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The city of Philadelphia had to enact a ban preventing retailers who were establishing “no cash” policies from forcing people to use cards only for their purchases.
It raises the alarm for what could soon become a wider problem across the United States and something that may need to be enforced at the federal level.
In this day and age, when so many people pay with debit and credit cards, fewer people are paying with cash. As a result of this, many restaurants and retailers in Philadelphia began establishing “no cash” policies for purchases.
The problem had grown to the point that city officials felt they needed to step in and curb such policies.
Officials in Philadelphia were quick to realize the implications of no cash policies, that they would have a tendency to discriminate against people who have lower incomes, who may not have bank accounts where debit cards would be issued.
“There’s a reasonable segment of people who wouldn’t be able to patronize those stores because they don’t have any kind of credit or debit card,” said Philadelphia City Councilman Bill Greenlee, who introduced the bill. “It’s setting up a ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ kind of situation.”
“Those people tend to be a little lower income, and also minority and immigrant,” Greenlee added. “I don’t think that’s the kind of message we want to be sending.”
The City Council of Philadelphia voted in favor of requiring most local businesses to accept cash as payment.
Clearly, many such policies are likely to be occurring across the US. Philadelphia’s action should raise an alert to cities across the United States to take a look at such ‘no cash’ policies that may exist in their area and consider the ramifications of what may already be happening to people of low incomes, the underprivileged and minorities.
