What?? You thought you could use it to buy things too??? Bwaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Snaps owner Margarita Uricoechea serves up French crepes and other specialty items that draw young professionals and students. It’s a demographic that’s used to technology and does not consider Snap’s “no cash” policy to be a hardship.
The decision made plenty of sense to Snap’s owner.
“I know exactly how many sales we had–and I don’t have to go to the bank,” Uricoechea said.
Plus, not having cash makes her feel safer.
“When we close late at night, I don’t have to worry about being held up on the street,” she said.
Believe it or not, it is legal for Snap to refuse cash. By law, cash must be accepted to pay for all taxes and debts. But there is no federal law mandating that a private business must accept cash.
Snap’s owner says the policy has upset only a few of her customers. Although she’s well aware of online bloggers, some of whom say her policy discriminates against those who can’t afford a credit or debit card. Others say plastic forces people to identify themselves.
Notice how the owner’s words are filled with “I” “I” “I” , and how it is good for her her her. What’s next, you have to have a PayPal account to eat there?
I’ll take my business elsewhere, thank ye vedi much….
Found by GregA.
Easy solution: just place an order, eat it and offer cash as a payment. If Maggie doesn’t want to take it, too bad for her.
I totally agree: cash sucks. I hate carrying cash or having to use cash. I am all for fully electronic payment methods. Give me a card or a little fob on my keychain (like the kind you pay for gas at Mobil with). The Japanese and their pay-with-your-cellphone technology are moving in the right direction. The trouble is, the USA would totally screw up any sort of cashless system the same way we screwed up electronic voting. Our government will not be able to keep its hands (and corrupt contracts and kickbacks) out of the stew. This is why the rest of the industrialized world will leave the USA in the dust technologically and economically within the next few decades.
So what? Are you afraid you’ll lose your identity by buying a croissant?
It makes sense for a small business owner to operate a cashless enterprise, especially in DC. I wouldn’t want to carry a bag of the days receipts to the bank.
3,
“Are you afraid you’ll lose your identity by buying a croissant?”
No, but some would worry about the government tracking what you spent and comparing it to what you say you make…
Ummm,
as legal tender…
IF the person refuses payment, in CASH…its free.
OR didnt you know that?
For those who don’t want a credit card, try a Visa or American Express gift card…kind of like pre-paid cell phone service. You pay up front and just use the money you have on the card. Also, I don’t think it is tied to your identity in any way.
I’m no fan of having every purchase I make being trackable either. Seems to me there’s a market opportunity here for a change making type machine that could accept cash and spit out a pre-charged anonymous debit card.
Like #2 said though, the gov’t will get involved and screw it up somehow. You can guarantee that.
further to number 5, you might want to read this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender
If the restaurant owner charges in advance of the service, she is free to refuse cash, but once the debt exists, she has to accept it, since that is what ‘legal tender’ appears to mean.
8, correct. If service has been redered, she has to accept or decline payment. IF she/he declines LEGAL tender, they are SOL. and you do NOT have to pay.
9.
BELIEVE that all you wish…IT DONT WORK.
Credit cards are a nice way to avoid being ROBBED, she dont want to be a target and has made a decission that WILL be changed, unless she/he chages HOW service is rendered…
“It’s a free country — she can do what she wants.”
So?
KB — What’s with the “So?” She can run her business how she wants to. You have a disagreement with her making her own business decisions? There’s no constitutional right to crepes, and no legal prohibition to not accepting cash. Where’s the problem here?
The problem is that you are putting words in my mouth. I never said she did not have a right to do as she wishes. So I want to know what your point was bringing up her “rights,” when that is not what the post is about.
You tell me where I questioned her rights.
I say we should all live in fear of not using cash. We should stay luddites and resist all changes just because we can.
Places that don’t accept cash aren’t the problem, places that don’t accept plastic are.
Snap has some yummy Crepes! I love this place. It’s a few blocks walk from my office. It is a TINY whole in the wall in Georgetown –a high rent district, just off the C&O canal…great place to grab a snack on a nice fall day…actually with the warmish weather we’ve been having lately it may be a good place to grab a snack right now….where is my debit card…
19.
Amen. I rarely have cash on me and have not gone to places simply because they don’t accept plastic. The worst ones are those that require a minimum purchase for credit card purchases. This actually violates their contract with the credit card companies.
The outrage in the comments here is ridiculous. Most people I know carry little cash and use plastic. Hell, I like using my debit card because then I can track my purchases.
Sorry I was responding to 20 not 19 in the above post.
Sheesh….
While the cashless environment makes a great deal of sense, and I’m not advocating the following, it seems that a food service business of this nature (about any “mom & pop” restaurant) can handle cash in magic and wonderful ways that keep the tax man thin….
I won’t say where or when, but I remember seeing a restaurant owner piling up “business lunch” guest checks without using the register (just giving ’em change), and then doing “one for me, one for them” with the cash….
McD’s and the like have the process too well controlled, but “mom & pop” places, if the owners are willing to keep a very strict eye on the register, can do this. Many of them will….
Regards,
Stu.
In the aftermath of a natural disaster, people will only take cash. I know, its easy to say it wont happen to you, but if it does, your plastic is worthless. I went thru a hurricane a few years back that took the banks down for weeks. Power wasnt restored for months. You are advised by the local government to keep cash on hand after an emergency. Having said that, your cash isn’t worth much either.
Hey its her business , she wants credit or debit only, thats cool. If you want to pay in cash, tough luck, there’s a McDonald’s a couple of blocks from there.
I don’t own any credit cards… so I guess I won’t be eating there. 🙂
26. Sorry brother, its her tough luck. Leave cash and she has no choice but to accept it, or give it back.
This was covered on NPR back in October. A short time after the original piece aired, people wrote with some of the same questions here. Listen to the first minute or so here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6252457
Basically, from the mouth of the Federal Reserve: “No federal law mandates that a person or organization must accept currency for payment for goods or services already provided.” Which is perhaps why so few online retailers accept cash (without much argument from their customers, I imagine, too).
Original NPR story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6246139
I rarely pay for anything more than $5 with cash. I use a credit card which gives me a point per dollar spent which I trade for gift cards for meals, etc. Where I can, I have payments for cable, phone, etc automatically paid by the card. Since I pay off the cc each month, I’m effectively getting significant discounts in what I buy as a result. When I owned my store, I paid for everything with a credit card that gave me airline mileage. I once had over 150,000 miles built up.
#22, because the card companies do charge a minimum fee, I still prefer to use cash when making small purchases. Especially at small establishments. Anything over $10 is almost automatically a debit card choice.
Cash is dead!
#31: The problem is when the fee is higher than the cost of or profit from the purchase so the store or restaurant actually loses money on the transaction. If I remember right, there was a flat fee per transaction plus a percentage of the sale.
When I added accepting debit cards at my store, I discovered the fee for them was actually higher than most credit cards. Depends on the bank, I guess and that was some years ago so it may be different now.
I rarely pay with cash, however, not accepting cash is not a very good business policy if only because you are throwing away at least a dollar for every transaction by paying a fee to the credit card companies for that transaction. Unless the prices are jacked up so high they can afford to throw away a certain percentage of every transaction, they are cutting into their profit. When so many new businesses fail, I can’t see a smart business person cutting into their profits unnecessarily.
>Sorry brother, its her tough luck. Leave cash and she has no choice but >to accept it, or give it back.
Hardly. She does not have to accept the cash, and if you leave without “paying” she could have you arrested for not paying “under her terms & conditions.” A private business does not have to accept US tender. Is her system illegal, probably not, but you will not win in court.
Jeff, I’m not buying it. It still says legal tender on my cash. I saw this tested at a store that refused to accept pennies. The customer was making a point by paying in rolled coins (pennies). The police were called (how stupid), it went to court. The business owner lost. True story. Maybe a law has changed, or the judge used his discretion and did the prudent thing. But thats how it went down.
Hell, I like using my debit card because then I can track my purchases.
As can the guv’ment. 🙂