Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

When The Cash Register Doesn't Take Cash

posted by FatPhil on Tuesday January 09 2018, @05:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-the-tip dept.

Justin Case brings us this story from NPR's Morning Edition:

Bluestone, which now has 20 stores in the U.S., went cashless last October.

A big reason: Nearly 90 percent of customers [...] never paid in cash.

Another reason: The lines move faster when employees don't have to make change.

"We see a lot of guests that pay for a meal with a credit card, but will always leave a cash tip. And I think people like doing that. People like palming a bartender a $20 or palming their server a $10. Palming the bus boy a couple bucks," said Fileccia.

There are also people, he said, who want to keep their meal off the books — if they're having an affair, for example.

No, businesses are not required to accept cash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
When The Cash Register Doesn't Take Cash | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 101 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by julian on Tuesday January 09 2018, @06:33AM (7 children)

    by julian (6003) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 09 2018, @06:33AM (#619887)

    I was hesitant to use Apple Pay, but now when stores don't accept it I get annoyed. I do carry cash for emergencies and small tips but I hate having to use traditional cards or cash. Making change is a plague, how many man-hours does it waste every day? It's especially bad because of our horrible coin denominations. We still have a penny, for fuck's sake. If we had sensible increments it wouldn't be so bad.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday January 09 2018, @07:56AM (3 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @07:56AM (#619909)

    Making change is a plague, how many man-hours does it waste every day? It's especially bad because of our horrible coin denominations. We still have a penny, for fuck's sake. If we had sensible increments it wouldn't be so bad.

    One thing I don't understand is why there aren't mechanical change-dispensing machines that allow you to take some or all of your change, and then either put it in a tip jar or allow the coins to be automatically fed back into a hopper, counted, and sorted back into the machine for re-dispensing. It's not as if we don't have far more complex mechanical systems in modern use.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @08:47AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @08:47AM (#619924)

      It was either Albertson's or Safeway. The coins drop out of a machine. You can then grab them or not.

      • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday January 09 2018, @12:15PM

        by Nerdfest (80) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @12:15PM (#619964)

        Wendy's used to have them as well, here in Canada at least.

      • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:32AM

        by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:32AM (#620340)

        Right, I've seen these too. I was wondering why there couldn't be a hopper/counter/sorter that could feed them back in to the top, so you could take the change you needed, donate or pay forward the rest, and leave the coins so they could go back in the machine to be redispensed if you didn't want your change.

  • (Score: 1) by doc_doofus on Tuesday January 09 2018, @04:25PM (2 children)

    by doc_doofus (6746) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @04:25PM (#620066) Homepage
    Until you remove any and all percentage based charges added to a bill/invoice, you will need pennies. So, you will never get rid of pennies, because the governments will always require taxes be charged to the consumer, collected by the retailer and submitted to them.
    --
    "Just because you're real, doesn't necessarily mean that you're intelligent." - Inspirobot

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday January 09 2018, @05:26PM (1 child)

      by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @05:26PM (#620098) Journal

      In Canada, they DID get rid of the penny: if you pay cash, the decimal is rounded up or down (2cents or under, rounded down/3cents or over, rounded up IANAL/Financial accountant, your penny rounding may vary i have no idea, really... just pulling numbers out my ass). You either pay 0cents or 5cents, etc.

      If you pay debit/credit, you pay the pennies.... a good reason to pay cash if it will save you the 2-3cents....if you don't have a freaking life!!!

      :)

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---