he said cash.

 

[fla4fun]

I think it's clearly legal, and I don't have a problem with it. I can see two reasons why a merchant would want to implement a "no cash" policy:

• Cash on hand creates an armed robbery risk, which is obviously a serious safety issue for employees, customers, and anyone in the area.
• Cash also creates expenses in accounting, maintaining change banks, making bank deposits, etc, etc. The transaction is really just starting when we hand the merchant a bill and receive our change -- and all that work is an expense for the merchant vs. a credit/debit card transaction for the exact amount of the purchase at a very nominal cost. Credit/debit transactions are less costly than cash.

The counter-argument is that the EFFECT of "no cash" is discriminatory against people who don't have bank accounts for whatever reason. I'm confident that's obviously not the intent of the merchant.

I get benefits from my credit cards that outweigh the costs of having them.

If a person makes a personal choice not to have one, IMHO that's on them -- not on anyone else.

You basically described 50% of my last job. I sent cash bank replenishments to the retail locations, when they had refunds, but no sales, I counted all the cash deposits coming in (hundreds of thousands daily, by hand), and prepared the bank deposits for our courier to deliver to the bank. I also balanced the credit card sales, and responded to customer cc chargebacks (the least pleasant part of the job). There is a lot of behind the scenes work required to keep cash and cc sales flowing smoothly. I was there 25 years and in all that time, we only had one robbery, but one is one too many.

I do miss finding old bills in the deposits. The oldest bill we ever came across was from 1929! Occasionally we would get foreign coins too.

 

[kdonnel]

No disputing the armed robbery risk.
However, in talking with the owner of the local Gourmet Hamburger place, credit/debit transactions cost him three times as much as cash. He never went cashless during the pandemic and I asked what form of payment he preferred and he said cash.

According to the restaurant industry he is bad at math. Cash is almost always more costly to accept than electronic payments.

There is a great deal of hidden cost in counting out drawers, maintaining change, visits to the bank, having to have what tend to be the best and highest paid employees manning cash registers.

Perhaps he likes cash because it makes it easier to cheat on his taxes? A reason for the new reason the IRS wants a copy of any transaction larger than $600.

 

[prairie_girl]

Some places do not accept cash only credit or debit cards but is it legal? do to what a bill says on it "This note is LEGAL TENDER for ALL debts, public and private" just wondering what you think?

Oh boy. During the height of the pandemic a number of businesses here were not accepting cash and every day at work I would get a steady stream of calls from customers who were incensed they couldn’t pay cash for their chicken sandwich. More than a few people said they were going to sic the rcmp on me yet here I still sit, free as a bird lol

 

[tvguy]

According to the restaurant industry he is bad at math. Cash is almost always more costly to accept than electronic payments.

There is a great deal of hidden cost in counting out drawers, maintaining change, visits to the bank, having to have what tend to be the best and highest paid employees manning cash registers.

Perhaps he likes cash because it makes it easier to cheat on his taxes? A reason for the new reason the IRS wants a copy of any transaction larger than $600.

No idea. I know that a number of businesses that went cashless due to the pandemic has gone back to accepting cash again. I was wondering if that would happen or they would stay cashless. I also have noticed several mini-markets and fast food places here now charge 50 cents for credit or debit purchases. The mini-market by my house used to have a minimum $10 purchase before they would accept debit/credit, but now they have a big sign up that they no longer accept debit or credit, but have a contract with a third party company for those who wish to pay by debit credit and the fee is charged by THAT company, not them.

 

[LuvOrlando]

It's understandable that handheld cash isn't a great idea during high community transmission periods but outside of the present situation I wouldn't tolerate a place in the US that willfully refused the currency. More than likely I'd see the sign, just silently put my stuff back, leave and never go back. This would be true even if I intended to pay with a card, I'm not really bendy on some things and I hold a grudge.

 

[kdonnel]

I actually used cash for the first time since January of 2019 this past week.

Cash is so old fashioned.

 

[superme80]

It's understandable that handheld cash isn't a great idea during high community transmission periods but outside of the present situation I wouldn't tolerate a place in the US that willfully refused the currency. More than likely I'd see the sign, just silently put my stuff back, leave and never go back. This would be true even if I intended to pay with a card, I'm not really bendy on some things and I hold a grudge.

I cut back how often I went to Dutch Bros, coffee shop, during the pandemic, due to them being card only. I went to Starbucks a lot, and a local coffee shop. I usually paid with my card, but I don't like being told what I have to use.

 

[wenrob]

The company I used to work for went cashless for a while. They ended up making an exception that if the customer had exact change, a manager could approve the cash transaction. The whole reason was to eliminate the need for keeping a cash bank at each retail location to stock the registers each shift. They checked into it very thoroughly before moving forward, and it is legal to go cashless.

I personally don’t like going totally cashless, as I hate balancing my checking account with tons of small transactions. Based on the commercial where the developer of a new app that keeps track of all your spending comes right out and says he never balances his checking account or credit card statements, maybe I am in the minority for actually keeping track of my money and where it goes.

Interesting. I find going cashless/checkless/paperless has made keeping tabs on what is going in and out a hundred times easier. When debit cards made their debut it made checkbook balancing a nightmare. DH would present me with all the receipts except some he’d forget or he’d forget he got cash or wrote a check. Those were the days when an unaccounted $20 could get us in real trouble and we wouldn’t know it until the monthly statement came in. Then there’s the real possibility of accidentally dropping a number etc. Once we had to pay ridiculous fees over a NICKEL. These days I have everything laid out right in front of me anytime I want and digital receipts right at my fingertips. I’m much more likely to catch something amiss now and DH no longer has to “report” his spending to me. I know what he spent because the info is instantly available. I haven’t kept a ledger in probably a decade.

I would say I’m about 99% cashless. I write maybe two checks a year and only get cash if I’m going somewhere where a cash tip is warranted or “just in case” cash on vacation. I’m pretty much physical payment free as well. I’m less likely to shop somewhere that doesn’t have a mobile pay option and don’t know of anywhere around here that is cash only. The other day I had to use my card for something and I had to stop for a second to remember how.

I do get why cash needs to be an option though. I know two people who don’t have checking accounts and they’d have serious problems if they couldn’t use cash.

 

[JimMIA]

Interesting. I find going cashless/checkless/paperless has made keeping tabs on what is going in and out a hundred times easier. When debit cards made their debut it made checkbook balancing a nightmare. DH would present me with all the receipts except some he’d forget or he’d forget he got cash or wrote a check. Those were the days when an unaccounted $20 could get us in real trouble and we wouldn’t know it until the monthly statement came in. Then there’s the real possibility of accidentally dropping a number etc. Once we had to pay ridiculous fees over a NICKEL. These days I have everything laid out right in front of me anytime I want and digital receipts right at my fingertips. I’m much more likely to catch something amiss now and DH no longer has to “report” his spending to me. I know what he spent because the info is instantly available. I haven’t kept a ledger in probably a decade.

I would say I’m about 99% cashless. I write maybe two checks a year and only get cash if I’m going somewhere where a cash tip is warranted or “just in case” cash on vacation. I’m pretty much physical payment free as well. I’m less likely to shop somewhere that doesn’t have a mobile pay option and don’t know of anywhere around here that is cash only. The other day I had to use my card for something and I had to stop for a second to remember how.

I do get why cash needs to be an option though. I know two people who don’t have checking accounts and they’d have serious problems if they couldn’t use cash.

That's me to a tee! Cashless, online bill pay, paperless as much as possible. I still have everything right at my fingertips if I need to look something up, and I do go over my credit card bills each month (b/c neither DW nor DD understands that that "free trial" is actually a subscription!). I balance my checkbook consistently. To me, cashless as much as possible is just SO much easier.

 

[RamblingMad]

Cash businesses are ripe for money laundering.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I personally don’t like going totally cashless, as I hate balancing my checking account with tons of small transactions. Based on the commercial where the developer of a new app that keeps track of all your spending comes right out and says he never balances his checking account or credit card statements, maybe I am in the minority for actually keeping track of my money and where it goes.

Mobile banking makes this super easy. 'Bout the only issue is the time it may take for a retailer to input your transaction so it shows up as pending on your account (my bank shows a running current balance which takes into consideration pending transactions). However, not everyone balance(d) their checkbook anyways immediately after making a purchase when they have physical checkbooks.

I always felt like I was a weird one where give me cash and unless I put it immediately in the bank (which was actually more normal for me) I'd spend it quicker than if I used my debit card. All those little cash transactions would mean I'm out of money faster I guess in my mind there was something about tangible money. I'm glad I grew up in kinda both worlds where we learned to balance a checkbook and well writing a check, did a lot of cash stuff when we were younger but then embraced technology as it came about. We were just talking last night when I was going through old paperwork and saw where my bank had sent me my first chip card (transitioning from the old system). Boy that seems like so long ago lol.

 

[JimMIA]

Cash businesses are ripe for money laundering.

In fact...some cash businesses (more than you think) exist primarily for money laundering!