NYC May Pull the Plug on Cashless Restaurants, Retailers | Hacker News Reader

NYC May Pull the Plug on Cashless Restaurants, Retailers

gothamist.com

18 pointswalterbell15 comments

> In some ways, making a card a requirement for consumption is analogous to making identification a requirement for voting. The effect is the same: It disempowers communities of color.

This correct in the sense that we're solving the wrong problem. The problem is that many people from poor communities lack any form of government identification. It's also a problem that they are locked out of 21st century payment systems. We should focus our efforts on fixing those problems, not making sure they can continue to exist with sub-par services.

Is this true or an assumption? If you’re poor and getting public assistance, you need a gov id. Buying any restricted good or service requires gov id (cigs, beer, etc.) Young people who are dependents on the other hand may be affected.

While I think you have a point, I believe that it is probably out of the city government's control that the economy we have has a lot of people unable to access modern finance. However, they are able to pass regulations that require restaurants to do something which all restaurants were doing until very recently, and most still do.

“Eliminate the unbanked in NYC” is a lot harder to achieve than “require businesses to accept cash.”

I always imagined the solution was some sort of universal bank account.

Every SSN/ITIN/EIN has a bank account with some basic defined features attached. The account might technically be operated by a state entity to solve some of the cost problems of many accounts with near-zero balances. Might fit well with the "turn post offices into banks" proposal that was big a year or two ago--let them be the point of service for the universal account.

If this seems too Bolshevik, it could be a state-run "API only" product-- consumers have to associate the account with a private-enterprise bank to get typical consumer features (cash deposits and withdrawls, a debit card). Let consumers migrate the account to the "servicer bank" of choice the way you can port your phone number from T-mobile to Sprint, and it would spur a competitive market.

You'd also get some huge knock-on benefits. Everyone has a bank account for direct deposit, so those predatory prepaid-debit cards for wages become obsolete. Distributing welfare and social security is a lot simpler. It provides a huge and uniform target for anyone wanting to do something new in the payment space-- talk to their API and you can reach every potential customer in the nation, rather than going bank by bank.

Giving everyone a basic bank account with a debit card would be a great solution. A lot of people don't have a fixed address or live somewhere that they don't have a utility bill in their name, therefore they can't get a bank account. One solution would be to allow the post office to operate as a bank, as is done in many countries. Right now the working poor are screwed by predatory banks and loan cashing services who work the system to stop alternative services.

How is it possible to be unbanked in America in 2018? There are dozens of options for an account with ACH and a Visa/MC debit card, before even touching credit. From the big 4 banks’ traditional products, to neighborhood credit unions, to websites like Ally and Simple, to apps like Chase Liquid and Amex Serve. Meanwhile even shitty minimum-wage jobs are with bureaucratic corporations that would never dream of paying employees in literal cash.

Best Buy, at least until 2006, paid employees with a check if they didn't set up direct deposit. Then you could get that check cashed anywhere (e.g. some grocery stores).

It's not so easy if you're on ChexSystems—among other things.

Sure you won't get a full fledged checkwriting account, but would that really stop you from getting a debit card with direct deposit?

it's been a long time, but I speak from experience. Made a few mistakes, overdrew a checking account (by like $50), and I had a tough time getting back on my feet. Nobody would give me a bank account of any kind. I cashed my checks into cash at walmart. Perhaps there are better solutions out there now, but at the time I was lucky to discover US Bank didn't look into chexsystems so eventually was able to get an account with them.

Interesting perspective. I figured NYC would go all-in on cashless because cash facilitates tax evasion.

And to most governments, tax collection > human rights / conveniences.

Hmmm....I wonder if a hotel would be considered “retail”.

That could make booking a room at the Plaza pretty fun, and paying the bill would be hysterical- especially if paid in twenties!

Instead of forcing businesses to accept cash, why don't they provide debit cards to the poor?

Because providing debit cards to the poor costs money, and may not even help if they're getting paid in cash.

Whereas this approach keeps the cost of handling cash on the restaurants.

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