U.S.: Retailers could be fined more than $2,500 if they ban cash payments

As the global response to the coronavirus pandemic comes at a time when many companies are promoting contactless payments as a result of the new coronavirus epidemic, more and more people are opting for digital payments as a payment method.

In recent years, mobile payment has become more and more popular in the world. In many places, you can do “one mobile phone goes everywhere”.

The convenience of mobile payments not only changed consumer consumption habits, but also implicitly changed the way retailers set off, but also brought with it some problems that cannot be ignored, such as retailers who refused to pay cash are particularly prominent, some traders have simply set up a “No Cash” brand.

But the popularity of cashless payments has also made it difficult for some people.

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez, A New Jersey Democrat, and Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said it would be discriminatory to ban cash payments entirely at a time when many Americans are facing financial hardship.

The large commercial supermarket chain, which also includes retailers and shopping centre owners such as Nordstrom and Simon Mall, encourages contactless transactions such as Apple Pay to minimise the risk of virus spreading in stores.

“No cash” has many benefits for businesses. Firstly, you cannot give customers to find changes, you can’t even contact them with bacterial paper money, you can’t worry about receiving counterfeit money, secondly, you can also greatly reduce the cashier’s workload, while reducing the cashier’s salary and even reducing the cashier’s staff, reducing the business costs of the company, more and more tend to to receive “no cash” and rely solely on mobile broadcasting costs to settle.

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But for those customers who cannot use mobile payment, merchants’ refusal of cash harms their right to shop.

Cashless commerce is spreading faster in the United States, thanks to the emergence of Amazon, which has reshaped the national retail landscape.

But about 20 percent of American households have no or no regular access to checking and savings accounts. About 6% of these households do not have a bank card, meaning they do not have a bank account at all. Of Americans without bank accounts, 14 percent are black, 11 percent are Hispanic and 4 percent are white.

Photo credit:picjumbo

With the spread of the new crown epidemic in the United States, the number of weekly unemployment inthe United States has increased by millions, so that Americans without bank accounts could rise at any time.

“While I fully understand that companies expanded their contactless payment methods during the outbreak, the refusal to use cash discriminates against certain groups of people and discriminates against people’s equal access to the same goods or services,” Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said in a statement.

Despite the rise of mobile payments and digital banking products, many Americans still don’t use credit or debit CARDS. According to a survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation last year, about 7 percent of American households (8.4 million households) do not have bank deposits, which means that no one has a current or savings account. A further 19% have insufficient bank deposits, which means they have a bank account but still rely on financial products such as payday loans.

The Payment Choice Act is intended for companies that refuse to accept cash payments, to post signs that do not accept cash payments, or to charge a higher price for cash than other payment methods.

The bill would impose a maximum fine of $2,500 for a first offense and up to $5,000 for a second offense.

Democratic Representative Donald M. Payne Jr. of New Jersey introduced a similar bill to the House of Representatives.

U.S. governments have also issued a ban on credit card policies aimed at retailers and restaurants that have tried to reduce cash payments to the lowest level before the pandemic. “Cashless” has become a wave, but at the same time the boycott of “cashless” is heating up.

Companies are trying to speed up their operations to compete with the efficiencies offered by tech giants like Amazon. While credit CARDS often cost businesses money, managing cash can be more of a hassle.