Some Detroit spots remain cash-only: No cards, no Bitcoin
freep.com
freep.com
Everything from restaurant equipment supply (to hide profits) to some of the best dive eateries in the nation (because of low margins).
Off the top of my head, in the last six months, I've patronized cash-only businesses in Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minnesota (cash only or checks and they give you cash back), Arizona, rural Nevada, and probably other places I can't remember.
Once you expand your horizons beyond Yelp and Google, there's a whole other world out there.
You don't even have to expand that far. A large amount of domestic labor is paid in cash only, under the table. For legal residents, this is a way to avoid tax, but for many undocumented workers it is the only way to be paid.
I'd argue it's tax _evasion_, not avoidance. Tax avoidance is the legal use of the tax law to pay as little tax as possible. Tax evasion is circumventing of the law to relieve yourself of a tax burden that you are required to pay.
Babysitters, lemonade stands, cat sitters, guys selling their own rap CDs in supermarket parking lots, garage sales, flea markets, etc...
Second, I wonder how many places are really avoiding cards because of a 3% fee or because of extra administration and not really because they may be creative with their tax reporting?
How would you know? By definition, they generally don't let on.
Thanks, that's the funniest thing I read today!
You can pay with blocks of govt cheese though:
They're about 200 feet from the police station, and some of the cops come in for breakfast (they open quite early; also a legacy of the farm style cafe). Security... does not seem to be a concern.
Visa and crew don't need to be taking X percent of their gross revenue. More power to them -- and better prices for us.
Or, to paraphrase SNL: "No card. Cash!"
And my understanding is that margins are so thin on bars and restaurants... Can't say I wouldn't do it if it kept me from having to shut down.