VISA providing incentives to small business owners to NOT accept cash. From Denver Post:

For years, mom-and-pop shops and food trucks alike have shuddered at the expense of credit card transactions. It’s not uncommon, for example, for small businesses to have minimum dollar amounts for card purchases. Some still don’t accept them at all or gently inform customers they prefer cash.

Credit-card behemoth Visa launched a campaign to change that Wednesday. The campaign to go cashless — or the Visa Cashless Challenge — aims to create a culture in which cash is no longer king, Visa said.

So, what’s the incentive for businesses to change their practices? Cold, hard cash, of course and a lot of it:

Visa, a global payments technology company, is trying to combat the anti-plastic tactics by small businesses with monetary resources. The corporation plans to give $10,000 to as many as 50 small-business food-service owners who commit to the campaign to become cashless. The campaign includes a “call to action” for small-business restaurants, cafes and food truck owners to share what cashless would mean for their employees and customers.

As for the reasons why Visa might be so keen on this…you do remember that “f word” don’t you? Fees.

• Don’t forget that we also like to spend more with plastic vs. cash too.

Other interesting stats in the article:

• Young people not using cash that often: “According to a U.S. consumer study by TSYS, a credit card company, only 5 percent of people ages 25-34 prefer cash over credit or debit card in 2016. By contrast, 17 percent of people ages 55-64 prefer cash.”
• Number of non-cash payments continues to grow: “According to the Federal Reserve’s payments study in 2016, the number of noncash payments increased at an annual rate of 5.3 percent from 2012 to 2015.”
  • Here’s more data on this Federal Reserve study.

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Want to get a discussion started about different payment types? Check out this NGPF Project on Payment Decisions.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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