Defending the coins of our realms...

[dewline]

...in the manner chosen by Philadelphia city hall strikes me as all too sensible. While I've been having a good run of steadier day-job employment the last couple of years, I'm still close enough to the edge to see it and not like the idea of not being able to pay despite having actual cash money in hand or wallet. And there are restaurants in Ottawa - Mad Radish for example - looking to drag Ottawa-Gatineau in the other direction.

Many thanks to NPR Philadelphia for the hint-drop!

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/08/701076862/protecting-the-unbanked-by-banning-cashless-businesses-in-philadelphia

And yeah, a Mincome - or Universal Basic Income? - seems like an equally useful component of the solutions mix for the next few decades. I'm sure there are traps awaiting us if we mess it up. And yet...

Comments

[armiphlage]

I stopped going to a local barber shop when they insisted on credit cards and phone numbers to get a haircut. I think I will ask my town councillor to propose a similar ban on cashless businesses.

Interestingly, a vending machine at work is credit-only.

[dewline]

Yeah, we need to put the brakes on this before it gets worse. I don't mind the vending machine operators providing multiple ways to pay, but this? No.

[thewayne]

My wife makes a very good income, yet we have far too much outgo because of my unexpectedly losing my job. Had I known my employer viewed my job as short-term, versus my viewing it as long-term, I wouldn't have replaced my car. So I also see the precipice, though from somewhat further off.

I hear about these cashless stores in NYC and it makes me want to go to them with wads of cash, order up stuff and pull it out, just to piss them off. It excludes and oppresses a large class of people on purpose needlessly.

While there is an argument to be made for restaurant employee safety at closing time, it would be more valid if they could demonstrate huge numbers of restaurants being robbed at closing time. The numbers are not there.

[jhetley]

Thing is, all US currency has the phrase "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE" printed on it at the money factory . . .