Cashless stores

Philadelphia recently passed an ordinance that would fine businesses that no longer accept cash, although the ordinance has a number of exceptions.  

It does not apply to businesses that sell goods through memberships or to parking lots or to rentals that require security deposits.  Cashless stores, of course, discriminate against people who don’t have credit cards or bank accounts.

Amazon has expressed concern about the ordinance; it is considering opening 3000 stores that would be cashless.  A report issued in December said that about 29 percent of Americans do not use cash in a typical week, and those with household incomes over $75,000 were most unlikely to use cash.

Who uses cash?  The poor, who don’t have credit cards or bank accounts, and old people, who are too stubborn to get credit cards, don’t know how to “swipe,” and don’t have a smartphone.

I’m in the latter category.  I already can’t buy an airline ticket; Linda has to get them.  The only reason I have a transponder so I can use “EasyPass” on the turnpike is because Linda got it for me.  I have never “swiped” a card.  I do have the card that allows me to get cash out of the ATM.

When friends hear about my lack of technical sophistication, they sometimes say, “But you do a blog.”  Yeah, I do.  My friend René set it up for me years ago; if I ever get a new computer I’ll have to get him back to do it again.  And the reason the blog doesn’t have music or pictures is because I never learned how to do that.  And please please don’t tell me how easy it is. 

I am happy with the Philly ordinance.  And if Amazon ever does open 3000 stores that are cashless, it won’t bother me.  I have never bought anything from that establishment, and I don’t ever intend to.  So there.