0

ACLU calls on public to boycott cashless shops

calendar iconAug 15, 2019

Source
On August 9th, 2019, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a feature titled, Say No to the "Cashless Future" - and to cashless stores, informing the public on how to defend their constitutional right to use cash.

ACLU has millions of supporters and with a 100-year history defending freedoms across the United States of America, the organization is now setting its sights on the cash debate. Senior Analyst Jay Stanley explains why businesses that refuse cash go against First Amendment rights.

'Doing without cash may be convenient at times, but if we lose cash as an option we’re going to regret it later.'
"Jay StanleySenior analystACLU

American lawmakers are fighting to make it illegal for businesses to refuse cash-paying customers, but in the meantime, Stanley encourages customers to refuse cash-banning businesses themselves in five steps:

  1. Register your objection
  2. Refuse to show a credit card
  3. Walk out
  4. Understand why credit card fees are needed
  5. Contact your local representative

Excerpt from ACLU feature

It is great to see this pushback against the supposed cashless future because this is a trend that should very much be nipped in the bud. There are several reasons why cashless stores, and a cashless society more broadly, are a bad idea. Such stores are:

  • Bad for privacy. When you pay cash, there is no middleman; you pay, you receive goods or services — end of story. When a middleman becomes part of the transaction, that middleman often gets to learn about the transaction — and under our weak privacy laws, has a lot of leeway to use that information as it sees fit. (Cash transactions of more than $10,000 must be reported to the government, however.)

Read full article here

Last Updated: Jan 12, 2024

Stay up to date with Cash Matters.

Join the Cash Matters community and we’ll keep you posted about the latest developments in cash happening around the globe.

We’ll never sell your details to anyone else, promise! For more information on how we store your data, please see our privacy policy.