GoLite stores don’t take….cash?!?!

[R S]

Went to buy something today, pulled out cash and the salesperson told me they don't accept cash. What's the world coming to?

[drowning in spam]

I could have sworn it was a law that cash always has to be accepted as consideration.

[Miles Spathelf]

I think creditors are required to take federally coined and printed monies but businesses are not.

[Steofan M]

Makes sense when a company is REALLY serious about reducing costs and passing along the savings:
secure – no chance of mishandling cash as the funds go from your bank directly to theirs,
saves time – no counting or depositing,
saves money – no need for an armored car company for a pick-up, no cash on location so insurance rates are reduced, no funds tied up in cash drawer setups.

Welcome to the new era of retail.

[Jon Leibowitz]

It may save all those things, but then they also pay the service charge. There is no service fee for cash.

Obviously though, if it's a well-run company they weighed the costs and benefits and even with the service charge, decided it was worth taking only credit cards.

[John S.]

The no cash benefit must outweigh the plastic fees.

[Robert Cowman]

you have to pay for cash pick up/drop off, coins and bank fees. they might end up paying less in wages/fees/losses than services fees. plus golite just might not want all the paper usage that comes cash. (deposit slips, statements, safe logs etc)

[Tom Caldwell]

I suppose they decided it might be a good idea to reduce weight somewhere..

[Lawson Kline]

This sounds like a Bankers Wet Dream.. I wonder if Golite would take Gold or Silver Bullion?? Or I wonder at what point, will they take cash. Lets say you walk in and want to buy 10K work of gear for an outdoor school you just started, and all you have is a pocket full of cash. Do you think the would let you walk out the door or do you think they would make an exception?

[Ken Thompson]

They are retaliating against all those cash only diners near the trailheads.

[Hikin’ Jim]

Went to buy something today, pulled out cash and the salesperson told me they don't accept cash. What's the world coming to?

What a trip. First time I've ever heard of such a thing. Most gas stations near me give a discount for cash purchases.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving

[Manfred]

Here in the Bay Area the following story http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=7447037 described how the local Apple store did only accept credit or debit card for purchasing an IPad. The policy certainly surprised me back then. It seems like no store/business has to accept "legal tender". Somehow I knew that from the many stores that have signs that say they don't accept $50 or $100 bills, but not accepting any cash was still surprising.

Manfred

[Randy Martin]

As mentioned earlier, I think this is a common sense policy to not have to deal with the security of handling cash, nuisance of depositing it etc.. Having said that, my local diner only accepts cash or checks so clearly there are businesses doing it both ways. I guess anyone can find justification for how they want to do business.

[Cayenne Redmonk]

Legal tender for all debts, refusing cash payment is cancelation of a debt. A good faith effort was made to pay. The government says this paper has to accetped as payment. If the store doesn't want the money, take your goods and go.

[Mary D]

I checked several online popular legal sites, and they all say that while businesses in the US have to accept the US dollar in payment, they don't have to accept cash.

Here was one: http://legallad.quickanddirtytips.com/legal-tender.aspx
"The short answer is that federal legal tender laws require creditors to accept payment denominated in dollars, but generally do not require businesses to accept any particular form of payment — such as cash."

[Dale Wambaugh]

Goes with the advertising program :)

[Aaron]

People still carry cash around town? The only time I ever have cash on me is if I know I'll be out in the middle nowhere and may need it for an emergency (i.e. gas stations in the middle of nowhere, food, etc.)

[Anonymous]

"Obviously though, if it's a well-run company they weighed the costs and benefits and even with the service charge, decided it was worth taking only credit cards."

Especially if they considered the higher labor costs of hiring cashiers who are not numerically challenged. ;=)

[Sean Heenan]

It's was just a matter of time before the cashless society happened. Cash is a hassle for a retailer, yes there are service charges on credit/debit but cash also has sevice charges that aren't appaerent such as someone to count the cash drawers each day, balance them, make the deposit, armored car service to pickup the deposit, bank charges on proceesing the cash, and then cash shortages. Credit/debit cards balance every time there is nothing to count the computer keeps track of it. Simple. Also the use of smartphones as a way of payment is coming and is here in some places, so as i said it was/is just a matter of time.

[Cayenne Redmonk]

How much extra should we charge the poor who only have cash ?

[Dale Wambaugh]

Another class divide. Hauling all your cash around would be so risky, from simple loss as well as theft. Just another stresser for the poor.

My wife was working as a summer camp nurse for a couple weeks and they had a minor medical emergency and took off for the nearest town. This was very early in the morning and she had cash, but had left her cards at the camp. She couldn't find a gas station that was open and took cash. They were all locked down and cards-at-the-pump only.

Traveling has become much easier: you can use your US credit or debit card and have the local currency popping out of an ATM, even when you arrive at 3:00AM, and to my experience, the exchange rate was better than anything available locally. No more travelers checks!

But not taking cash is just so… weird.

[Chris Jones]

If handling cash is too much of a hassle, insecure, blah, blah, then perhaps you may want to reconsider running a business, especially a brick-and-morter one at that.

[Greg F]

Its funny that this is only occuring now. The technology has been around in Canada since about 95. I have been effectively cashless outside of bars since about 2000. In Canada because we only have 5 banks they created a direct payment system that immediately debits your account and implemented throughout the country in less than 5 years. Compared with the US her all of the little banks made it difficult to standardize. It took until Visa implemented it through their infastructure for it to expand.

I dont understand the resistance to going cashless. It significantly improves employee safety and decreases the under the table tax free market.

[John S.]

Convenience store workers get shot and killed not infrequently when thieves are after cash in the register.

[Sean Heenan]

Cash and coin–heavy, bad. Credit/Debit card–multi-purpose lightweight, good!!

[Author]

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