Discussion » Questions » Finance » Do you patronize brick-and-mortar businesses that do not accept cash as a payment method?

Do you patronize brick-and-mortar businesses that do not accept cash as a payment method?

Prior to the emergence of COVID-19 some brick-and-mortar businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area of California where I live did not accept cash as a payment method (only mobile payments, credit cards and debit cards are accepted).

I do have credit cards.  However, sometimes I prefer to pay cash for merchandise or services.  As such, I don't patronize businesses that do not accept cash.

Posted - June 30, 2021

Responses


  • 19937
    The only stores I've been in during the pandemic are Target, the supermarket and the craft shop.  For the first two, I almost always use my credit card and if the amount is $20 or less, I pay cash at the craft store.  None of these places have refused cash.
      June 30, 2021 10:14 AM MDT
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  • 6023
    I've never been in one, yet.

    But I sometimes pay with a $50 bill at places that say they won't accept them.
    I've never had one refuse to take the money.

    I don't believe any business in the US can refuse to take US currency, since it's the "legal tender" of the nation.
    They can encourage you to pay another way - but can't refuse to take cash.
      June 30, 2021 10:32 AM MDT
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  • 44652
    I only encountered one store that, for a brief time, would not accept cash. It was a pool supply store. I no longer do business with them. This post was edited by Element 99 at July 1, 2021 8:50 AM MDT
      June 30, 2021 10:38 AM MDT
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  • 10664
    Every establishment around here accepts cash... as long as it's not counterfeit.  
      June 30, 2021 11:34 AM MDT
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  • 581
    No I do not.  I shop at places that will take my cash.
      June 30, 2021 12:50 PM MDT
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  • 17620
    Not anymore.  I've gone back to using cash much more than I have for my whole adult life. 
      June 30, 2021 8:53 PM MDT
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  • 13395
    I could hardly care less but it bugged me that my bank refused cash deposits. My pension is electronic deposit but sometimes I have cash earnings.
      June 30, 2021 11:27 PM MDT
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  • 34452
    That would make me mad as well.
      July 2, 2021 6:49 AM MDT
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  • 17620
    I agree and would throw a fit.  Canada may be ahead of us in preparing for the future.
      July 2, 2021 10:12 PM MDT
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  • 34452
    I have never encountered a business that would not take cash. 

    I have had customers ask if cash was ok.  So I know there are some doing it.  

    Personally, I tell them: "Cash, check, or charge. I will take it anyway I can get it."
      July 2, 2021 6:48 AM MDT
    2

  • 17620
    Small business in crime-ridden neighborhoods often will not accept cash.  It's the best way not to get robbed.
      July 4, 2021 6:11 AM MDT
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  • 34452
    Makes sense.  The customers I had said they were using Covid as the reason. 
      July 4, 2021 6:32 AM MDT
    1

  • 3719
    Not normally but perhaps that is because most of the shops etc I patronise take card or cash payments anyway.

    One possible exception is my nearest filling-station, owned by Tesco, where the pumps have card-readers so offering pay at pump or on the shop; so unless I want to buy anything else I do not even need to enter the shop.

    '

    There is an aspect to this let's-get-rid-of-cash notion that its proponents fail to see, maybe do not know exists. Theis is the many situations in which cash is by far the easier and cheaper to use. (And if you are giving money as a present to a relative, a cheque is appropriate.)

    So, where?

    Pandemic restrictions apart, normal society up and down the land is extremely rich in all manner of voluntary clubs and organisations relying on very low cash payments - typically for hot drinks and home-made cake, raffle tickets, small-value plants or second-hand goods, small-scale public events admission, etc.

    Some are members-only; others are public events raising money for the organisation or local church. In one society to which I belong, we put a very low charge in the honesty-box for a hot drink. Another offers a card-reader choice for its self-catering accommodation fees, but has coin-operated timers on its showers and an honesty-box for a very modest day-visit fee to cover the electricity and water used for hot drinks and snacks.

    It would be absurd and impractical to expect card payments is all these clubs, events, etc.
      July 3, 2021 4:02 PM MDT
    1

  • 2960
    I only use Amazon. I love Jeff Bezos.
      July 3, 2021 4:07 PM MDT
    1