Cool or Not Cool: Cash-only Businesses?

[VIA CINDA ON ETSY]

I never have cash on me. Maybe it's because my bank (TD Bank) is ridiculoulsy far from my apartment AND my office AND basically everywhere I go all the time. And I super hate paying ATM fees. So unless I'm by some business that has a cash-back option (CVS, Target, etc), you can basically expect that I'll always want to pay with a card. 

Of course, not every business is down with the credit/debit swipe. And while I expect that smaller, independent businesses would roll that way (laundromats, barber shops - even coffee shops), it sort of annoys the fuck out of me when it happens at other places. Like, if I'm paying under $10, then sure, cash only. But if I'm spending more than $20 on my meal and I somehow have to drum up cash for that...I'm probably not coming to your restaurant again. 

Look, I get that credit cards charge a merchant fee for every transaction. And that that merchant fees can be anywhere from 1.5 to 3 percent (and often comes with a shit-ton of other fees attached to it). But there are alternatives that seem pretty affordable (like Square). And I've seen this trend where businesses that used to offer credit cards are moving to cash-only, and not adjusting their prices to reflect that. So that's pretty un-cool to me. 

What do you think? 

Smallknot: Keeping Park Slope From Turning Into One Giant Herald Square.

For New Yorkers like me, who chose to flee fast and far from suburban places where the fanciest restaurants are Olive Gardens, the best coffee is from the Exxon/Mobile station, and all cutting edge clothing is found at The Gap, I've come to appreciate small, locally-owned businesses. Especially the ones in our own neighborhood. 

Smallknot, a new fundraising program, exists to support and help these businesses do what they already do well (just better). Smallknot is an online fundraising system that allows a community to fund growth projects for small businesses with rewards for each donation level, similar to Kickstarter. 

My first question was this: Why would I give a business my hard-earned dinero? 

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