Back in 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance banning nearly all “cashless” stores, or those that only accept credit cards, debit cards, and other virtual payments while not accepting cash. The Board said that such brick and mortar stores tended to disclude lower income people who often don’t have card or digital means to pay for things and only have cash on them. While many thought that their hearts were in the right place, many businesses have been horrified at the consequences.
“When we went cashless, crime dropped overnight,” said restaurant owner Lawrence Lee, whose restaurant went cashless in 2017 before being forced to revert back in 2019. “Even then the area was pretty high in crime, and we were robbed before. Having a register out front will do that. When we went cashless, you know, that ended. There was one night when two people, who were later arrested for robbery, came in and looked around strangely at the places we used to have registers. When they sat down, they asked what happened, and our server explained the switchover. They abruptly got up and left. So it saved us from at least one.”
However, when it was reverted back in 2019, crime not only went up again, but a new problem popped up as well.
“COVID,” continued Lee. “Everyone was worried about money carrying COVID, and here we all were, having to still accept cash even though it was a health risk. I mean, other stores nearby that went cashless began getting robbed again too, but COVID was a scare with that. And, there’s a lot of reasons why San Francisco became beleaguered with crime, but forcing business to accept cash definitely opened up more for robberies. I get that there are some people who prefer cash, but most people nowadays use a card or something like Venmo to pay. On two levels this was a safety issue, yet the Supervisors thought this was smart. Well, they have COVID victims and allowing multiple robberies to happen now because of their callousness.”
Throughout the 2020’s, in addition to COVID and the rise of crime, the cashless ban soon affected the resulting business exodus as well. Many stores, including all Amazon Go locations, left the city in the last few years in part due to the rise in crime and added costs for stores designed around being cashless.
And across the Bay in Oakland, restaurants and other businesses facing a rise in crime recently employed electric-only payments through cards and smartphone apps, stunting crime at those locations – just as businesses in San Francisco discovered last decade. In other cities, like Los Angeles, cashless is growing as well. Many had switched over during the pandemic and never went back, helping reduce crime and increase sales, although some have continued to say that such policies are racist due to some people not having electronic forms of payment or not even banking at all.
“There have been a few people who are mad about it, but generally most people are cool with it,” said Burbank barista trainer and coffee shop assistant manager Elsie Higgins to the Globe on Friday. “Teenagers to people in their 90s who come for coffee all get that this is the norm now. It’s only a very small segment who seem to not like it.”
Another, LA restaurant Co-Manager Peter Robb, added that “Crime goes down with cashless of course, but it also helps servers. We bring out the tablet, and they have to physically pick a tip amount. It’s a lot harder to pick zero, and we’ve seen a rise in tipping as a result. If we had to go back to cash, that would drop. Some business still like cash-only because the credit-card companies take a cut so they get more money, but we’re starting to see a more evening out with cashless now. There will always be a place for cash, but in our businesses, that’s becoming less and less of a thing.”
Back in San Francisco, even while neighbors embrace cashless stores, San Francisco has stood firm, to their growing detriment.
“I’m looking at locations outside the city now,” explained Lee. “I love the are and love California, so I’m staying. But I just cannot operate in San Francisco if I have to keep taking in cash and having it sit in a register waiting for thieves to come. I get that some people like paying with cash, but it’s also killing us.”
As of Friday, there is currently no plans to revisit the cashless ordinance in San Francisco.
View Comments (23)
Yes, crime is rampant, so let's make sure everybody is carrying $600 of electronics containing sensitive communication and financial information to make basic everyday purchases everywhere as they travel through the extended crime scenes of our business districts. Maybe businesses could make people scan a QR code for entry to verify the identity of their patrons. We wouldn't want any unvacc-- I mean, any criminals coming in!
No. The solution to fight crime is arresting criminals. Not arresting criminals punishes the law-abiding. Eliminating cash payments punishes the law-abiding even further. This is true for both businesses and customers.
Mr. Symon has had plenty of time the past few years to observe the tactics of totalitarian transformation: create a crisis, promote the crisis, offer an unrelated "solution" that sidesteps the artificial crisis while increasing the ability to control people's actions. It seems that without the constant "public health" propaganda of Ghaly and Newsom to parrot in every article, Mr. Symon has moved onto the new hot topic of communist totalitarianism, the cashless society, and, just as with his COVID reporting, he limits his discussion of the overall issue to the narrow band of communist propaganda.
P. S. Cash was never a COVID risk. Surface transmission was discredited very early on. So he's still parroting COVID falsehoods w/o question. What a disgrace!
Surface survival
Numerous researchers have studied how long SARS-CoV-2 can survive on a variety of porous and non-porous surfaces 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. On porous surfaces, studies report inability to detect viable virus within minutes to hours; on non-porous surfaces, viable virus can be detected for days to weeks. The apparent, relatively faster inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 on porous compared with non-porous surfaces might be attributable to capillary action within pores and faster aerosol droplet evaporation 16. - The CDC Stop getting your news from Trump.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.... what a clown....
If you think that will fix crime I got some Florida land you may want to invest in too. Arresting and jailing criminals has been proven effective
San Francisco is yet another perfect example out of California that elections do have consequences.
Logically then Al, MS, AK, OK, LA, TN, SC, WV, etc. might ask themselves if their status is related to voting for republicans. 75% of the economic productivity comes from districts that voted blue. Your comment might seem smart to a person who doesn’t think of the negative implication of the statement itself. Before you rile against me as a libtard,, I’m an independent /conservative leaning voter but who has become increasingly depressed by the drivel that passes for political discourse in this country. This paper is pure clickbait confirming all your biases.
This article is a Trojan horse; trying to attribute “cash payments” to the red state hated San Francisco to advance the interests of the fintech industry. While sF might prohibit cashless only services it probably has the highest levels of adoption of cashless transactions. . It’s has high levels of adoption of technology generally. Banning cashless only premises is not banning cashless transactions.. Fintech pushes this technology to extract value from a transaction that they add little or no value to . And then they push their guilt tipping interfaces to extract tips for services that we never previously tipped on. And ask for 20%, 25% or 30% tips so merchants don’t have to pay their own staff. And then they sell our purchasing patterns information to their partners so they can profile us to push more consumer shit.This article is bought and paid for by Fintec. Ironically these assholes are frequently based in SF. Say no to fintech; more sleazy corrupt banister bullshit. The paper is a joke. Using the culture to push others commercial agenda.
When the government, which collects taxes from people, is unable or unwilling to do its job, it always forces citizens to shoulder the burden. The voters should know better the next time they go to the poll.
communist one more way to take freedom of choice and limit all those homeless
Cashless business is a great way to keep the poor out of your business. Can't get a credit card, Can't do business here.
having run my own business for MANY years, before retirement, I can tell you... Yes! It IS about a profit. (tough to keep the doors open, otherwise) It's not about one's monetary level, it's about reality, and what I personally experienced in SFRAN (several times), it's sort of like locks... "They keep honest people, honest" The current systems in CA, and especially SF, aren't working... time to face it, and GROW UP
My wife and I stopped coming into the City years ago. Between the crime , homeless ( ie . Bums) , and high prices for meals and entertainment, it’s just not pleasant anymore. I urge everyone to do the same!
"disclude?" Is that supposed to be the opposite of include? Ever hear of exclude? Or are we inventing replacements for existing words? Perhaps we should retroclude "affect" (as a verb) to underplace "impact" (as a verb), which will help to converse useless vocabulary changes.