Washington district constituents approached their senator after they were turned away from a business because they only carried cash.
By Brooke Burns, for the Community News Service
The number of Vermonters without bank accounts has climbed in recent years, from 0.7% of households in 2019 to 2.5% in 2021, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. A Senate bill would look to protect the consumer power of those households by requiring businesses to accept cash for transactions under $1,000.
S.175 was introduced by Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington, in a Feb. 22 Senate economic development committee meeting. Perchlik said constituents approached him about such a bill after they were turned away from a business because they only had cash, and soon he realized many groups in the state could often be in the same situation.
“There was concern about refugee populations,” he said in an interview. “At first I was like, ‘How many people don’t have credit cards?’ It seems like it’s pretty prevalent, electronic pay of some sort. And then I found out there really are people getting out of prison or people that are immigrants or people that have had problems with credit cards that purposely don’t have them so that they don’t get into debt. And so it was more common than I thought.”
Perchlik said he also heard from an employee at a ski resort that went cashless who noticed customers were surprised they needed credit cards to purchase not only lift tickets and equipment but also food and beverages.
“The person in the ski area thought it was something that businesses did on purpose, and it was becoming more common as a way to get people to spend more money because, according to this person, people are more likely to spend money when they don’t have to see the cash or hand it over,” Perchlik said in the interview. “Or if a parent is giving money to a kid for lunch, they can say, ‘Here’s $20 — you have to spend within $20.’ Now it’s, ‘Here’s a credit card.’”
Similar legislation requiring businesses to accept cash has been enacted in Connecticut, Colorado, New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as by local governments in New York City and Philadelphia.
In a Feb. 28 committee meeting, one senator expressed concerns over the safety of businesses carrying large amounts of cash, especially those open late at night.
“If you have an employee in an isolated location, or alone at night in a convenience store and it’s held up, it’s difficult to get employees after that,” said Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington, adding later, “It’s nice until we can’t get anybody to man the transfer station or the convenience store at night.”
At the same meeting, Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, questioned the need for the bill at all.
“The merchant can decide,” Brock said. “And if you don’t like the merchant’s policy, you’ll go elsewhere. But you can always change the merchant. If the merchant is losing business, they’re not going to do business that way.”
Jay Greene, a policy analyst from the Vermont Office of Racial Equity, testified in support of the bill and its potential for protecting the consumer power of marginalized people in Vermont
“Protecting the right to pay cash is one of the office’s top policy priorities for this legislative session,” Greene said in the Feb. 28 meeting.
“There are a significant number of Vermonters who are unbanked,” Greene added later. “There are likely racial disparities in who is unbanked in Vermont. It’s more likely to be a person of the household of color who is unbanked, a Black or Hispanic household. So our office is strongly in favor of making this legislation the most protective of unbanked and underbanked households that it can possibly be.”
In a letter to the committee, the Office of Racial Equity cited the importance of cash as a failsafe.
“(Cash) can survive natural disasters, electrical grid failures, outdoor and open-air market settings and cashless transaction system failure scenarios,” the letter reads. “Vermont is likely to experience more frequent and more severe natural disasters in the near future due to climate change. It is essential that retail businesses maintain the infrastructure needed to accept cash in case cashless payment systems fail.”
If passed, S.175 will go into effect July 1.
The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Business, Legislation
I like to use cash instead of a credit card. While I have numerous credit cards, somehow cash just seems easier, and some businesses give a cash discount as credit card companies charge for their services. In addition, when I pay with cash I get change, usually, and this goes into my piggy bank, which ends of being more cash when it full. I like that.
It amazes me how much ‘the poor’ and ‘immigrants’ are blamed as the reason for ‘legislation’ in this state… convenient scapegoats, eh?
Blaming the voiceless is a trope as old as history… if you read it.
Qui bono?
Follow the money.
s175 senator perchlik should be more concerned about the central bankers push for a cash less money system and not be supporting the illegal refugee population/// this has nothing to with race or gender///cash is the only way to not have your money transaction controlled or monitored/// many will not have a credit in the future because of the massive debt problem///
A lot of businesses are going cashless because they don’t want to be robbed. As someone who uses cash probably more than the average person these days I’m sympathetic to the idea that shops should accept legal tender, but ultimately Senator Brock is right: it’s the shop owner who should make that decision, not the state.
Kudos to Senator Brock for what should be obvious advice. Legal tender in these United States specifying it as good for ALL debts public or private. As such why is not refusing to accept it illegal?
I don’t like credit cards or debit cards and I don’t use them in my day to day business. I prefer cash. As long as United States currency says “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” businesses should be required to accept cash. To refuse to take legal tender is, IMHO, unAmerican.
What the hell does this have to do with “refugee populations”? It’s a privacy issue.
Maybe someone who visits a pot shop, liquor store, sex toy shop or gun dealer doesn’t want an easily-trackable paper trail that can come back and bite them in the arse. In the case of Sugarbush ski area, which calls itself cashless, most lift tickets are bought online, and that requires a card, but walking in to one of their dining facilities should not make the same requirements. If they do, then make it known to them you will bring your own lunch and leave afterward to dine elsewhere. However, in this age where laws are not enforced, this does give businesses the valid excuse to not want to make it easier for criminals to steal legal tender. A bill in the Vermont legislature prohibiting this practice for on-site purchases sounds like the ONE decent piece of legislation to emerge in this session. A cashless society is one more step toward big brother authoritarianism.
From the “Cant’ make this stuff up” department, Vermont’s Racial Equity Office sees the “need for cash in a natural disaster and other scenarios”, yet EBT cards and direct deposit of assistance checks is government policy.
If I bought in to testimony from Jay Greene, policy analyst from the Vermont Office of Racial Equity- it’s as if not accepting cash is somehow racist.
All missing the point here…
The point here is the $1000 limit. First it’s anything over $1000, then it’s anything over $500… etc. Moving the goal post nicely here for the requirements of not using cash.
Cash is legal tender it must be accepted to begin with, this isn’t an option it’s a basic tenant of society.
With their spending and inflation, how long before your grocery bill is $1000 (if it’s not already with a large family)?
thank you rich
thank you brian///
I still use cash 99% of the time, I have a handful of credit cards if and when I use them, I pay them off by month’s end !!
I get a kick out of the younger generation that use credit cards for a two-dollar coffee, or water and a ton of items that run a buck or two……….. but they feel like they have the world on a string…… Pathetic.
Any legislator that’s against using cash, you better follow the money as they are probably getting a 3% service fee also……………… wake up people !!
It is necessary to accept cash alive for many reasons which include:
– No bank fees,
– No transaction fees,
– Businesses retain more profit (if they aren’t robbed),
– Cash always works even if there is a power outage or the Internet is down
– Using CASH will keep cash alive
http://wwwkeepcashalive.com
https://tube2.solari.com/videos/030724_financial-rebellion/
My Father had no racial disparity and paid cash for all his purchases because he WANTED to. He had no credit cards by choice! I remember having to give him my credit card number (of which I have only one) so he could sign up for a Dish subscription because they would only take a card. However they seemed to accept the check he sent every month to pay the bill!
Fresh out of prison or off the boat, and hitting the ski slopes with cash? Yeah, that makes sense.
the last time I was at the DMV there was a sign that they do not accept cash; also, on the cash is printed that it is good for all debts public and private
Apparently the government can make exceptions to it’s own rules…who knew?
Another reason given for these policies is that the business or government entity cannot trust their own employees around cash. That would seem to be THEIR problem, NOT the customer’s.
If the Vermont Legislature passes this there will probably be exemptions for the state, City of Burlington and a few others.
Next will be the store/restaurant that only accepts plastic, and then adds a percentage “processing fee” to the bill.
That is against the card brand (industry) rules for such programs. In order to have a pricing differential, both cash and credit card options to pay, with signage at the door and the point of sale, must be available to the customer. Also, it is now (since October 2023) a violation of card acceptance rules to add a percentage to the bill for the use of a card. Merchants can, however, offer a cash discount.
senator brock blew his wad with the covid scandal/// he was told by me that
this was a con job when govie shut the state down// their all in this together/// roper is going to have to get smart about the central bankers plans or get off the stage/// i do not remember brock doing a press release warning about the danger of the kill shot///
They love to make up excuses (so they can insert racial issues) and ignore the facts. Remember when COVID hit and merchants were advised not to accept cash (could spread the coof!) The ensuing downturn in the economy and highest inflation in decades led people to max out credit cards while the Fed raised rates. Credit card interest rates soared from single to double digits. The liquidity crisis did not go away – they just papered over it while Grammy Yellen lied to Congress and the American people. Let’s not forget the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. The currency in circulation right now is at an all time low. Banks have so much risk on and off the books, the entire industry is scrambling to avoid 2008 on steroids. Warren Buffett, and others of his ilk, are using boatloads of cash buying up crypto, gold and silver (the smart money is following into hard assets.) There is much, much more coming down the pike, and the lying, liars from Liarsville (the Golden Thunder Dome) are gaslighting and projecting to cover up the thievery, failing Fed policies, and dying debt notes. BTW, FDIC cannot cover all deposits – they admitted it and that is why deposits are the property of the bank, not the depositer (see buy-in clause inserted in the fine print of your “agreements” with said banks.)
In Island Pond, VT, a poorly run Dollar General opened and has been trying to force cashless shopping at its store. The people in Island Pond wanted to use cash. The Dollar General made up one lie after another to claim their cash register didn’t work. I went to the Selectboard and they sent a letter to the Dollar General corporate and all of a sudden it was found that the local store management and employees were mishandling the register (which wasn’t broken) and claiming it didn’t work. I suspect the local store manager just didn’t want to go to the night deposit, practically across the street, when the store closed.
There are a number of people in IP, most of them white, who do not have a bank account and do not use a credit or debit card, and some who just preferred to use US cash. They were discriminated against.
I sent our Rep. Larry Labor an e-mail on Nov 1, 2023 with the following: Vermont has a bill , drafted in 2020, H902 Commerce and Trade; Consumer Protection, to protect citizens from cashless businesses who discriminate against the 7.1 million people in the US who do not have bank accounts or credit cards. This bill has been stuck in the Commerce and Economic Development Committee since January 2020.
Representative Labor did not respond and did not react. I know who NOT to vote for in his next run for office.
Senator Perchlik bases his bill S175 on the racist agenda of the democrats. That said, I hope the bill becomes law for the benefit of all Vermonters.
three years ago i was in island pond and stopped at a store/// chunky campbell soup was 4.50 per can/// i go thru there quite often and it is a nice place to visit///
the central bankers will force you to use there new world order money system/// every thing will be tracked and controlled/// i think some of these stores may be closing/// do some research///
Cash is legal tender and any legal business must be required by law to accept legal tender from a client.
There are those in power who want to do away with cash as cash grants a level for freedom to its users and those in power want to take those freedoms away to remain in power.
If the people, or the natives are getting restless…no problem,shut of the switch on credit card transactions,until they toe the line.
You want to eat?
Do what we say and we will turn on your cashless card rights again.
CASH IS KING!
Don’t fall for the movement to do away with cash…or the people promoting it.
They might be well meaning today but what about the leaders or tomorrow?
Powerful temptation to grasp power by controlling peoples wealth.
Individual consumers may have more power on this issue than they realize. Cash users are usually free to go elsewhere. May I suggest boycotting any business that will not accept cash. That is a free market response.
Cashless…credit-debit cards…digital I.D….Whatever excuse is used to continue using cash, I’ll accept it, because I don’t have to explain anything to anybody,…My money, my business, not the Gov’t, lest it’s in excess of $10,000.00….That won’t be the case with digital I.D.
Alterra (Sugarbush) wake up!