@timrichards yeah I've heard enough horror stories about US price differences between displayed cost and what you end up paying at the register. If it costs more, just put the higher price up front. I'll pay it or not based on that. Not hard.

@mike @timrichards The difficulty is that many smaller businesses rely on people using cash to commit wage theft and tax evasion, making it hard to compete with big companies who have more sophisticated methods for performing this even with electronic payments.

@allrite @timrichards is anyone really making a cash/card decision right there at the register based on avoiding a surcharge?

All I'm saying is factor in the card charges across the board and raise the advertised price to say $5.05 and absorb it rather than sometimes charge $5.10 and sometimes $5 depending on whether someone holds up cash or a card.

@allrite @mike @timrichards I think you have nailed it here. The cost of handling cash is enormous: counting it multiple times, extra hygiene protocols, someone having to take time out of their day to take a deposit to the increasingly distant bank, extra security and the psychological toll on staff of potential armed robberies. If, after all that, a business still prefers cash then it casts suspicion on the business’s motives.

@futzle @allrite @mike If I come across a cash-only business nowadays (rare) I instantly assume the owner is cheating on its tax.

@mike @allrite @timrichards I’ve been known to hand over an inconvenient denomination of cash like a $50 note [not out of pettiness: it might be literally all I am carrying] if it means avoiding a card surcharge. It’s up to them to figure out how to give me change, if they value cash enough to put a premium on other methods.

@futzle @mike @allrite @timrichards It's possibly a statement on my relatively privileged position (dual income household), but unless the item I'm buying is quite expensive (expensive enough that 1.5% turns in to serious money), I don't think twice about a surcharge and haven't used cash in years.

My mother gave me cash the other day 'cause I paid for dinner (no I didn't want it, but I've learnt not to argue), and now I have cash I will take a long time to do anything with.