Cash refused as payment!
tomcat said:
We went to the PNC Arts Center over the weekend, and learned that the food & beverage vendors are refusing cash payments. They will only accept CC or Apple pay (or whatever that is called).
Is this legal in NJ?
Usually it's fishy when they ONLY accept cash. It's probably a way of protecting themselves from internal theft.
I found this:
The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”) states: “a
person selling or offering for sale goods or services at retail shall
not require a buyer to pay using credit or prohibit cash as payment in
order to purchase the goods or services.” N.J.S.A. 56:8-2.33(a)
So - can there be a loop hole somewhere? And if they are breaking this law - how does one proceed?
For now, I have filed a consumer complaint with the State AG office.
Whether it will do any good remains to be seen.
The conversion option may be the center’s loophole:
- All points of sale will only accept credit or debit. In the event you are not carrying a credit or debit card, staff will be available on-site at the Cash to Card conversion will be under the wooden pavilion in the main plaza to exchange dollar for dollar, without any service fees.
I can only imagine the hoops to go through to get the leftover balance back in cash.
tomcat said:
We went to the PNC Arts Center over the weekend, and learned that the food & beverage vendors are refusing cash payments. They will only accept CC or Apple pay (or whatever that is called).
Is this legal in NJ?
Yes. Have you visited Newark Terminal C in the past five years?
NJ obviously moves at its own pace (see infantilizing gas pumping policies) but this is the wave of the future abroad. Many businesses in Canada stopped accepting cash during and after the pandemic. The efficiencies are obvious, you more or less eliminate losses from employee theft, cash handling mistakes AND armed robbery.
Personally, I am all in favor of it.
Many vendors (restaurants & stores) are now charging extra for CC sales to cover their cost. I resent this, and want to pay the lower cash price (yes, I also pay cash for gasoline to save the $0.10-0.20 per gallon).
algebra2 said:
tomcat said:
We went to the PNC Arts Center over the weekend, and learned that the food & beverage vendors are refusing cash payments. They will only accept CC or Apple pay (or whatever that is called).
Is this legal in NJ?
Yes. Have you visited Newark Terminal C in the past five years?
No, haven't flown much since I stopped the working for Corporate US. If I encounter it, I will file a complaint about that as well.
GoSlugs said:
NJ obviously moves at its own pace (see infantilizing gas pumping policies) but this is the wave of the future abroad. Many businesses in Canada stopped accepting cash during and after the pandemic. The efficiencies are obvious, you more or less eliminate losses from employee theft, cash handling mistakes AND armed robbery.
Personally, I am all in favor of it.
What about those of us who can't qualify for a credit card or are trying to reduce credit card debt? What about those of us who do not want to present a credit card at every purchase fearing that their associated bank account could be compromised? What about those of us who are trying to control our expenditures by carrying just enough cash to meet our needs for that day? What about our older residents who are more comfortable with the cash society they grew up with? There are lots of reasons why some still prefer to use cash as our means of exchange when making a purchase. Insisting on a credit card or an on line bill pay app for payment disadvantages a wide range of consumers to the point of discrimination.
ETA: Then there is the added cost resulting from having a financial institution serve as a middle person for every transaction. Even if the consumer is not charged a separate credit card fee, the cost of purchasing goods through a credit card is factored into the increased cost of everything being purchased in this manner.
Just point to: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public or private" on your money and threaten a civil rights violation.
In California, 20.4 percent of black households and 14.6 percent of Latino/a households are unbanked.
Per an article on Bloomberg; "The federal Civil Rights Act mandates that all persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin."
algebra2 said:
tomcat said:
We went to the PNC Arts Center over the weekend, and learned that the food & beverage vendors are refusing cash payments. They will only accept CC or Apple pay (or whatever that is called).
Is this legal in NJ?
Yes. Have you visited Newark Terminal C in the past five years?
This is common in various arenas and stadiums.
yahooyahoo said:
algebra2 said:
tomcat said:
We went to the PNC Arts Center over the weekend, and learned that the food & beverage vendors are refusing cash payments. They will only accept CC or Apple pay (or whatever that is called).
Is this legal in NJ?
Yes. Have you visited Newark Terminal C in the past five years?
This is common in various arenas and stadiums.
I visited Citifield to see the Mets lose a few times this year and the stadium is totally cash-free. My first response when encountering the no-cash policy was that it is clearly discriminatory. As Joan said above, there's a good portion of the population for whom credit, or even debit cards are not a viable option. Shouldn't those citizens without credit cards have the right to watch the Mets collapse and fall? Shouldn't they have the opportunity to see the highest paid staff in MLB history ($365 million) totally flame out? Shouldn't folks on a fixed income or in debt be able to experience the fumbling, bumbling, inept and poorly managed New York nine?
joan_crystal said:
What about those of us who can't qualify for a credit card or are trying to reduce credit card debt? What about those of us who do not want to present a credit card at every purchase fearing that their associated bank account could be compromised? What about those of us who are trying to control our expenditures by carrying just enough cash to meet our needs for that day? What about our older residents who are more comfortable with the cash society they grew up with? There are lots of reasons why some still prefer to use cash as our means of exchange when making a purchase. Insisting on a credit card or an on line bill pay app for payment disadvantages a wide range of consumers to the point of discrimination.
I will grant you that, compared to first world countries, the US is chronically underbanked. That said, unbanked individuals only make up 4% of the population. It may well be that the US isn't ready to join modernity on this front, a country that doesn't have a functioning national healthcare system obviously has more important things to work on. In the meantime, the rest of the world is moving on into the future.
GoSlugs said:
That said, unbanked individuals only make up 4% of the population.
Four percent of U.S. adults = 10 million people.
Shoo, people.
The_Soulful_Mr_T said:
I visited Citifield to see the Mets lose a few times this year and the stadium is totally cash-free. My first response when encountering the no-cash policy was that it is clearly discriminatory. As Joan said above, there's a good portion of the population for whom credit, or even debit cards are not a viable option. Shouldn't those citizens without credit cards have the right to watch the Mets collapse and fall? Shouldn't they have the opportunity to see the highest paid staff in MLB history ($365 million) totally flame out? Shouldn't folks on a fixed income or in debt be able to experience the fumbling, bumbling, inept and poorly managed New York nine?
I literally laughed out loud…
GoSlugs said:
It may well be that the US isn't ready to join modernity on this front, a country that doesn't have a functioning national healthcare system obviously has more important things to work on. In the meantime, the rest of the world is moving on into the future.
Subtract California’s 5.6%-7.6% bankless household rate and the country’s 4.5% rate would fall.
https://dfpi.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/337/2022/02/BankOn-California-Report-2021.pdf
GoSlugs said:
NJ obviously moves at its own pace (see infantilizing gas pumping policies) but this is the wave of the future abroad. Many businesses in Canada stopped accepting cash during and after the pandemic. The efficiencies are obvious, you more or less eliminate losses from employee theft, cash handling mistakes AND armed robbery.
Personally, I am all in favor of it.
It's also a matter of privacy. Another nail in the coffin of free speech etc. People from all over the world sent money to Canadian truckers in support of mask mandate stuff. The electronically transferred money was then frozen by banks by order of the Canadian government.
Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.
James Garfield
I worked for a while where we had a lot of retail customers. One young woman told me was working as a waitress at a wedding mill. As with many places she said her boss pressured customers to pay tips thru the house…who, she said, didn’t that money to the staff!!! Ever since I have insisted on leaving CASH tips. Also, a friend that worked as a waiter has always insisted on handing waiters a CASH tip.
A part of insisting on cc payment is that we are more likely to overspend. Or at least to complain, but do nothing about high prices. A long time ago, during an oil ‘crisis’ then President Jerald R. Ford suspended use of cc to pay for gas. As a result people became more mindful of handing over an hour’s pay to fill up and started being a bit more careful.
Went to a formal event at the Madison Hotel in Morristown yesterday. It was announced to have a cash bar.
When I went for our libations, there was a sign on the bar: Credit Cards only.
Will report them to Trenton as well.
DaveSchmidt said:
The conversion option may be the center’s loophole:
- All points of sale will only accept credit or debit. In the event you are not carrying a credit or debit card, staff will be available on-site at the Cash to Card conversion will be under the wooden pavilion in the main plaza to exchange dollar for dollar, without any service fees.
I can only imagine the hoops to go through to get the leftover balance back in cash.
Which was unknown to the staff selling food & beverages.
tomcat said:
Went to a formal event at the Madison Hotel in Morristown yesterday. It was announced to have a cash bar.
When I went for our libations, there was a sign on the bar: Credit Cards only.
Will report them to Trenton as well.
At a my last church, one of my added duties was to arrange for the annual golf outing fund raiser. At the festivities afterward, there were a few who couldn't use the Cash Bar because they only use credit cards and it really was a Cash Bar.
I teach ESL to young people. I asked my students had they ever had checks. No, in Venezuela, they used their phones or debit cards. I don't like cash or use it except for gas. It started with Chemical Bank ATMs on the Upper West Side of Manhattan back in the eighties. It is harder for me to keep track of and I did not feel safe carrying it.
Fourth grade teacher across the street, used to help kids along with their arithmetic by having them imagine the problem in coins. For years now, they don't get it that way at all.
Hello old friends!
This annoys me! And yet it is legal in some places. In places where it is not illegal, we don't really have leverage. NYC recently passed a law that requires accepting cash. I don't think it's made a difference.
It's weird that some businesses are starting to state that they prefer cash. They pass the card fee to the customer so we save money using cash. So I've started to use cash more.
Tom_Reingold said:
Hello old friends!
This annoys me! And yet it is legal in some places. In places where it is not illegal, we don't really have leverage. NYC recently passed a law that requires accepting cash. I don't think it's made a difference.
It's weird that some businesses are starting to state that they prefer cash. They pass the card fee to the customer so we save money using cash. So I've started to use cash more.
It is not that they prefer cash. They are passing on the fee credit card companies charge them because they can no longer afford to absorb it.
Apollo_T said:
I worked for a while where we had a lot of retail customers. One young woman told me was working as a waitress at a wedding mill. As with many places she said her boss pressured customers to pay tips thru the house…who, she said, didn’t that money to the staff!!! Ever since I have insisted on leaving CASH tips. Also, a friend that worked as a waiter has always insisted on handing waiters a CASH tip.
A part of insisting on cc payment is that we are more likely to overspend. Or at least to complain, but do nothing about high prices. A long time ago, during an oil ‘crisis’ then President Jerald R. Ford suspended use of cc to pay for gas. As a result people became more mindful of handing over an hour’s pay to fill up and started being a bit more careful.
One of my teenage children worked in the back of the house at a local food establishment. This place solicited tips at the counter during order pick up, like all places do these days. I asked my child what happened to the tips and they had no idea since they never received any portion of the money.
(Did I already post this?)
I was told recently, and it makes sense, that the best thing you can do for a small business is pay in cash. They keep all the cash and do not have to pay a 2%, or 5% (or higher) fees to the CC company. I try to do that now.
We went to the PNC Arts Center over the weekend, and learned that the food & beverage vendors are refusing cash payments. They will only accept CC or Apple pay (or whatever that is called).
Is this legal in NJ?