Anyone Noticing More Stores that are Credit Card Only?

[nevets88]

These are mostly places to buy food. No cash, usually there's this little white card reader... thingy, looks like a mini white knife holder. The little white thing front right of monitor, left of tray. I forget which places, this one, a sandwich shop, a coffee shop, SweetGreen are the ones I recall.

[David in FL]

More?

I've never even seen one.

[billchao]

28 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

These are mostly places to buy food. No cash, usually there's this little white card reader... thingy, looks like a mini white knife holder. The little white thing front right of monitor, left of tray. I forget which places, this one, a sandwich shop, a coffee shop, SweetGreen are the ones I recall.

Must be a NYC thing. I have never seen such a thing.

[dennyjones]

I haven't seen anything like that in Michigan.

[jamo]

6 hours ago, nevets88 said:

These are mostly places to buy food. No cash, usually there's this little white card reader... thingy, looks like a mini white knife holder. The little white thing front right of monitor, left of tray. I forget which places, this one, a sandwich shop, a coffee shop, SweetGreen are the ones I recall.

I've seen a few stores that had those Square tablets and card readers but they also accepted cash.

 

[Lihu]

6 hours ago, nevets88 said:

These are mostly places to buy food. No cash, usually there's this little white card reader... thingy, looks like a mini white knife holder. The little white thing front right of monitor, left of tray. I forget which places, this one, a sandwich shop, a coffee shop, SweetGreen are the ones I recall.

Several places around my area have this. Two of them are Poke places.

[David in FL]

1 minute ago, Lihu said:

Several places around my area have this. Two of them are Poke places.

I give up.  What the heck is a "poke" place?

As a businessman, always looking for a competitive advantage, I'd love to find competition that intentionally bars a significant percentage of the population from accessing their establishment so I can target those consumers myself.  "Yes, boys and girls, you can actually pay with money here!"    

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, jamo said:

I've seen a few stores that had those Square tablets and card readers but they also accepted cash.

 

This^^ I don't think I've been a to a place that does not accept cash. I still know a few places that don't accept credit cards. 

[nevets88]

I know plenty of places that accept cash only. I seen plenty of places with the Square module that take cash as well. It's kind of subversive when a store won't take cash. Also weird there is no money in a store.

[Yukari]

3 hours ago, David in FL said:

I give up.  What the heck is a "poke" place?

As a businessman, always looking for a competitive advantage, I'd love to find competition that intentionally bars a significant percentage of the population from accessing their establishment so I can target those consumers myself.  "Yes, boys and girls, you can actually pay with money here!"    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke_(fish_salad)

I don't like 'em.  But then again, I don't like sushi or sashimi either.  Give me steak!

[dennyjones]

Poke Salad Annie:

Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so mean
Lived a girl, that I swear to the world
Made the alligators look tame
Polk salad Annie, gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
Because her momma was a workin' on the chain gang
A mean vicious woman

 

 

couldn't resist.   I've never hear of it either but then again, Michigan is different than the rest of the country, Vernors, coney dogs, pasties, Faygo...

[David in FL]

3 minutes ago, Yukari said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke_(fish_salad)

I don't like 'em.  But then again, I don't like sushi or sashimi either.  Give me steak!

And they have "places" dedicated to that?  Huh.  Who knew?

Thanks!

[JonMA1]

We're still pretty backwoods up here. A couple of the small businesses in the area require a minimum amount purchased to allow customers to use a credit card. And that's an improvement over a couple years ago when they simply didn't accept them.

Even back in St. Petersburg, there's an extremely successful smokehouse/restaurant named Ted Peters (in South Pasadena) that has been around since I was a little kid. When I went down to visit the family a few years ago, I took my brother there for lunch. Nothing had really changed... the tables, the menu, even one of the waitresses I remember from many years ago.

But the thing that really surprised was they still did not accept credit cards. I had to run across the street to an ATM machine and come back to pay. 

[Patch]

A bunch of us were at an Olive Garden the other night. I have not ate there in a few years. They had gizmo at the table where you would swipe your card. It would spit out a receipt, and you were on your way. No employee interacted with you on your payment unless you were paying cash. 

A hotel/casino we frequent is just about "cash only". They do have several atms you can use to get cash, which of course has an extra fee to use. 

Edited April 25, 2017 by Patch

[Lihu]

14 hours ago, David in FL said:

I give up.  What the heck is a "poke" place?

As a businessman, always looking for a competitive advantage, I'd love to find competition that intentionally bars a significant percentage of the population from accessing their establishment so I can target those consumers myself.  "Yes, boys and girls, you can actually pay with money here!"    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke_(fish_salad)

 

[David in FL]

47 minutes ago, Lihu said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke_(fish_salad)

 

I didn't even know they had "places" devoted to that.

The things I learn here!  

[nevets88]

Interesting, MA, illegal to not accept cash. Airlines stopped taking cash awhile ago (NYT article).

Quote

In other parts of the world, South Korea and Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have encouraged digital payment methods over cash. To reduce money laundering and crime, the European Union has plans to phase out the 500-Euro note by 2020.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3061731/innovation-agents/sweetgreen-is-going-fully-cashless-in-2017

Quote

Some of the reasons are simple: Cash-free stores reduce the likelihood of robbery, keeping employees safe. In addition, the company can avoid the expense of transferring cash in armored cars, they said. Without greenbacks in their registers, Sweetgreen won’t have to worry about bad hygiene with employees handling cash and then touching food. Managers, who are often responsible for counting cash, will have more time to do other things, like mentor and train staff.

http://www.restaurantnews.com/sweetgreen-is-going-fully-cashless-in-2017/

Quote

The poor and unbanked are a concern for Sweetgreen, Mr. Neman said. Should the experiment move toward a companywide policy, Sweetgreen is considering solutions to make its products available to those without credit or debit cards. One potential answer is to install gift card machines in select stores where customers could pay cash for Sweetgreen cards, he said.

Consideration for the unbanked was among the chief reasons Bozzelli’s Deli & Pizza relaxed its policy after opening a cash-free location in Washington this year, said the owner, Mike Bozzelli.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/business/where-a-suitcase-full-of-cash-wont-buy-you-lunch.html

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/imagining-a-cashless-world

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/food-trucks-cashless-movement.php?aid=2741cce8&rss_lnk=01

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, nevets88 said:

In other parts of the world, South Korea and Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have encouraged digital payment methods over cash. To reduce money laundering and crime, the European Union has plans to phase out the 500-Euro note by 2020.

Seriously, who other than crooks and mobsters need a 500 Euro note?