"Cash Only" vs. "No Longer Accepting Cash - Cards Only"

Last night I walked by a taco truck that said "Cash Only"
A little later I passed by a Subway that said "Cards Only"

Where do you stand? There's obviously some class issues coming into play... I have friends that say "Oh, I never carry cash anymore" but also a bartender/under-the-table buddy that has no financial digital presence, no Paypal account, no debit card, just a wallet full of cash, and he seems to get along fine

I personally feel naked without a little bit of cash, enough for a can of beer at the market at least

Seem like we're currently torn between both worlds... A friend just visted Japan and said that cash is still king, but I was in Sweden last summer and they do cards for essentially every transaction... like you don't run up a bar tab, everything is immediate point of sale, tap the card on the little device

Cash has really disappeared where I am (Aus). I actually really feel for the homeless, because now, people genuinely dont have anything to give them bcs no one carries cash anymore.

There was a move for a lot of "card only" here but there's legal issues because they have to be able to offer payment options without adding the fees.

yeah, I get that about the homeless, I passed a street musician in Stockholm that I thought deserved something but I had nothing in my wallet and he wasn't set up for digital

card only pls and thanks the edge cases idk

the corner store down the road from me charges a flat fifty cents per card transaction, so a $4.50 beer becomes a $5.00 beer and that sucks

I do feel safer with card only - you lose/have your wallet nicked, a quick call and you can lock all the cards. Cash is just gone, baby.

Last year we took a trip to Prague, and no exaggeration, I never saw a single unit of their currency. Even at the Christmas markets, the vendors were cash free.

xpost but yeah the other side is the fees. And they can be hidden and really rack up sometimes ugh.

xp I'll make sure to steal your phone instead, trayce

I never saw a single unit of their currency

pretty sure they're on the euro, yeah?

nope!

I mostly use cash for doing laundry these days.

when I did the card-only Sweden trip, I got hit with a bunch of 'foreign transaction fees' on my statement, for every transaction... I guess there's a way to buy some of the local currency and have it on your card? But I've never tried this

I guess it will be at some point:
The koruna is one of the European Union's eight currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro in the future.

I personally feel naked without a little bit of cash, enough for a can of beer at the market at least

I used to be this way, but I got out of that mindset during the pandemic because I was no longer routinely stopping at ATMs while out and about, and was generally trying to avoid unnecessary trips/interactions.

Before that, I never liked using a card for purchases under $10, even when businesses didn't have a minimum. It seemed impolite somehow. Now it seems like everyone just uses a card all the time, so I don't even think about it anymore.

there was kind of a counter-culturish bar in Oakland that staunchly refused cards for many years, but I saw recently that they've come around... I think they realized they were losing business to bars that did accept them

in southeast asia, it's cash, card... and e-wallets. lots of people don't qualify for credit cards here and debit cards attached to your primary bank accounts are seen as a security risk so much better to move smaller amounts into your mobile apps and use that to pay for stuff. you don't need a bank account to have a digital wallet either.

western financial regulators don't seem to have caught up yet, but this has so far also been the best way to avoid the "foreign transaction fees" situation - QR payments are on a common platform across SEA so a traveller going between say, Manila and Singapore don't have to carry anything but their phone to pay for things and generally don't get hit by cross-border charges (and if they are, it's usually minimal)

xp Yeah there have always been a number of cash-only bars in Chicago, but fewer than there used to be.

There was an ice cream shop in my neighborhood that didn't take cards bc they said the fees were too high, but they did take Venmo and Zelle.

i can remember, decades ago, gas stations having slightly higher prices to pay by card. that sort of thing disappeared, but seems to have now returned at certain restaurants in my neighborhood (i.e., they're passing along the card fees to their customers)

i kind of feel like businesses should be legally obligated to accept cash

I see gas stations that still have different cash/card prices.

Paying cash at bars in NYC saves you 9 pct on your bill, which basically gives you your 12th one free vs paying with a card

xp yeah, I've definitely seen the cash 'discount' on gas, recently

The Subway shop I reference in the orig post may have been robbed one or more times... that sign is fairly recent. So I can see an incentive to remove cash from the premises, to protect employees and not have to hire a security guard

There's a cash-only bar I go to about once a week; I don't drink, but their burgers are great. I pay cash for gas, too. I always carry some, but not a lot — I get a couple of hundred out of the ATM every two weeks or so. Generally, I'm pro-cash because I'm old so it's a lifelong habit, but anyway you never know when you'll need it, and maybe there are things you don't want showing up on your credit card statement.

I believe pot dispensaries are cash-only because it's a way the federal government can fuck with them, like, we have to let you do your business because your state said you can, but we don't have to make it easy on you.

I think it's a matter of banks not being able to deal with it (yet), which may be related to government shit.

I noticed in CA a couple of weeks back a lot of gas stations had lower prices if you paid with cash. I feel like I've seen that at ... restaurants? Somewhere else common, at least, with slightly lower prices with cash.

I like cash. The venue where I saw Blood Incantation tonight is cash only. The place where I saw PJ Harvey, on the other hand, is cash-free, and they had the lights dimmed for mood, and the cards I keep in my wallet are all the same shade of deep blue and I couldn't see shit.

? Gas being priced differently for cash is decades-old.

Barbers* hereabouts prefer cash; some have in-shop ATMs. Those that take credit may offer a discount for using cash, which is the same as a surcharge for credit, really.

Local bagel shop is cash only with an ATM.

A lot of my gigging/busking mates have QR codes for tipping. I am not that organized... when I play music with a tip jar or busk, I don't expect much by way of income because I know that my townspeople don't carry cash.

Cash has really disappeared where I am (Aus). I actually really feel for the homeless, because now, people genuinely dont have anything to give them bcs no one carries cash anymore.

I think about this all the time!

Dud

Which is to say: both of the options in the title are DUD.

I’m noticing a lot more “system is down, cash only for now” or straight up “cash only” in small local businesses.

* Re barbers. The going rate for a haircut has gone from under ten to over twenty dollars in my lifetime. Sometimes the amount

Due to social awkwardness or just a love of tidiness in daily affairs, I don't like asking for change in a tipping situation. I am happiest when I can hand over an amount of cash that includes an appropriate tip, without having to specify how much change I want back.

Like, when a haircut was $8 and $2 was an okay tip, I felt super smooth was handing over a ten and not even saying 'keep the change, because duh.

Currently haircuts are 20 or 24 dollars, so when ai get my hair cut I have to stop at an ATM and stop at a convenience store to buy a soda or something so Thar I have small denominations for elegant tipping.

U.S. taxis were VERY grouchy about switching to cards, and made it known. Heck, some cabbies still are dicks about it, and purposely protract and stall on taking cards. I had a taxi driver audibly grumble about making change for $40 on a $22 cab ride once, to which I say, dude wife.

Parallel development: ATMs rarely dispense 5s or 10s anymore

Ouch, terrible phone typing above. Dude wife was supposed to be dude wtf

The cost to the owner of accepting card payments is surely outweighed by not having to cash up at the end of each day and queue up at the bank once a week.

One would think, but I presume small business people know their own situation better than I do and have made their cost/benefit calculations as grownups who know their options and constraints.

Ah, money:
- I like cash. It's a little old-fashioned. Good for small businesses that get plundered by Mastercard fees (bakeries). Also good to see the money get out of your wallet rather than disappear in the technosphere (financial management).
- I used to be afraid criminals would find a way to pass behind you and "tap" your debit card, but I guess that never materialized. That's my default.
- Credit card is obviously needed. At the same time I am very disciplined with online shopping. Sometimes I'm even tempted to move to prepaid.
- We have a national app (called Twint) that allows anyone with a phone number to send money to anyone else, perfect for settling bills at the restaurant/bar. It's linked to the credit card. You can also use it for online shopping.

Basically a mix makes sense. I don't use my phone (partly paranoia, but also don't see the point) as a payment device except for things like parking. And I think people paying with their digital watches at the supermarket look ridiculous (no offense if you do it, but it's such a gadget).

I never carry cash and haven't for years, to my wife's annoyance. I bank at wells fargo and they've also decided to remove all their banks from my part of town and even remove the ATM from the nearest branch entirely so fuck that.

weed shops do debit in CA.

I think they're all cash or debit here/everywhere, too. Debit is basically the same as cash.

There are a few good excuses I've heard from especially small businesses for going cash-free, at least in the States. One is that you don't have to worry, or need to worry less, about anyone skimming off the top/stealing. Another is that you don't have to spend time balancing the sheets at the end of the day. And a big one is that you don't have to worry (as much) about getting robbed, either in the store or on the way to deposit your big pile of cash at the bank.

re: card fees paid by the business, just the other week we had to bring the car in to the dealer for some minor stuff. When we got the bill you could pay cash/debit/check with no fee, or credit with a not insignificant transaction fee, but the bill also stressed that the transaction fee was (supposedly) still less than what the dealer was being charged.

There's also this new fad of paying for everything in installments, which is very alien to us. My partner needed a new phone and it was Black Friday so hey. Before even asking what type of phone she wanted, the employee checked if she was eligible for paying in installments, and almost apologized that my partner wasn't. Like girl, we didn't even get a leasing on our car, you think we want to pay for a phone over 24 months ?

Installments does seem to have made a comeback, and it seems particularly predatory this time around. Even online, I keep getting unprompted alerts that I can pay in installments.

Yeah the narrative is "get it now, pay later".

Pay in 4 is really predatory. I wound up having $600 worth of 3rd/4th payments of Pay in 4 one month without realizing it when things got really tight this year (now I refuse to use them).

I always have some emergency cash and try to have some cos you never know when a card machine won’t work for whatever bs reason…enjoy the seamless of contactless payments though & use them all the time

Oh yeah and I always tip in cash.

I do worry about incorporating so many functions into one's phone. If your phone is lost, stolen, hacked, or otherwise inoperable there are loads of things that you suddenly will be unable to do.

Relevant yadda yadda

https://xkcd.com/2212

I bank at wells fargo and they've also decided to remove all their banks from my part of town and even remove the ATM from the nearest branch entirely so fuck that.

I've had a Chase account for over 20 years but there are only 5 Chase branches in all of Montana, so I had to open a second account at a local bank just to be able to make ATM withdrawals without fees.

I have never used my phone as a credit card (i.e., tapped a credit card reader with my phone to activate Google Pay). I guess I'm somewhat resistant to it; I want to use the physical card. Same with my public transportation fare card.

yeah, i will never do that

places that don't accept cash can fuck off imo

Working on a college campus, I'd say the younger kids are 100% on board with paying by phone, I see it alllll the time. I'm not there yet, not sure when I'd ever feel comfortable with that tbh.

Speaking of Chase, I've noticed that two branches nearest my work and home have those separate, locked ATM vestibules that you can access by tapping or swiping your card. However they've both recently changed the ATM vestibule hours to match the bank branch itself, so when the branch closes at 5 pm, the ATM vestibule also becomes inaccessible after 5, which seems pointless? It's infuriating.

sarahell, you fell into my trap! the conditions for the subprime crisis could not have occurred were it not for the trillion dollar mortgage security financial weaponization complex that exists around the 30 year fixed rate mortgage. fannie and freddie would not exist were it not for the 30 year fixed rate mortgage. there would not have been a subprime loan crisis if there were no 30 year fixed rate mortgage product

it’s telling that the us is pretty much the only country in the world that espouses the 30 year fixed rate mortgage

And the fixed rate mortgage is absurdly low on the list of disincentives for the US to fund public housing…

― sarahell, Friday, December 6, 2024 1:51 PM (thirty-one minutes ago)

the government buys mortgages through fannie and freddie as a way to ensure banks are comfortable lending at a fixed rate for 30 years instead of using that money to fund public housing

sarahell, you fell into my trap! the conditions for the subprime crisis could not have occurred were it not for the trillion dollar mortgage security financial weaponization complex that exists around the 30 year fixed rate mortgage. fannie and freddie would not exist were it not for the 30 year fixed rate mortgage. there would not have been a subprime loan crisis if there were no 30 year fixed rate mortgage product

it’s telling that the us is pretty much the only country in the world that espouses the 30 year fixed rate mortgage

i am anti-car and anti-hitler too, fwiw

but if you need a bit more help, you can conduct the thought exercise of figuring out if the subprime mortgage crisis could have occurred without the existence of fannie and freddie. then you can look a bit more into why fannie and freddie exist in the first place.

And the fixed rate mortgage is absurdly low on the list of disincentives for the US to fund public housing…

― sarahell, Friday, December 6, 2024 1:51 PM (thirty-one minutes ago)

the government buys mortgages through fannie and freddie as a way to ensure banks are comfortable lending at a fixed rate for 30 years instead of using that money to fund public housing

Listen I'm gonna need mom and dad to stop fighting. This is bad for my emotional stability and well-being and your future therapy bills.

(Sorry, assuming 龜 is who I think it is and is a person who identifies as a possible dad-type human.)

i am anti-car and anti-hitler too, fwiw

Whoa, hot takes itt

Definitely anti-hitler, otm

No Longer Accepting Hitler - Cars Only

No Hitlers, No Cars, No Fixed Rate Mortgages

It's easy if you try

a neighbor left a big box of change on the sidewalk - mostly pennies, but not exclusively

couldn't even be bothered to walk them down to the Coinstar machine at the grocery store

I have a ridiculous looking "lucky cat" bank for change. My bank will accept it but it's only about half full and I'm not gonna take it in until it's full and weighs as much as a bowling ball.

I have a big plastic box in my closet full of coins (quarters are separated out for laundry)... Someday I'll bring some down to the Coinstar machine. I always feel like I've hit the jackpot using those things, even though it's actually my money less the fee

Cashing in change gives a reckoning of exactly how much money your time is worth

I have, in recent months, counted out my change to put gas in my scooter and buy eggs and cheese to get through a week. So I'm not quite as casual about it, but yes it does sit there for years until I need it for something.

I have a big plastic box in my closet full of coins (quarters are separated out for laundry)... Someday I'll bring some down to the Coinstar machine. I always feel like I've hit the jackpot using those things, even though it's actually my money less the fee

I have a small mountain of change on top of my fridge that I keep meaning to cash and never do. When I found myself needing to use laundromats for a month earlier in the year, though, it was great to have a ton of quarters handy.

One of the things that all of my clients have in common--other than a history of abuse--is an inability to count change. I've tried to teach them how, but it's only taken in one person.

that’s not zero!
the era of people complaining about cashiers not counting change up rather than just giving the money back the register says to give has seemingly abated. one of those things that doesn’t really matter

Hey dayo — an article about your fave topic

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/business/economy/mortgages-climate-risk-fannie-freddie.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

My initial thought was that some of the measures that are being proposed for F&F are similar to things that are commonly looked at by underwriters of loans on commercial property, but because the single family home is a sacred cow of sorts, there historically has been less due diligence about property conditions and environmental risks.

the era of people complaining about cashiers not counting change up rather than just giving the money back the register says to give

I would never complain about that (having spent many an hour working retail), but there are some cash-related skills disappearing.

I used to work at CIA Headquarters and all the snack bars were operated by blind people.* The cashiers could count coins by ear.

Like, it's a metal counter and you throw down a handful of coins. The cashier could (and sometimes would) instantly say "that's thirty-seven cents." Or whatever.

The etiquette with bills larger than one was to say the denomination - "here's a ten" - rather than force the guy to guess or ask.

* = Despite what one might think, this was not to do with security but simply a jobs-for-the-disabled program.

The etiquette with bills larger than one was to say the denomination - "here's a ten" - rather than force the guy to guess or ask.

And if you lie, they get you with the heart attack gun as you're walking away...

I always pay cash at the bar and now I’ve gotten into some weird sitch where I’ve got two piles of various amounts of cash in front of me and I’m wondering if I shouldn’t just give them a card next time

My high school best friend is very good at math, memorization, and embezzling from cash registers. When I told him about the counting-by-sound thing, he said he reckoned he could probably learn do it given some practice. We were extremely high at the time, so never got around to testing the theory.

i made a lot of change today. people carrying that long green around for the holiday season, i guess. don't worry i never give anyone pennies. i always round up. (these are the people i end up hating in fast food or grocery stores. the people who give me 98 cents back when i don't have any change on me and i pay with cash. i'm tempted to just start asking random people for two cents and making the cashier wait. just take the hit! if your drawer is two cents short you will be okay.)

i rarely go to the co-op market down the street because i kinda hate it there but whenever i do i always forget that no matter WHAT i buy it ends up being $7.04 or similar and i never have change and they never have any damn pennies and i swear this is at least one third of why i hate going there. people should just make their prices work out to be even when tax is added. make something $3.93 so that you just pay $4.00 or whatever.

theres a record store here that does that. the employees don't even use a cash register.

xp there was a coffee shop i stopped going to because they changed/raised all their prices. i got used to paying 3.00 or 3.50 or whatever for a coffee, and wouldn't exactly have minded a hike (it was good coffee), but then the size i always got became 4.07. so every time i went, then i had to have 93 cents in change on me. SO stupid

Ugh, this happens everywhere. There's a good pizza place here in town that hasn't figured out how to price things because a slice will end up being $5.08 however at the end of the day they've run out of change and either ask for "exact change" or to pay with a card.

yeah i think credit cards are basically subsidizing airline travel at this point

ooh (takes notes)

I have a big plastic box in my closet full of coins (quarters are separated out for laundry)... Someday I'll bring some down to the Coinstar machine. I always feel like I've hit the jackpot using those things, even though it's actually my money less the fee

― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 7 December 2024 01:05 (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

man john prine wouldve picked a lil melody out for this post and had a chorus tacked on in about five mins

I hate using those things, they’re always in the front of the store and they’re so loud :/

i'm not a germophobe at all but cash is the nastiest thing i handle on a regular basis

If you're using Apple for anything, you can avoid CoinStar fees by getting your payout as an Apple gift card - I buy albums, extended warranties, etc. that way

yeah I’ve paid for at least one full airline trip and maybe a hotel here and there off card travel booking every couple years

finally gave up after getting better direct deals on hotel stuff this year and now I have the big apple watch off discounted chase points and $0 out of pocket

Ahhhhh

cal stars your bar bill alone could be sending you to Tangiers

i cashed out a bunch of citi points on black friday because they were having a 20% off apple gift cards sale :|

but yeah, the awkwardness of coins, the penny, and lack of $1 coin usage make cash kind of a dud for me (reminder to folks to read that caity weaver article on the penny i linked)

Hey dayo — an article about your fave topic

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/business/economy/mortgages-climate-risk-fannie-freddie.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

― sarahell, Sunday, December 8, 2024 1:09 PM (yesterday)

my assessment: shits proper fucked, mate

Yeah coins can fuck right off, especially pennies. The only reason to have them is to avoid getting more.

Is that the only thing like that? I mean, something where the only reason to carry them is to avoid getting them?

I dislike schools leaning so heavily on coins to teach children* arithmetic or - even more absurdly - financial literacy or thrift. There is pretty much nothing worth having that costs less than a dollar.

* = My son, who is 13 years old and intellectually disabled, starts high school next year. His IQ is about 60 and he is now in his tenth year of what is basically kindergarten.

We're still working on coin math and reading an analog clock. A frighteningly large portion of his education has been focused on life skills that were important in 1937. For the world he will actually inhabit? Not so much.

I used to work at CIA Headquarters and all the snack bars were operated by blind people.* The cashiers could count coins by ear.

Like, it's a metal counter and you throw down a handful of coins. The cashier could (and sometimes would) instantly say "that's thirty-seven cents." Or whatever.

This is very cool! And a great example of a skill that probably someone who tried could eventually learn if they had to--anyone who's done a really boring/manual/repetitive job for a while can pick out some specialized skill or trick they learned from doing it. It's not, like, morally good or bad, though. It's not "bad" that most people can't do it--most people don't teach themselves to read braille either, for obvious reasons.

Agreed. I don't mourn it but more just glad to have seen it in action. Like the Japanese chefs who flip stuff, or something

Yeah, my dad has a story about a diner from his childhood where the guy would bowl your plate down the counter with backspin so it would stop in front of you, and then JAVELIN the fork after it so the fork speared into your pie as it slid to a stop. Fucking unbelievable, a lost art.

_Hey dayo — an article about your fave topic

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/business/economy/mortgages-climate-risk-fannie-freddie.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare🕸

― sarahell, Sunday, December 8, 2024 1:09 PM (yesterday)_


my assessment: shits proper fucked, mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBD8HTssRA

We’ve come a long way, baby