Thread: Park Café's move to cashless part of larger shift toward cash-free business

I find this chilling.

After being held up at gunpoint for the fifth time in four months, the Park Cafe & Coffee Bar made a radical change for a business that relies on small transactions.

A sign on the Bolton Hill cafe's door explains: "Due to the recent robberies and continued crime in the neighborhood we are no longer accepting cash."

A day after being robbed Jan. 20, the Park Cafe began only accepting credit and debit payments. Although it began as a temporary measure to ward off robberies, owner David Hart said he now doesn't see the cafe taking cash again.

"Going cashless for me was something that I felt forced into," he said, "and yet now that I've made that decision the feedback from the community has been very positive."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...131-story.html

I never use cash anyway myself. Never carry it.

The only thing we use cash for is eating out.

agree Susan.. that's moving into Scary territory.

I use cash a lot.. helps me see what I'm spending easier.

I wonder how it is legal for a business to refuse legal tender?

Originally Posted by Susan

I wonder how it is legal for a business to refuse legal tender?

I remember a few years ago i went to make a phone payment and they wouldn't accept cash, made me think of the old saying...your money's no good here.


This is what the law says:

Is it legal for a business in the United States to refuse cash as a form of payment?

Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," states: "United States coins and currency [including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks] are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."

This statute means that all United States money as identified above is a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law which says otherwise.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm