There are a growing number of National Parks that only accept card or mobile payments for entrance fees and campgrounds.
A bill has been introduced (S. 2887: Protecting Access to Recreation with Cash Act) to require the acceptance of cash, but considering the state of affairs in Congress, who knows what will end up happening.
My guess is new Speaker of the House.
In the case of many restaurants, it probably does mean exactly what people think. If the restaurant gives you your food first and then asks for payment afterwards, you’ve created a debt which, absent any prior agreement to the contrary, the restaurant must accept cash to settle.
Most fast food places are different in that they require payment in advance, so the legal tender rules don’t apply.
I’m not saying this is wrong, but I’d like to see a cite for it.
In other news, all the concessions at the MLB and NFL stadiums in Seattle are “cashless.”
Is it even possible to live cash only in the US today?
Debit cards exist which are almost like cash and available to anyone and they can function like a credit card.
(Maybe a topic for another thread.)
The restaurant apps I have just send an obscene amount of ads for deals
It’s not that annoying. And I use them occasionally.
I’m not at all worried they’re tracking, targeting or liable to use my meager info in some nefarious ways. That’s just silly. Who cares I got 2 Corndogs on sale?
A lot of business, and especially small retailers, just don’t want to deal with cash and all the trouble that comes with it (miscounts, employee theft/loss, armed robbery, having to make end-of-day physical bank deposits, maintain sufficient currency for change). If the vast majority of your trade is in credit and debit card exchanges anyway, why go to the effort of having to maintain a cash drawer? That’s even more true for cart and mobile truck vendors.
“Legal tender” means that paper currency and non-precious metal coinage is suitable for the payment of “all debts, public and private” (vice payment in specie) but that doesn’t mean that a vendor is obliged to enter into a transaction in exchange for cash. Except for municipalities that have requirements for commercial business to accept cash, it has never been true that a business must perform transactions with someone offering exchange for cash. I don’t know what to say about paper checks except that I don’t think I’ve paid for anything with a check (except cashier’s check) for over a decade. At this point, if you really want to live a cash-only lifestyle I suggest Japan; almost every transaction there is in cash, even things like car purchases and real estate transactions, and its a major pain in the ass.
Businesses pushing or requiring that you use their “app” on the other hand, I thoroughly despise. I don’t care whether they are tracking me or my transactions; I just don’t want another fucking app on my phone, especially some shitty app that is going to keep running in the background and using resources for no good reason. Fuck your app and the electrons it rode in on.
Stranger
I do not know what phone you have.
My phone allows you to fiddle with what notifications you receive. You can opt-out of things like promotional notifications and just stick with stuff like your account will expire notifications (it varies…but you still have control). Might be worth checking if you can do that.
Has to be done on a per-app basis though. No global settings for this.
Oh yeah I know that. I like to see the deals for what I may want. Now, Dairy Queen (not exactly a place I frequent) asked for an App coupon the one and only time I was there. The app coupon and sign up and we nearly ate free that day. But, omg! After that I got 20-25 notifications a day. I got them off my phone as quick as I could. Very much extra! And, now they are gone.
It is possible to live cash only in NYC. How difficult depends on exactly what you mean by cash only. Do you mean I can’t get a paycheck, or that I can’t have a checking account or do you just mean no credit/debit cards? You might be limited in where you rent an apartment ( owners of small buildings will almost always take cash) or where you get a mortgage ( when mine was with Citibank I could have paid cash.) You can pay utility bills in person. I was thinking I might have to pay my homeowner’s insurance by check but I looked and I can get a payroll deduction.
Nah. Any restaurant or business such as you describe always make it very clear ahead of time they don’t take cash, and for exactly that reason. Any customer that (somehow) slipped through the cracks would be invited not to return, I’m sure.
Do they though?
I am sure they mention it somewhere but I am not sure it is “very clear” ahead of time.
I know the cash only places I have been to do not make it very clear they are cash only. They do not hide it but neither do they advertise it with a big, un-missable flashing sign either. They will point you to the ATM in the corner which has massive fees.
I can see a place on the J&D’s website to pay by CC. Click “Checkout” and it goes to a delivery page. At the top are the quick payment types, but below the address section is the area to enter your CC info.
StG
Good point. Given this, there really is no natural mechanism for the money paid by the customer at his doorstep to find its way back to the merchant.
8 piece bucket, $10
I agree that this is the case; I just don’t like it and think it should be changed.
AFAIAC, dealing with cash is just one of the things a retail business should be expected to be able to handle.
Thanks for that!
And that’s why I don’t use them.
“Someone really wanted the acronym to be PARK*.” (and failed.)
*or PARKA 
I promise you Big Brother don’t care what you’re eating. Or what book you buy. Or what bar you frequent.
Yet.
