1 week Ago By Lauren Towner
Payments choice and cash payments advocate, Ron Delnevo travelled to New York City to see how they handle payments and discovered many progressive features Despite being the home to Visa and Mastercard, there has always been a strong resistance in the US to a “cashless” society. Massachusetts became the first US state to ban cashless businesses in 1978, requiring all retail establishments to accept cash payments – and it has been rigorously enforced, even during the COVID pandemic. Major cities like New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia have recently passed local laws requiring businesses to accept cash as payment.
Mastercard infamously declared a “War on Cash” in 2010 but with the implementation of “Prohibition of Cashless Establishments” regulations in New York City in 2020, that “war” doesn’t even have the support of the major city in their home state! The authorities clearly decided the interests of the public – their voters – took precedence. And no American politician can be in any doubt as to what the public sees as being in their interests when it comes to cash. A survey from neobank Chime in September 2024 revealed that only five per cent of American adults never carry cash and over 50 per cent still believe “Cash is King.
” Furthermore, a whopping 88 per cent don’t want cash removed as a payment option. I visited The Big Apple this month to find out how the “cashless ban” is working out in practice, four years after being passed. The first cash “high” I experienced was on the New York buses.
The local operator long ago found a convenient way for cash to be accepted, without the driver having to handle money. Since 1969, bus riders have been able to deposit coins for their fares directly into the fare box, allowing drivers to concentrate on driving instead of multitasking. Fifty-five years on, cash continues to be accepted on New York buses.
On the other hand, in 2022, Van Leeuwen IceCream earned the dubious distinction of being by far the worst breakers of the cashless law in New York City. By October of that year, Van it had been fined a total of $107,250, compared to $98,725 for all other 56 offending businesses combined. Van Leeuwen ultimately agreed a settlement with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and met their legal obligations.
Yet, the business still doesn’t accept cash directly but instead, as is rather oddly permitted by law, they have installed “Reverse ATMs”. Those who want to use cash have to acquire a card from these ATMs and use it to make purchases. These cards – rather provocatively branded “cashless” – are hardly user-friendly.
They are not reloadable, no receipt for the transaction is issued at point of sale, and balances left on the card have to be reclaimed from the issuer in a time-consuming process. After three months of non-use, a charge of $3.95 a month is imposed and deducted from any balance on the card.
And if the “Reverse ATM” is not working – and I saw examples of this in New York – cash users cannot make a purchase. This is surely not the outcome envisaged by New York legislators when they passed the law.’ McDonald’s shows the way when providing genuine payment choice in New York, with cash acceptance machines alongside their ordering screens.
Sweetgreen too has played its part. The first Sweetgreen restaurant opened in 2007 delivering “reimagined fast food”. They have only made one false step – going cashless in 2016.
However, in 2019, knowing a ban was coming, Sweetgreen reversed this decision and quickly moved to accept cash again. And not just in New York – at all their over 200 stores around the US. When I visited the Sweetgreen branch at 86th and Broadway in Manhattan, it was a delightful experience.
There was a warm welcome from the team in the branch and, when the time came to pay, cash was greeted with a smile and an “of course we accept cash. No problem!” The whole experience, including paying, could not have been better. And the food? Delicious! Firstly, the local politicians did absolutely the right thing in passing legal measures to prevent cashless being imposed on the consumer.
The 88 per cent of the US public rejecting the notion in 2024 is in line with results delivered by YouGov when surveying the British public in 2023. Secondly, forcing the public to acquire cards via a Reverse ATM is NOT truly respecting their legal right to pay using cash. It is simply another attempt to impose cashless.
Thirdly, if businesses innovate in terms of cash handling – as the New York bus operator did way back in 1969 – delivering payment choice can be easy for the public and businesses alike. In fact, by copying Sweetgreen, ALL businesses can hit the payment choice sweet spot! This article was published in The Paytech Magazine Issue 13, Page 62-63.
