Last month New York City passed a bill to ban businesses from rejecting cash. On February 13 a similar resolution will be heard in Washington, D.C.
Excluding people from paying with cash means “essentially discriminating against people who are low-income, people who are homeless, also undocumented,” she said.
Getting a credit or debit card often requires a form of ID, a utility or another bill, money to deposit and a financial history. Mitchell said that in Washington, D.C., nearly a third of residents rely on cash every day because they don’t have a card or even a bank account.
Check It Out: More Cities, States Say No to Cashless Businesses
It’s very common in the Netherlands, and it is increasingly happening here in the UK, ostensibly because of staff safety.
No cash on premises means the staff are not at risk of a robbery for cash, and the business does not have to securely store and then transport takings to a bank.
That’s not to say every business has to do this. They’re free to make a choice as to what works for them.
Cost wise, cash is not free to bank for a business here in the UK. There are fees to deposit cash, and fees for obtaining cash “floats”. Alongside that, bank branches are disappearing from our high streets because they’re just not being used by customers as much, any more.
Recognising these systemic changes, the UK government has been attempting to ensure that everyone can get a bank account rather than trying to dictate what makes sense for any given business. It’s an interesting contrast to how it seems to be being handled in the USA.
That was my thought as well. It wouldn’t shut out low income people if everyone was guaranteed a bank account.
Good. As Lee said, time to make it nationwide.
Good! Make it nationwide.
Good. Cashless stores discriminate against the poor.
I’ve had enough. This is the United States and all of its citizens deserve to be treated equally by the economy.
don’t kid yourself; the people behind this tech aren’t interested in security. They are interested in maximizing their profits through continuous “productivity enhancements”.