In Connecticut we have medical marijuana, with state run dispensaries. They only accept cash because marijuana isn’t legal on a federal level, and credit card transactions electronically cross state lines.
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Cash has the benefit of still working when the Wi-Fi goes out.
Sure, but we’re in Canada, where the cash is plastic. Just throw it in the laundry, and it will come out just fine, and clean. 
More seriously, I think the only place I use cash is at the local race book, when I place a bet. Even there, I use a card to pay for my bar tab.
Now, if only the race books were allowed to be open… 
Same in every U.S. state that’s legalized it, including the ones that went further & have opened recreational cannabis for any adult.
Every dispensary will always be cash only, until it’s legal at the federal level.
It would be interesting to see what happens if a municipality with dispensaries also bans cash-only businesses. Schroedinger’s cat might be involved.
Are there any races to bet on at the moment?
Taco trucks and burger drive-thru’s. Dispensaries and farmers’ markets. Purchases I don’t want appearing on a credit statement. Tip jars and buskers. Dumb parking meters. I need cash and I’m not broke. If I was broke, I’d need cash even more.
Oh yes, I’m sure we all want government to know every cent we gain or spend. :eek:
Education is expensive. Lack of education is even more expensive. Same with cash, as any who lived without cash know. Give poor folks tools to live cashlessly? Right. Which tools might the US actually provide anytime soon, like within Moscow Mitch’s lifetime?
Virtually all of the places you listed above take credit cards in Canada, buskers being the exception. As for the government knowing how much we make, that’s part of the deal: we pay taxes, the government provides services. If you don’t like that, vote for someone that will change it. Where do you think the potential $1.6T bailout fro the US is coming from?
What we need is is some kind of digital cash system, like the standard Sci-Fi “credit chit”. Something you can load money onto, but that isn’t linked to your personal credit card or bank account. Have some sort of system that lets you load money from your accounts to the chit as needed. Make them anonymous and cheap enough that they can just be handed out for free as needed. Tap it to pay for little things, or just give it to someone to pay for larger things (have a reader to show the chit has $100 on it, then just give it to the person you owe $100 to).
We already have the technology to make this work, since that’s how a lot of bus passes now work in Canada. We just need to make the social changes needed to make this free to use, and ubiquitous.
Yes, if Equibase and the Daily Racing Form are to be believed. Both sources list entries for today at various tracks.
However, I understand many tracks are not allowing spectators to attend races in person. Although I didn’t check every track, I did look at Santa Anita, which had this to say:
So, it appears that races can still be seen, and wagers can still be placed through websites and apps, if the local race book is closed (as mine is).
California isn’t Canada so forget dispensaries. Plenty of parking meters only take coins. Cash tips actually reach the tipped. I feel puny charging $3 tacos or a $2 apple - and the seller incurs a card fee. And credit statements can still be embarrassing.
Government indeed knows our retirement income. It needn’t know what we made or spent at yard sales, what eateries we prefer, which buskers we rewarded, how many old coins I gave my sister, what we paid a handyman neighbor to build a fence, and a few other personal details. YMMV.
Where’s the bailout coming from if it does? Conjured from thin air, of course.
In order to do this, you would first have to make laws that require cash and credit to be charged the same.
Is this another shot at credit card fees? I’m glad to know that cash didn’t cost a thing then.
WIC is pregnant women and young children only.
Supplimental Nutritional Assistance Program (or SNAP) is food stamps.
I’m on SNAP. It covers only food. You can’t buy paper towels or condoms. The government gives me a certain amount each month. In the unlikely event I don’t use it all, it rolls over. As this is charity from the government, I accept restrictions on what I can buy and I accept the government knowing exactly where, when and what I buy.
I don’t accept those conditions on any other funds I manage to get. I like being able to buy friends gifts at Goodwill without any paper trail.
RE Cash Only
OTTOMH, other than flea markets and such-
Halal Gyro King food carts, I think they are cash only. They do an excellent falafel.
$5, includes a drink. HIGHLY recommended.
If you get on a bus here without having purchased a ride in advance, I don’t think you can pay the fare with a credit or debit card.
I can’t think of another legal business that is cash only.
RE Going Cashless
The city council of Philly agreed with me that cashless business discriminate against the poor. So, they outlawed them within city limits.
The point is that the technology exists to allow the implementation of a general digital monetary system.
Around here we all carry contactless cards to access public transportation. Universities have card systems that students can use to pay for nearly everything.
There’s nothing inherently anti-poor about a digital monetary system. It’s completely dependent on the implementation.
I’m not arguing it can’t be done. I’m arguing it shouldn’t be done.
If you think you have a system that isn’t biased against the poor, I’d love to hear the details.
Give everyone, regardless of poor ness or richness, or the existence of a bank account, the same uniform access to the same digital payment technology. We have them for the local public transportation. We have them for college campuses. We can have one for everything. There you go. Done.
We know it’s technologically possible. The details are to be left to the experts.
In any case, I’m more interested in your thoughts on the existence of cash-only establishments and whether they will survive the pandemic.
So you have a wonderful proposal, just without details?
DocCathode:
Do you realize it costs a lot of money to print currency and coins?
For example Bureau of Engraving: $887 million to print currency:
Mint–coins, etc: $2.7 billion
Are you acquainted with the EBT program which replaced food stamps nationally and welfare payments in some states?
Perhaps this system could be modified.
Are you acquainted with stored value cards?
Some government examples such as the Navy Cash card:
https://fiscal.treasury.gov/stored-value-card/about.html
Are you acquainted with prepaid debit cards? While often these have significant fees, the government could subsidize these and offer them through the Post Office.
So while I am not sure of the best technical approach there are options available.
Those costs are paid by taxpayers. If I give a $5 bill to somebody, there’s no additional cost. If I pay by card, there is a transaction fee.
Did you read my earlier post in this very thread? The one where I say I’m on SNAP?
Modified how precisely?
To qualify for SNAP I had to produce all kinds of documents the homeless and poor likely don’t have.
So while I am not sure of the best technical approach there are options available.
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