Rhonda, I assume you don’t have a 16 year old just acquiring his first summer job! Most of the employees are teens or young adults. Bravo to Taco Time for rationally looking out for the safety of their employees. Not to mention the revenue Taco Time is loosing by keeping it to a card based payment form. Shame on you Rhonda!

Our friends treated us to a Mariners game this week.  I shoved $50/cash in my pocket, knowing I could not take my purse into the stadium because it was bigger than 6″ x 4″ (and not clear plastic) and the stupid pants I wore had a silly little pocket that a credit card could not fit into..  I went to purchase beers and a couple treats for my friends as a thank you for bringing us.  I was so embarrassed when I went to pay for the freshly poured beers – they do not accept cash at the stadium!  The server said there was a machine half way across the stadium that I could exchange my cash for a debit card.  Thankfully, a guy behind me in line said he would use his card and I could repay him with my cash.   He did not have change, so he made $6 extra for saving me the hassle of finding the cash-to-card machine which would have taken 10 minutes to walk to and then another 10 minutes to get back to my seating area and wait in line again.

Even with government-funded EBT (a very-necessary form of payment). ALL economies (legal or not) will always find their own currency. 

Research & Facts by the New York Times“Businesses that refuse cash put at a disadvantage people who lack traditional bank accounts or can’t qualify for credit cards, consumer advocates say. About one-fourth of American adults were unbanked or underbanked in 2019 — meaning they lacked a bank account or had one but also used alternatives like check-cashing services, the Federal Reserve found. Those consumers are more likely to be in a racial or ethnic minority group, have lower incomes and be less educated.”

Absolutely! Ban on cash for any business is pure discrimination. Not every body has a credit card, can afford to be un debt, nor chooses to live a life on a credit card. 

Your statement ignores the definition of “debt”. “Legal tender” is only required to be accepted in the terms of debt. To understand why Taco Time isn’t required to accept cash, you have to understand the difference between a “debtor” and “contract law”. Taco Time doesn’t take on debt that requires payment. The contract law is defined as an agreed upon exchange of goods (food) for currency (debit card transaction) between two parties. Thus, if a Taco Time customer signed a contract to pay for their burrito combo meal in 4 equal payments, Taco Time would be a debtor. And this required to accept legal tender. 

“How is it legal for public or private vendors to refuse cash?”     Because they chose to be cash-less for the safety of their employees and to just not have a reason to be robbed of that days income/business. And anyone can have a debit/credit card poor or not, it’s all up to them on how they handle their finances/income whether they have it to be able to use. If you abuse it, it gets taken/closed down by the bank/credit union. This is not a defacto attack on low income and vulnerable populations in West Seattle.

Yes, businesses have to follow certain laws, none of which they are required to take cash as a form of payment. 

Than don’t go to the county owned T-Mobile Park to watch a Mariners game, ’cause they dont take cash either. This is a county owned facility, so if the don’t have to take cash, why should Taco Time? And I am pretty sure no on is breaking into T-Mobile Park, so I would love to know why they can do it while the county council is thinking of making small business take cash.

Just an FYI, King County operates facilities that do not take cash, so until they are mandated to accept cash, local businesses should be able to follow the countys lead.

Sorry Rhonda but, there are many reasons to go cashless and it is not an attack on the low income or the homeless. One, is a safety factor. I avoid carrying cash on me because if I am robbed that cash is gone. If I use a card and I am robbed, the bank will replace that card and most likely replace the money in my account. I quit carrying cash over a decade ago for this very reason. There is no federal law that states that a buisness MUST accept cash.