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By turn, does anyone remember some years ago when gas stations were trying to offer discounts per gallon to anyone who paid with cash (to avoid interchange fees)? It was maybe a handful of years I saw the signs on gas station marquees and now they are gone. I think it was in the late 2000s or early 2010's. Same/similar concept to cash-only restaurants - we have a good many of those around SWPA, mainly corner pizza joints and diners.
Maybe not the big players, but local mom and pop stations here in the Bay Area most definitely still offer a "cash discount" typically to the tune of 8-10 cents per gallon.
ARCO who typically has the lowest price on the block, also only takes debit or cash, and charges a $0.35 processing fee even for using debit.
IN Michigan gas stations generally charge $0.10 a gallon more if one is paying with a CC
Honestly when you do the math, unless gas is <$2 per gallon, you still come out ahead using a 5% cash back gas card and not taking the cash discount.
Since California has the second highest gas prices in the nation, I've never once bothered with the cash discount. I get anywhere from 3.75% to 4.5% cash back paying gas with my BoA cash rewards, and it's always cheaper to use credit.
Bonus: BoA CR gives 2% back at grocery stores. Well my local grocery store carries ARCO prepaid gas cards that I can use at their pumps without incurring the $0.35 debit fee. So I'm effectively getting 2% CB on an already lowest-around-block gas price. Win-win.
(for context ARCO is BP's "discount brand" that only takes cash or debit with a $0.35 flat fee in exchange for unbeatably low gas prices)
@Anonymouswrote:By turn, does anyone remember some years ago when gas stations were trying to offer discounts per gallon to anyone who paid with cash (to avoid interchange fees)? It was maybe a handful of years I saw the signs on gas station marquees and now they are gone. I think it was in the late 2000s or early 2010's. Same/similar concept to cash-only restaurants - we have a good many of those around SWPA, mainly corner pizza joints and diners.
I still see a few of those around. Byrne Dairy does it. I don't really care for Byrne Dairy though as it seems like they don't take AMEX or even Discover for that matter, along with other reasons.
NFCU MR: $25K | Venture: $21K | Amex ED: $18K | NFCU CR: $18K | Amex BCE: $15K | IT #1: $17.5K | PNC Core: $15K | PPMC: $12K | Wells Fargo: $11K | Savor: 12K | Cap1 QS: $8.5K | Barclays Rewards: $7.75K | IT #2: $7.3K | MLife: $9.5K | Sportsman's Guide: $8.7K | PenFed PR: $5.5K | Elan Plat: $2.3K | TRV: $3.6K | BotW: $3K
Current FICO 8 Scores: EQ: 828| TU: 805 | EX: 814
@Anonymouswrote:People need to see why cashless restaurants should be accepted in our society.
I'm interpreting this as a thread where many see an issue with cashless restaurants, but turn around and praise cash only restaurants. As society itself moves towards liquidated (or digital) cash, mobile wallets to pay their friends, and even mobile wallets to use their "card," I don't see an issue with cashless restaurants. I do feel as if people who try to drill the cash only mindset into others are more guilty of trying to make people adopt to their ways rather than the other way around. Business owners shouldn't expect people to carry cash in what is now considered a predominately digital society. If I'm unfamiliar with an establishment, I (and most others) expect to be able to use their card.
All I'm saying is that I can understand and completely see where 100% cashless restaurants are coming from. Another perks of going cashless? The networks may offer you a significantly lower interchange fee rate.
To clarify, I'm not meaning to "praise" cash only businesses. I simply don't have any problem with them and don't understand why it was implied that cash-only means the owner is dishonest.
One person may think it's weird to carry any cash ever, but I think it's weird to have NO cash ever. Besides the question of what do you do when some car accident or pole fire takes out the internet and renders a business unable to access their payment servicer (rare, but happens two or three times a year), but I always offer to leave a cash tip (better for the server), and pay cash with small purchases, as there's usually a minimum transaction fee the merchant is charged.
Again, to reach their own. It's not a hardship for me to carry $50 in my wallet.
NFCU MR: $25K | Venture: $21K | Amex ED: $18K | NFCU CR: $18K | Amex BCE: $15K | IT #1: $17.5K | PNC Core: $15K | PPMC: $12K | Wells Fargo: $11K | Savor: 12K | Cap1 QS: $8.5K | Barclays Rewards: $7.75K | IT #2: $7.3K | MLife: $9.5K | Sportsman's Guide: $8.7K | PenFed PR: $5.5K | Elan Plat: $2.3K | TRV: $3.6K | BotW: $3K
Current FICO 8 Scores: EQ: 828| TU: 805 | EX: 814
@Dalmuswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:People need to see why cashless restaurants should be accepted in our society.
I'm interpreting this as a thread where many see an issue with cashless restaurants, but turn around and praise cash only restaurants. As society itself moves towards liquidated (or digital) cash, mobile wallets to pay their friends, and even mobile wallets to use their "card," I don't see an issue with cashless restaurants. I do feel as if people who try to drill the cash only mindset into others are more guilty of trying to make people adopt to their ways rather than the other way around. Business owners shouldn't expect people to carry cash in what is now considered a predominately digital society. If I'm unfamiliar with an establishment, I (and most others) expect to be able to use their card.
All I'm saying is that I can understand and completely see where 100% cashless restaurants are coming from. Another perks of going cashless? The networks may offer you a significantly lower interchange fee rate.
To clarify, I'm not meaning to "praise" cash only businesses. I simply don't have any problem with them and don't understand why it was implied that cash-only means the owner is dishonest.
One person may think it's weird to carry any cash ever, but I think it's weird to have NO cash ever. Besides the question of what do you do when some car accident or pole fire takes out the internet and renders a business unable to access their payment servicer (rare, but happens two or three times a year), but I always offer to leave a cash tip (better for the server), and pay cash with small purchases, as there's usually a minimum transaction fee the merchant is charged.
Again, to reach their own. It's not a hardship for me to carry $50 in my wallet.
If that happens to you 2-3 times a year, it says more about your bad luck. I've never had that happen to me in the 10 years I've been using a debit or credit card. I understand it could happen, but it doesn't happen frequent enough for me to change my payment habits.
I know one biz we owned the cash and check part cost a lot more than swipe fees. We had mutliple locations and keeping them in cash was a pain. We pushed cc. We joined a trade group that got our card fees down on everything including Amex. Also cut out employee fraud and the cash room went away.
I have no problem with it i go months and months with out ever seeing cash money