So much for those who said cash will be eliminated.

New York City Council has passed a bill introduced by Council member Ritchie Torres in November 2018 that will make cashless-only policies illegal
Businesses will also face hefty fines of $1,000 to $1,500 if they fail to accept cash payments from customers
Cashless restaurants and stores have been springing up across the city, with supporters saying it prevents theft, speeds up checkout and is more innovative
Critics say cashless stores are 'elitist' and marginalize disadvantaged groups, immigrants and domestic abuse survivors
12% of New York residents not having access to a bank account

NEW YORK CITY has voted to ban cashless businesses because it is 'elitist' and 12 per cent of the city's residents don't have bank accounts.

The City Council passed a bill Thursday afternoon that will make cashless-only policies illegal across the city and hit businesses with hefty fines of $1,000 to $1,500 if they fail to accept cash payments from customers.

Lawmakers approved the legislation, first introduced by Council member Ritchie Torres in November 2018, by a 43-3 margin.

Cashless restaurants and stores have been springing up of late across the city, with supporters saying it helps prevent theft, speeds up the checkout process and is more innovative.
Dos Toros Taqueria restaurant chain currently does not accept cash payments.

Its founder Leo Kremer said in City Council testimony last year that cashless payments are more 'seamless' and that since moving to cashless transactions, the business had cut down on firing or punishing workers over cash discrepancies.

However, critics slammed the move to cashless stores as 'elitist' and said that it marginalizes many residents.

Torres told The Times ahead of the vote that New York people should have a right to choose.

'Consumers should have the right to choose if they want to pay in cash or not,' he said.

'We are reining in the excesses of the digital economy.'

Won't this offend millennials? I understand most under 25 rarely carry cash, they do everything through cards or pay apps.

So take cash but charge 10% more for people paying with cash.

Guess they've not been to a grocery store in The Netherlands recently.

Just like state photo ID and Driver's License, these poor people just can't figure out reloadable gift cards.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
Guess they've not been to a grocery store in The Netherlands recently.

Who gives a shit what people do in the Netherlands?

I'm 100% for this. Cash is cash. "Legal tender for all debts, public and private."

And I know the legal requirements around this. But I still think everyone should accept cash.

If I were a business owner I’d be all for it. I’d want most of my transactions in cash. I’d even forego using a register and make my employees use math and then I’d just count it up and pay my taxes on it of course.

What a fucking moron. Yeah, let's enact a law for 12% of the population. Of that 12%, how many really care?

You know what, let's just make everything free so there's not need for anything such as work, rent, bills, etc. They won't even have to go pick their free shit up, someone will deliver it to them.

NYC is the broken clock on this one!

Can’t believe I agree with their ban but as already stated, cash is legal tender for all debts.

Legal for all debts... But you can't pay your taxes in pennies.

I don't see the problem, especially if you are operating in a bad neighborhood. No cash means far less chance of being robbed. If it's your store and you want to be paid in toe nail clippings, who cares? These aren't essential services refusing cash. Nobody's life is going to be hurt because they can't get a burrito from Cashless Cactus Taco shop. Netflix doesn't take cash. Your cell phone and Obamaphone aren't being paid in cash. My taxes aren't paid in cash.

Their store, their rules. Shop elsewhere if you don't like it.

Why not spend lots on money getting that 12% their own accounts?
The city can pay for a study, have consultants charge to develop a program, and then hire an expensive company to issue cards.

Sorry, but U.S. currency should be accepted by any business conducted within these United States.

What’s in my wallet is no business of anyone, and electronic payments constitute a paper trail.

They need to ban the DMV then, they don't take cash.

Maybe not for the reasons stated by the city council but business should accept cash.

I carry cash ALWAYS. It annoys me when people don't take cash.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Legal for all debts... But you can't pay your taxes in pennies.

I don't see the problem, especially if you are operating in a bad neighborhood. No cash means far less chance of being robbed. If it's your store and you want to be paid in toe nail clippings, who cares? These aren't essential services refusing cash. Nobody's life is going to be hurt because they can't get a burrito from Cashless Cactus Taco shop. Netflix doesn't take cash. Your cell phone and Obamaphone aren't being paid in cash. My taxes aren't paid in cash.

Their store, their rules. Shop elsewhere if you don't like it.

This. Right here. I can’t remember the last time I carried cash. It would have been from a Costco return, but I think usually that was a cash card. So yeah, it’s been ages.

For everyone that says “cash, all debts public and private, paper trail, etc”, welcome to 2020.

If you don’t like that the company doesn’t accept cash, shop somewhere else.

Oh, by the way, the shit you buy from Amazon, wasn’t paid for in cash. Neither was what you bought from Gunbroker, or Top Gun Supply. Get over your silly ideologies.

When you have a cashless economy and the government decides that no one can purchase weapons, it will be a simple matter for them to halt any weapon sales. No gun owner registration needed to make that happen. And even if the 2A is still ostensibly on the books then, when they decide you can no longer buy food because you’ve attempted to buy a gun twice more after you’ve been told no, you’ll have no choice but to cave in and accept that you’re now a slave and no longer a free man. Be careful what you wish for.

Retaining the ability to pay with cash (or gold or silver or any other source of untraceable funds) avoids such a scenario. New York has it right, just for the wrong reasons.

^^^^^^

You'll be OK as long as you can still pay cash for tin foil.

In your scenario where firearms purchases are effectively banned, which retailers would be stocking these guns that no one can buy anyway?

This sounds like something Bloomberg would do.

I left NYC in in 1978, thank God!

So we're OK with governmental force being used to make private businesses do what we want them to do? Not because of safety or anything, just because it's "fair" and popular?

Got it.