Philadelphia Bans Cashless Stores (arstechnica.com) 352
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: This week, Philadelphia's mayor signed a bill that would ban cashless retail stores, according to The Morning Call. The move makes Philadelphia the first major city to require that brick-and-mortar retail stores accept cash. Besides Philadelphia, Massachusetts has required that retailers accept cash since 1978, according to CBS. The law takes effect July 1, and it will not apply to stores like Costco that require a membership, nor will it apply to parking garages or lots, or to hotels or rental car companies that require a credit or debit card as security for future charges, according to the Wall Street Journal. Retailers caught refusing cash can be fined up to $2,000.
Amazon, whose new Amazon Go stores are cashless and queue-less, reportedly pushed back against the new law, asking for an exemption. According to the WSJ, Philadelphia lawmakers said that Amazon could work around the law under the exemption for stores that require a membership to shop there, but Amazon told the city that a Prime membership is not required to shop at Amazon Go stores, so its options are limited. A top official in Philadelphia's Chamber of Commerce said that the ban will prevent Philadelphia from modernizing with the rest of the country. Cashless companies argue that cash slows down transactions when change needs to be counted and creates security risks for employees locking up at the end of the night. Supporters of the new law argue that "not accepting cash hurts poorer residents who may not be able to afford or qualify for a credit card or who want to avoid fees that come with changing cash into a prepaid debit card," reports Ars. "Additionally, privacy advocates say that being forced to use a digital form of payment to buy things is a de facto requirement to share records of their purchases with third-party companies."
Amazon, whose new Amazon Go stores are cashless and queue-less, reportedly pushed back against the new law, asking for an exemption. According to the WSJ, Philadelphia lawmakers said that Amazon could work around the law under the exemption for stores that require a membership to shop there, but Amazon told the city that a Prime membership is not required to shop at Amazon Go stores, so its options are limited. A top official in Philadelphia's Chamber of Commerce said that the ban will prevent Philadelphia from modernizing with the rest of the country. Cashless companies argue that cash slows down transactions when change needs to be counted and creates security risks for employees locking up at the end of the night. Supporters of the new law argue that "not accepting cash hurts poorer residents who may not be able to afford or qualify for a credit card or who want to avoid fees that come with changing cash into a prepaid debit card," reports Ars. "Additionally, privacy advocates say that being forced to use a digital form of payment to buy things is a de facto requirement to share records of their purchases with third-party companies."
Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
agreed!
the move to eliminate anonymous and track-less payment is fucking evil. we need to push back against this.
I don't trust my phone at all; and anything that allows non-phone options in the Real World is a good thing.
the millennials can just learn to carry cash. they will thank us old guys, too, WHEN they find out that blindly trusting 'the cloud' is stupid beyond compare.
Re: (Score:3, Offtopic)
Someone accidentally modded the parent as flamebait. Being a moderator is a very important and sacred duty. For future reference the parent post should have been modded "Insightful." In the future keep this in mind.
Thank you.
Re: (Score:2)
Credit card companies paid marketing trolls are expected to skulk around this story in every way possible. KEEP IN MIND, corporations demand the right to refuse trade with anyone, where the fuck would you be in a captitalist society, with only two corporations providing elctronic payment at a core level and they decide to no do business with you and no cash, you are well and truly fucked. Second point, this is basically instituting and making compulsary a CORPORATE for profit TAX on all transactions. Bitch
Re:Good. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Her phone, car, and person are each worth far more to criminals than a salon's revenue for a day. She is in danger merely by being outside.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Glad to see there's still a little sanity left in the world.
Where? Dang, I missed it!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You mean Bubble Tea And Massage LLS?
is an crime to just leave cash at an cashless plac (Score:2)
is an crime to just leave cash at an cashless place and to not pay with card?
Can you get changed with dine and dash at card only restaurant if you leave cash on the table and walkout?
Re:is an crime to just leave cash at an cashless p (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:is an crime to just leave cash at an cashless p (Score:4, Informative)
Unless they demand payment upfront.
Re: (Score:2)
is an crime to just leave cash at an cashless place and to not pay with card?
Can you get changed with dine and dash at card only restaurant if you leave cash on the table and walkout?
If you owe the restaurant a debt then they have to accept cash, so I suppose the solution is to take a bite out of it first before you attempt to pay.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Cash is legal tender for all DEBTS. There is no debt involved with a retail purchase. A vendor should be free to ban cash if they feel like it, and if you don't agree, you can vote with your dollar by supporting a vendor who accepts cash. Why do we need to legislate this?
Re:Good. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Good. (Score:4, Insightful)
Because business ... do whatever they can to benefit themselves.
Inconveniencing your customers is often a bad strategy. Raising prices because you're getting robbed and/or have to pay someone to walk large bags of cash to a bank is also often a bad strategy. Are you sure you know which one is worse?
I suggest you assume for a moment that small business owners are not idiots. I am sure they know how many customers pay with cash versus cards. Further, I'm sure they have a pretty good idea how much business they'll lose if they don't take cash. And yet, they somehow conclude taking cash isn't worth it. Could it be they know something you don't know?
Re: (Score:2)
Actually its not shoplifting until you leave the store. You can put the item in your pocket so long as you pay for it on your way out. That is why loss prevention normally don't intercept you until you start to leave past the register. Unless its obvious you're not going to pay.
Re: (Score:2)
Cash still a good thing (Score:5, Interesting)
Supporters of the new law argue that "not accepting cash hurts poorer residents who may not be able to afford or qualify for a credit card or who want to avoid fees that come with changing cash into a prepaid debit card," reports Ars. "Additionally, privacy advocates say that being forced to use a digital form of payment to buy things is a de facto requirement to share records of their purchases with third-party companies."
I think that's a good point. While I have some sympathy for Amazon Go trying to do something revolutionary, their stores are effectively closed to people who can't get a credit card. Their model is fundamentally incompatible with paying cash. Doesn't bother me, but I have all the choices of places to shop.
From the privacy perspective, you're boned regardless if you shop at Amazon Go, since lack of privacy is how their system works. That's fine as long as the other option remains.
Re:Cash still a good thing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
when every penny counts you can't afford to have some parasite company siphoning off your money because you needed groceries.
This is backwards. Companies want to eliminate cash because the security problems and handling issues raise costs, which leads to higher prices.
"Shanghai" Bill invents new facts daily / hourly (Score:2, Insightful)
Like how "Blood plasma is stable" as he repeats that lie about 12 times, or "China's Communist Party / Government doesn't censor people directly." -Shanghai Bill is not a valid source of fact-checkable information. In fact, he's full of shit.
This is not why companies like Amazon are doing this. They are eliminating employees and pushing their robotracker technologies. Nobody is opening up cashless drug stores or check cashing bodegas, which get robbed.
Stop lying Bill.
Re: (Score:3)
I consider it to be a status symbol. I have at least half a dozen that follow my every post and mark them "overrated." I call them my overrated ducking. I also have one that I will not name that has been trying to troll me for a year now. It gives the ego a real rush.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Being cashless doesn't prevent employee theft. There was a local story in the news today where a woman at a cluck and chuck was using her phone to take pictures of peoples debit / credit cards.
Re: (Score:2)
a woman at a cluck and chuck was using her phone to take pictures of peoples debit / credit cards.
That is a different problem. She was stealing from the customers, not her employer.
The solution to credit card fraud is for America to do what all the other countries in the world are already doing.
Re: (Score:3)
The solution to credit card fraud is for America to do what all the other countries in the world are already doing.
Deny fraud protection when someone gets your card and extracts the PIN? (There's a reason chip and PIN is on version 3 or 4.)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yet I still encounter plenty of companies that give you a discount for paying cash due to the additional fees credit card companies charge them. I question how much this actually saves them vs simply presenting a more modern image that just happens to keep out the unwashed.
Beats me. But you know what? I bet the business owners have a dang good idea how much business from the unwashed masses they're turning down. And I bet they have a dang good idea how much handling cash costs them. And I'd bet a cup of coffee they know this better than you or I do. So why are we second guessing them?
Re: (Score:3)
when every penny counts you can't afford to have some parasite company siphoning off your money because you needed groceries.
This is backwards. Companies want to eliminate cash because the security problems and handling issues raise costs, which leads to higher prices.
Using debt and credit cards actually increases prices because you're adding additional middlemen into the equation. A card transaction has a minimum of 5 parties:
1. Purchaser.
2. Purchaser's bank.
3. Credit network (Visa/MC/AMEX).
4. Merchant's bank.
5. Merchant.
Parties 2-4 will each be taking a piece of the transaction. They've made rules and in come countries, laws, that the merchant has to hide this cost from the purchaser. So the business a merchant does on card, the more they have to raise their p
Re: Cash still a good thing (Score:2)
Not that I'm against cash, but how can people be unable to get a bank account? I can get free checking and a debit card at my credit union for, at most, a $25 refundable savings deposit.
Re: Cash still a good thing (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
Banks can also be surprisingly selective about who they allow to open accounts
That is an American problem, and speaks to this law here. The justification for the law as cashless being a burden on the poor is solid. But rather than fix the problem through regulation of banking they just force retailers to accommodate a system perpetuated by banks and credit agencies.
In many countries being homeless or poor does not disqualify you from any cashless options.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Cash still a good thing (Score:5, Informative)
>"there is a growing divide between "The Rich" and "The Poor", and the middle-class keeps shrinking, forcing people who were once middle-class into the ranks of "The Working Poor""
That is not what is actually happening in the USA or the world. In both, the "poor class" keeps shrinking while both the middle andupper class have been increasing. In the world it is far more prevalent, but I will stick to the USA
http://www.aei.org/publication... [aei.org]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/t... [forbes.com]
So you have to get the whole picture. ALL people are doing better. So although there is a greater divide on the extremes, far fewer people are actually negatively affected by it.
There isn't a fixed pie. The pie has been growing. More people are eating more pie than ever before.
Re: (Score:2)
There isn't a fixed pie. The pie has been growing. More people are eating more pie than ever before.
So that's why we're having an obesity problem. Too much pie.
Re: (Score:2)
...and the middle-class keeps shrinking, forcing people who were once middle-class into the ranks of "The Working Poor".
This is a tangent but actually, no. People are leaving the middle class but more of them are becoming "rich" than becoming "poor". It's a surprising and happy development.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
their stores are effectively closed to people who can't get a credit card.
Nope. You can buy with a debit card. You can also buy with a prepaid gift card, which you can buy for cash elsewhere.
From the privacy perspective, you're boned regardless if you shop at Amazon Go
Only because the government is making it harder to buy prepaid cards anonymously. I believe the current limit is $50, and even then, they can't be used for international transactions.
So we need a stupid law to protect us from a stupid law.
Many of us don't use cash or credit (Score:3)
I'm fine with the law. Doesn't bother me.
That said, it's factually incorrect, and in my opinion silly, to pretend the only options are carrying cash or borrowing from Capital One. Maybe it's a symptom of our debtor society and lack of basic education about money that when some people think of a card, it doesn't occur to them there is any card but a credit card.
Many of us store our money in the bank or credit union, which is free, then use our debit card to spend our money. In fact that's how most people wh
Re:Many of us don't use cash or credit (Score:5, Insightful)
>Many of us don't use cash or credit.
That is true. But the ONLY option that really protects privacy is cash.
>"A debit card, spending your money which is stored in your local credit union or bank, is absolutely an option."
Card payments of any type leave a trail AND force you to disclose your identity to not only the retailer but also a third party (both of which prevent privacy).
I will also point out that some people who have bad credit, cannot even open a bank account to get a debit card. And now they are cracking down on anonymous debit card sales, closing that avenue too. So it really can still be both a privacy and a poor issue when you are faced with a cashless business.
If you bounce a lot of checks (Score:2)
To be specific, it's bouncing a lot of checks that will make it difficult to get a checking account. A company called ChexSystems tracks that. It not related to your credit score, which is about borrowing money
I'm at the grocery store right now. I've heard comments about "cracking down", and there are anonymous prepaid Visa cards for sale right here in the grocery store.
To be totally clear (Score:4, Interesting)
To make this totally clear, you can make six figures and be turned down for a checking account because you bounced checks. I know because I've done that.
You can flip burgers for a living and have two checking accounts. I know because I've done that.
It's not a rich or poor thing, it's a "don't write checks for more than what's in the bank" thing
Re: (Score:3)
>"Anybody who is too paranoid to let "them" know what groceries they buy should be living in the wilderness and eating squirrels."
Are you really that dim? I tell you what- why not start posting an itemized list of EVERYTHING you buy from "stores" for a few years, where you bought it, exactly when, followed by your legal name, to a public site that is stored "forever" and shared.
Then from that data we will statistically "know" where you live (based on geo data), your age, your gender, if you are pregnant
Re: (Score:2)
Besides, it is really that hard to add a bill feeder and change dispenser to their automated checkout machines? Most brick and mortar stores have had this available for years.
If they want to encourage this behavior because it adds wear and tear to the machines, just offer a discount for credit purchases.
Re: (Score:2)
Take $25, deposit it to open a free checking account at your local credit union, and they'll give you a visa or mastercard debit card you can use as credit. We need to figure out who these people are who can't do that, and address their problems. Maybe it's difficult for illegal immigrants to open an account? Not sure who else.
One option is a state or national credit union, with post offices serving as banks.
Re: (Score:2)
While I have some sympathy for Amazon Go trying to do something revolutionary, their stores are effectively closed to people who can't get a credit card. Their model is fundamentally incompatible with paying cash. ... That's fine as long as the other option remains.
And IMHO that's a better way to deal with the problem, if it even is a problem. Ensure there are alternative places to shop, perhaps by making easier to open retail outlets. As long as they exist, business owners and customers will sort it out. The boss's are greedy bastards, right? They won't give up on all that lucrative cash business until they have to.
Unless, of course, their clientele doesn't actually buy with cash all that often and they're better off ditching the legacy payment system.
Change is obsolete (Score:5, Insightful)
Then bundle taxes into store prices and make sure those prices end in whole dollars and not a penny less.
Morons.
Re:Change is obsolete (Score:5, Insightful)
-retailer for 17 years
Re: (Score:2)
Don't most cash registers *tell* you the exact change too?
Fuck people are dim.
Re: (Score:2)
I once gave a cashier 3EUR in three piles of coins, each pile 1EUR in total. Simplified: 10 x 10Cent, 5 x 20Cent, 1x 50Cent + 2 x 20Cent + 1 x 10Cent.
He was so confused he simply mixed them and started counting.
People operate on automatic (Score:2)
The guy was so surprised at something new like that he panicked. Remember, most people are really not bright, especially not compared with geeks... be nice to them or they'll beat us up!
Re: (Score:2)
all the young ones seem to have trouble with 'new math'.
and by new math, I mean COUNTING.
I drove thru a fast food drive-in and the bill was $4.06
I gave the cashier a fiver and 6 cents. I did not have 4 ones with me.
the cashier paused, not sure what to do. "why did this customer overpay like that?"
yeah, that's a hard one. think long and hard about it, millennial.
Re:Change is obsolete (Score:5, Informative)
The speed of the transaction, in my experience as someone that worked as a cashier, is usually killed by the customer not being ready to pay. As a cashier I could usually take the money, press all the necessary buttons on the register, and return the change faster than most customers could get the money out of their wallet/purse. Card transactions were slower than cash most of the time and it still seems that way, especially with the newer chipped cards. Paying with a Check was of course always the absolute slowest way to go about business.
I think the biggest boons to businesses in not accepting cash is reducing the chances of a robbery, cutting back on employee theft of cash, and cutting out conning the cashier by claiming incorrect change. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people claim they paid with a twenty instead of a ten.
Re: (Score:3)
Most people don't seem to realize you can swipe/insert the card while the cashier is scanning your purchases. Then when the cashier completes the transaction, the charge is processed almost immediately. From what I've seen, bagging is what slows the process down the most (that and price checks on items which don't ring up correctly).
Re: (Score:2)
Most people don't seem to realize you can swipe/insert the card while the cashier is scanning your purchases. Then when the cashier completes the transaction, the charge is processed almost immediately.
Y'know, this is something I'm pretty happy about these days. It seemed card or chip transactions used to be gawdawful slow. Now they seem pretty quick, especially since many vendors don't even require a PIN for small values. The cafeteria here at work lets me just slide my card, wait about a second, and the cashier tells me I'm good to go. As much as I like technical solutions, they often are slower than older, non-technical answers. In this case, given a few years, people figured it out.
Re:Change is obsolete (Score:5, Interesting)
Lesson: Make sure the guy setting the prices is also the one who has to deal with the hassle of dealing with change.
Re: (Score:3)
Those credit union coin sorters show you a running count. If you're that worried that they're short-changing you on your pennies, drop them in one at a time and wait for each cent to register on the display before adding the next penny.
Why? (Score:3)
The Rich once again benefit from the Poor... (Score:2)
I'm all for this move, but a funny side effect this has is supporting the ability of rich people to remain anonymous by using cash for transactions they do not want others to know about.
If all stores were allowed to go cashless, it would be harder and harder to hide any transaction from everyone - stores on the lower end the spectrum are just the edge of that slippery slope.
So I applaud citied working at keeping the economy free from meddling for those that care to expend effort.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:The Rich once again benefit from the Poor... (Score:4, Insightful)
Cashless Now The Cheaper Option? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Time. Handing, counting, safe movement in/out, depositing cash takes employee time.
Theft. Cash is far easier to steal then credit card fraud. Especially when a clerk "forgets" to enter a transaction into the register.
Speed of transactions. A good credit card system is faster than an employee counting change and making change.
Automation. Kiosk checkout systems are a lot simpler when they are card only.
membership required (Score:2)
wonder if this means more retailers will require membership to shop there in order to bypass the cash.
Re: (Score:2)
wonder if this means more retailers will require membership to shop there in order to bypass the cash.
It does, but it will also act as a limiting factor because such stores will have less customers. It will help reduce the number of other retail outlets which they displace.
Re: (Score:3)
I remember a conversation with one of my co-workers about a silly membership rule he ran into. He was passing through a "dry" county somewhere and wanted a drink at the end of his day. He found a random bar and sat down to ask for a drink. The lady asked if he was a member as only members could be served alcohol. He said we was not, then asked how to become a member. The lady said it was X dollars (about the price of a beer) and the first drink is free. So he pays for his membership and got his member
Dumb (Score:2)
I can sympathize with poor people, I was one at one time, but if a bodega wants to only accept chickens as payment, I think they should be able to do that. People that don't have chickens can then go someplace else to buy goods.
I do the same, but opposite, by not patronizing cash only establishments. There's no excuse for not taking credit cards (or variations) in 2019. If you can't be bothered to have a cheap phone and Square, then I'll be bothered to buy my tacos from the next truck over.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yup, because banks *never* charge businesses for their services...
Re: (Score:2)
>"Credit card companies take 3% of everything you spend. If you use your card all the time, you're Visa's bitch, even if you don't see the bill."
AND all the prices go up by X% due to those fees. So cash users end up paying MORE for the same items.
And before someone points out things like cash theft and cash errors... Card payments often have to deal with errors PLUS "chargebacks" and the labor that goes to dealing with those and fighting those. And those fees usually do NOT include the expensive card
Re: (Score:2)
Trust me, as a small business owner myself, that 3%, plus a "pain in the ass" fee of dealing with the card processor, is built into the price for everything. There's always the chance the customer is going to reverse the charge on you as well, and often Visa/Mastercard is going to side with them even when you've got overwhelming proof that you fulfilled your obligations on the purchase. Then you're out both the product and the payment.
If somebody wants to hand me cash, I have never once even thought about
Re: (Score:2)
The fact that it comes out of the businesses profits is exactly why some businesses don't use that form of payment. It could be that the owner is a penny pinching Scrouge who just wants every cent of profit possible, or it could be that they run a very narrow profit margin and that 3% makes it untenable. If I'm not mistaken there is also a monthly fee for having a credit card terminal so if using a credit terminal doesn't increase their revenue enough to cover the new expense I could see skipping it. If the
Re: (Score:2)
by not patronizing cash only establishments.
Is it cash only?
I thought they just wanted places to also accept cash.
Whats wrong with that?
Privacy angle (Score:3)
More and more I use cash, I wish to bank less and less, and offer less of a digital footprint. I also wish to deny banks the ability to float with my money.
That, and smaller merchants get robbed every time you buy [thing] with credit / debit. (yes, the banks put a fee on debit transactions too.) Are you a big corporation? Then hell yes I pay with debit AND make a cash-back just to stick you with the fee (yes, I know that's all factored into the pricing, it's more a principal-of-the-thing thing for me.)
Funny that I'm regressing to what life was like before gas pumps started taking cards directly, which for me was around 1994 or so.
And now, even the gas stations don't get my card, I pay with the app for mobil/exxon. I don't trust the card-readers at the pumps any more than I can throw one, I live in the skimmer capital of the US. (or so claims my local rag.) I have reason to believe I've been skimmed, but the bank won't tell me where. They just automagically send a new card.
So now, fuck 'em all, cash is king.
Cash isn't slow (Score:2)
For the vast majority of cases, using cash to pay is no faster/slower than using a debit or credit card. Any perceived difference in time is insignificant.
Just today I used cash to buy lettuce and bananas. Granted, I had my cash ready when I got to the counter (including coins), and I know that the time I spent handing over a few coins and bills was the same amount of time it would have taken to insert my card, tap through the extra money question, input my code, wait for confirmation, then stow my card b
Contactless however... (Score:2)
Which is now standard in Europe even on buses let alone shops, merely requires you to wave your card close enough to the reader, and with no entry of a code. Valid for sales up to £30, it's WAY faster than cash.
If you want society to go cashless (Score:2)
If you want society to go cashless then all banks must be required to issue bank cards and associated accounts to anyone and everyone who applies without fees of any kind.
Two words (Score:2)
Malicious Compliance (Score:2)
Just put in a bill changer kiosk that vends prepaid cards. Every kids' arcade in the country knows how this shit works.
Do US banks not give debit cards to the poor? (Score:2)
I understand lack of access to credit, and cost of prepaid, but what is the problem with debit cards attached to savings account?
Do poor people not have savings accounts in the US?
In other countries, you need a savings account even to receive welfare payments, and there are zero-cost options, even though banks are hardly known for generosity. Cheques have faded into history like the fax machine and 1 cent coins.
Re: (Score:2)
Pros and cons of cash (Score:2)
Citizens have the freedom to buy any product and service they want with cash.
No social media tracking, ads. No supporting the politics of the companies offering cashless products and services with every use of their service.
Cons:
Cashless makes illegal migrants and criminals trying to create a new ID have to register some more information with every transaction.
Having to create a new bank account with fake ID may not work as expected in past decades.
State ID might finally detect more illegal mi
Awww - a believer that governments are wise... (Score:2)
"More income for the city and state to spend on US citizens."
Yes - but WHICH US citizens? You mean you seriously believe that a lot of money isn't redirected in corrupt contracts?
Here's a solution... (Score:2)
Clerk: How would you like to pay? Customer: Credit card?
Clerk: OK. Your total is $25.99 after discounts.
Clerk: How would you like to pay?
Customer: I have Cash here.
Clerk: OK; there's an extra $100 checkout fee that is only discounted if paying by card, so Your total is $125.99
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, this is going to be good.
Citation needed.
So if you abandon all pretense of manipulation to target, you get volatility. Nice own-goal.
Yes, due to the volatility of the cryptocurrenc
Re: (Score:2)
I'm curious which cryptocurrency you would want people to adopt. Bitcoin transactions can take up to half an hour to verify, making it pretty much useless for a brick and mortar retail. Other cryptocurrencies are faster, but none of them have the popularity of Bitcoin.
Re: (Score:2)
Bitcoin transactions can take up to half an hour to verify, making it pretty much useless for a brick and mortar retail.
You don't actually need to wait for the transaction to be confirmed. It only takes a few seconds to see that a valid transaction was uploaded. At that point the only risk is the buyer attempting to double-spend before the original transaction is confirmed, which is not easy to pull off, and if they do succeed at doing that you can track them down. For moderate-size transactions in a brick-and-mortar retail environment this is more than sufficient. Contrast with the risk of a credit card chargeback, which ca
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm guessing Philly politicians need to spend their ill gotten cashola somewhere.
You can guess all you want, but I know you're a fucking tool.
Re: (Score:2)
Every time a story like this comes up and a comment like yours comes up as a result, it always leaves me wondering why the US can't solve the actual fucking problem, rather than dicking around the periphery
For example, in this case the problem is "stores don't allow people to use cash", and comments indicate it's a way to exclude those who can't use anything but cash - the poorer people in society, apparently.
Why is that? Why don't the poor in your country have access to banking? In the country that I com
Re: (Score:2)
Because we set it up that way.
I'm all for encouraging everyone to join credit unions, but here it's all about barriers, and rewarding the ultra-rich.
Re:But how will rich people be able to ban poors? (Score:5, Funny)
And how are the banks supposed to make record profits every quarter with laws like that? Luckily in America, banks have the freedom to finance politicians who pass business friendly laws. Being a free country, the poor also have the right to pay off politicians so it's fair.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
For every person like you, there are 30 people counting pennies out of their change purse. Delay at swipe terminals is usually the point of sale terminal being worn out in my experience as well. With that said, I still support a cash option, even if most of the time I will use my card - I want the freedom to use cash, even if I rarely use it.