The Progressive Case for Cashless Stores
Everyone should be concerned about unbanked populations losing access to an increasingly cashless economy
Last year on November 26, Elgin Brack and his uncle Scott sat in an idling car outside of a Duane Reade in the New York borough of Queens. Around 3:30 a.m., Elgin got out of the car and allegedly entered the store with a gun, where instead of robbing the store of its cash, he reportedly got in an argument with the cashier and shot him in the head. Elgin and his uncle allegedly went on to rob four more stores at gunpoint.
Two days later, New York City Councilman Ritchie Torres introduced legislation requiring all stores and restaurants in the city to accept cash.
Councilman Torres’ bill—one of several similar efforts in states and cities—is trying to solve a real problem. Cashless stores and restaurants like Sweetgreen and Dos Toros are becoming increasingly common, but they theoretically discriminate against people who don’t have access to cashless payment methods like debit and credit cards, a group that is poor and disproportionately black and Hispanic. Most debit and credit cards require consumers to have a bank account, and with 14 million unbanked adults in the U.S.—people who lack a checking or savings account—that isn’t a reality for everyone…
