1: armored car service is more expensive and a pain in the ass to deal with in respect to the amount of cash most businesses take in, and no a low level manager shouldn't be required to walk a bag full of cash to the bank for deposit.
2: cash is more subject to theft/embezzlement and is harder to account for than electronic payments.

You could always walk across the street to one of the other hundreds of coffee shops in the city. If they don't want to accept cash due to safety issues and lose out on customers that is their choice.

@3 I’m just saying it’s the choice of the business. They will clearly lose customers but that’s their choice. Kind of like no shoes, no shirts, no service.

@3: Yes, employee safety trumps customer service. This is similar to how employees and even managers shouldn't have to clean up blood and feces from restrooms, so even though some people may suffer a lack of access to restrooms we shouldn't be forcing private corporations to provide them when faced with the reality of what operating a restroom entails.

If you want change, push for the government to run a universal credit union/debit card without fees. Forcing businesses to deal with the risks of cash is just amplifying the problem.

This is a hard issue because physical cash is nasty, germ-laden stuff. I seldom use it for anything anymore and I like knowing that the food service staff isn't touching it (too many times, I've watched someone go directly from cash register to prep table without washing their hands -- simply putting on gloves is not an acceptable substitute). And yes, for small businesses in particular, it's also a security risk. But there's an undeniable equity problem in not accepting cash. The only real solution is what @5 said, universal access to electronic banking. That needs to be a much higher legislative priority.

Don’t whine because “a barista won’t accept my cash for the coffee” - it’s the business-owners’ policy, not the fault of the baristas.

And there’s no incongruity between a cash tip jar next to a digital-only payment register. Would-be thieves know the tip jar is empty at the end of the shift, so there’s no temptation to break in after hours to steal that. But unless a business explicitly accepts only digital payments, would-be thieves will think there’s some chance that cash will be left overnight…. And while smashing a window doesn’t cost the thief anything, it costs the business plenty.

@5, 9,

A universal debit card is a wonderful idea and would make perfect sense, not only from a financial standpoint, but environmentally among surely a boatload of other reasons. That said, could you imagine the backlash from the RWNJ faction? Holy hotdogs would that be entertaining! There was a fairly large, vocal faction of them claiming yesterday's emergency cell phone alert was Joe Biden like trying to plant a brain stimulator via audio feed or some other such shit. Can only imagine what kind of knucklebrained nonsense they'd cook up about the debit cards.

Amen. People - including a lot of people who should know better - have been well indoctrinated to cluelessly give up privacy, anonymity, freedom from BigBrother and equity of the marginalized and disenfranchised for a little bogus "convenience" and "safety." "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin (yeah, that "Benjamin")

I have a sibling who derides concerns about net and phone privacy, declaring, "I don't have anything to hide." My rejoinder: Tell that to the Uighur or Iranians or Syrians.

Also I'm kinda of the opinion that lowering the barrier of entry to running a small business in all the feasible ways is ultimately a good thing, so idk, but I appreciate this gripe. Kind of petty & ultimately pretty trivial, just how I like it