Customers should have the right to pay retailers with cash, a coalition of 51 national, state and local consumer, privacy and civil rights groups is urging today.
“Cashless businesses unfairly disadvantage consumers in many ways,” the coalition led by the consumer federation of America asserts.
One way is when consumers are forced to pay for goods and services in cashless transactions, they and the businesses where they shop are also often forced to incur
added expenses in the form of network and transaction fees, the coalition notes.
Another way consumers are harmed when they can’t pay with cash, the group points out, is they lose out on privacy since noncash transactions generate vast amounts of data, recording the time, date, location, amount, and subject of each purchase that are sold to digital marketers and advertisers.
At the same time, they point out, cash provides protection from data hacks.
Unbanked consumers are harmed when they can’t pay with cash because they can’t buy the goods and services they want to at those locations or pay extra by buying pre-paid cards, the coalition added.
An advantage of paying by cash for many people across the economic spectrum, the groups promote, is it helps with budgeting and teaching financial responsibility.
Cities and states have enacted laws or ordinances that bar brick-and-mortar retail stores from refusing to accept cash,” they point out.
While some retailers are banning cash because of the potential for it to transmit Covid-19, the coalition said the fear is overwrought, noting the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have said cash does not present more coronavirus danger than credit cards and other forms of payments.
The plea for mandating for allowing cash payments comes in a letter to the sponsors of the Payment Choice Act: Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Representative Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ).
The legislation would preserve the option for people to pay for purchases with cash at retail locations.
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September 01, 2020 at 10:29PM
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Customers Should Have Right To Pay Retailers With Cash, Consumer Coalition Urges - Forbes
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