The concession stand wouldn't take cash.

[Jeebo]

They're refusing to take good ol' U.S. currency at more and more places. I tried to pay the fee at the license bureau for a personalized plate and they wouldn't take cash. Sunday, at a college softball game, the concession stand wouldn't take cash. Last month, at a softball tournament in Clearwater, I complained when one of the concessions wouldn't take cash for the soft drink I was purchasing. They said they couldn't make change, didn't even have any cash.

When this happens, this is what I've started doing: I'll pull out a bill and point to where it says, "This note is legal tender for ALL debts, PUBLIC and PRIVATE." (all caps mine, for emphasis)

I guess I can understand if they can't make change, but they ought to ALWAYS accept cash if it's the correct change.

I didn't buy the soda at the softball tournament, because I refuse to put charges of less than $10 on a credit card.

-- Ron

[BOSSHOG]

1. Don't like to hear that.

Except for gas I pay for everything with cash. Haven’t been turned away. Yet.

[LiberalArkie]

2. Theft

[hlthe2b]

3. I find it infuriating. I frequently shop for an elderly neighbor--just a few items and she has cash...

And grocery stores are so insistent on the self check-outs that I shop as soon as they open at 6 AM to avoid issues with too many customers. Yet, even then, only about 1/3 of the self-check-out stations allow you to use cash and those that do have big problems with OLDER bills. Not ripped bills. Not irreparably wrinkled, folded bills, but just bills that are not new no matter how much you work to flatten/straighten them.

So, if a machine cannot figure out how to accept older currency after all these decades of ATMs and others doing so, why should we accept that machines or AI are going to do any better on any other task?

But, the worst is having stores that don't accept cash. Sam's Club (where my neighbor has also sent me) only accepts cash at the one single manned check-out--not at ANY of the self-check-out stations. How do they get by with this? Really. One option and dozens of people in line. sigh...

[LogDog75]

4. I live near two Navy bases

and the MWR takes only debit or credit cards. So I have a debit card that I use at the bowling alleys, the theaters, as well as the commissary and exchange. I have to check my card balance on-line about twice a month to make sure I have enough money on the card. It is convenient buy I still like using cash because it helps me buy less.

[odins folly]

5. Practicality

It's unfortunate and inconvenient however, if you don't have a money drawer there is less chance of theft.

This obviously doesn't apply to a self check out line. I worked a concession stand at the zoo as a young teen and I was responsible for the cash I handled. Fortunately I was taught how to make change in school, before regan cuts started to take over...

[LogDog75]

8. and that was without having to use a calculator

I worked in a liquor store in the early 70s using an old cash register that was about two-feet high. I had a lever to move to differentiate between alcohol sales, food, cigarette, etc., enter in the price and hit an Enter key for each item. I had to be able to figure the difference in my head between the amount of money the customer gave me and the amount showing on the register as well make sure I gave them the correct change. I worked there for two years and only once in all that time did my register balance out to the penny.

I know I'm going to sound like an old codger, but clerks, today, have it easy in that they can scan everything and let the computer determine the total. All they have to do is enter the amount tendered and the computer tells them the amount in change to give to the customer.

[Jeebo]

9. This is a side issue, a little off-topic from the original post, but ...

... one thing I keep noticing is that people who operate cash registers, especially young people, don't know how to count back your change any more. That's easy, there's nothing to it, it was one of the first things I had to learn to do when I started working in a greasy spoon in high school in the late 1960s, and yet, it's a simple skill that nobody seems to know any more.

-- Ron

[underpants]

10. Also less time counting the tray and making a deposit

Less risk of theft of all kinds as you said.

[MontanaMama]

6. I haven't found any event venues that take cash

and haven’t for a long long time. Sports, concerts…none of these places take cash.

[Freddie]

7. I think a lot of this happened due to Covid

Not wanting to handle cash due to germs.

[FDunionVP]

11. Tracked.

I use cash as not to be tracked.
Best be a grey man in these times.
FYI - don't bring the cell binkey either - same tracking when you don't want to be.

[Marthe48]

12. I carry small bills and change

so I can pay exactly for items, say under $10. I have a debit card for larger purchases. Rarely use my credit card.

The places I buy from still take cash and if I'm in a place that doesn't, I don't buy anything.