The Visa Cashless Challenge winner that resumed accepting cash one week later
Nov 23, 2018
To the disappointment of Visa's Cashless Challenge campaign, one Baltimore-based winner proved that going cash-free is a challenge not worth inflicting on their customers.
Land of Kush, a vegan restaurant devoted to supporting the local community say that after entering the competition just before the deadline was up and coming out as one of a gracious winner, still returned to accepting trusty cash. Why? Because they found going cashless to be unfair to their customers - many who rely on cash as well as those that prefer it.
The latest figures show that 37,000 unbanked and 72,000 underbanked households would be excluded from cashless retail in Washington DC.
Excerpt from The Star
For Land of Kush, a vegan soul food restaurant in nearby Baltimore, going cash-free proved a mistake for that exact reason.
Earlier this year, owners Naijha Wright-Brown and her husband Gregory Brown won US$10,000 (RM41,805) in a “Cashless Challenge” set by VISA.
“We're a black business, so we serve a diverse customer base... including people who just don't have bank accounts [...] there was a population that was very upset with this and we couldn't really afford to lose that third of transactions that we get.”
They were motivated to enter and pledge to go cash-free after an armed robbery last Thanksgiving.
But the experiment barely lasted a week.
A good restaurant owner must ask themselves what their customers would think if they went cashless. In the case of Land of Kush, that includes living legend Stevie Wonder (the man behind the hit song "Cash In Your Face" among others) who returned for seconds after his first visit to the restaurant in 2014.
Related content
Why Shake Shack gave up on going cashless
American fast food burger chain, Shake Shack recently decided against going cashless after New Yorkers demanded to be allowed to pay with legal tender following recent tests with cashless outlets.
The Cashless Retailers Prohibition Act of 2018
Soon, it may be illegal for fooderies to refuse cash. The United States of America's capital is fighting back the cashless trend that discriminates against the unbanked, the underbanked, the youth, the elderly and those who simply value the ease and convenience of cash.
Chicago Alderman Decrees Ban on Cashless
Chicago's distinguished Alderman Edward Burke (14th Ward) introduced an ordinance to prohibit licensees from refusing cash as payment for goods or services at a City Council meeting on 11th October 2017.
The Guardian Why going cashless is discriminatory – and what's being done to stop it
Mobile payments. Credit cards. Digital currencies. Going cashless seems to be a worldwide trend. In Belgium, it is illegal to buy real estate with cash. Some banks in Australia have eliminated cash from their branches. Sweden has seen its use of cash drop to less than 2% of all transactions, and the number could be heading even lower in the next few years.
China's central bank tackles cashless overhype
In a bid to stop people from discriminating against cash, The People's Bank of China announced on Friday that all businesses and individuals must resume accepting cash by the mid-August 2018...In the statement, the bank also points out that businesses and individuals should not hype up the "cashless" idea when promoting non-cash payment.
Poor Visa! The company now wants to pay people to use their product…
In an unprecedented act of despair, Visa announced plans to pay thousands of dollars to 50 small merchants. They would receive the money for restricting their customers’ choice when it came to payments by no longer allowing cash payments. In Visa’s own words, this is part of the company’s "strategy" for “putting cash out of business”.