County Council delays vote on requiring businesses to take cash

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council postponed a decision Wednesday on requiring businesses to accept cash.

In an ordinance proposed by council member Nate Nehring, businesses in unincorporated Snohomish County would have to accept cash up to $200.

Since the pandemic, many local businesses have moved to a cashless model, only accepting cards or other forms of digital payment. But not accepting cash affects people who have limited or no access to banking services and rely mostly on cash.

In a public hearing Wednesday, council members posed questions about how businesses would be notified of the change. County staff are researching how best to do this.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/county-council-delays-vote-on-requiring-businesses-to-take-cash/

[cbabe]

1. Not only the 30% est. unbanked but

credit costs in interest, maintaining balance. And cash is anonymous unlike cards.

This is another way to divide us, those that got and those that don’t.

[jimfields33]

2. 30 percent of the country don't have a bank? That's really a lot.

It costs 5 dollars to open an account at my bank. And the 5 dollars go into savings. There must be a reason 3 in 10 don’t bank. An organization should help people open accounts even if it costs 5 bucks a person to do it.

[patphil]

3. US currency is legal tender for all debts, public and private, by law.

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:31%20section:5103%20edition:prelim)

Obviously there is a reasonable limit to the amount of cash a person is going to carry around with them, and cashless alternatives are desirable in many instances, but businesses that work directly with the public should be required to accept legal currency for payment in cases where the amount is not so high as to put an unreasonable burden on the seller.

A $200. limit is actually quite low, given the cost of food, clothing, and other everyday items that are routinely purchased.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. While I do have a credit card and a debit card,

virtually all of my day-to-day purchases are in cash. I find that I can control my cash spending far better than I can control my credit card spending. Here's how I do it. At the beginning of each week I go to my bank and take out a specific sum of cash. When I get home, I put most of it into several envelopes that are labelled: Entertainment, Cat, Health and Well Being, Clothing, Christmas Club, and Miscellaneous. The rest stays in my wallet and used for groceries and other spending. My gas I put on credit card.

At the end of the week, if there's any cash left in my wallet, that money goes into another envelope I call super-miscellaneous. Essentially, if I don't have money in the Clothes envelope, I won't be buying any clothes. But money can be moved from one category to another, such as if I want to go out to lunch with a friend, I can take money from entertainment, miscellaneous, or super miscellaneous as needed.

Like so many people, I am on a limited, if adequate, income. This envelope system, which I've used for some 15 years now, is incredibly useful. I am able to transfer money each month from my checking account to my savings accounts. I have two. One is designated for big ticket items, the other for more ordinary stuff, like a brief trip somewhere.

I suppose it helps that I grew up relatively poor, and at several other times in my life had very little money. I'm okay living on not very much.

And yeah, all of my bills say that thing about being legal tender for all debts, public and private. I will not patronize a business that won't take my cash.