And then there’s this place over in Bandon that gives a 2% cash discount.
Action and reaction
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Several vendors at my local Greenmarket also discount for cash.
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I did not know we have a prescient futurist on board at HO. Welcome.
The news you bring from the future is… silly. How “soon” is cashless to become so universal that elsewheres will run out? Will the governments that printed and minted currency stop recognizing and accepting it? Will there be an official card? Please, while we have you with us in 2022, do tell.
LOL, in my experience and area, I actually see more businesses that ONLY accept cash or–even more of an anachronism–checks than I do card-only. Will negotiable instruments pass the way of the dodo soon? Some of these refusniks may be tax cheats, but others have made the business decision not to pay the fig to VISA and the other credit overlords. IMO, cash-only is equally stupid and annoying as card-only.
Frankly, I think I’d prefer the actual human interaction of bartering a suckling pig to lonely solipsistic twiddling of QR on a device. Then again, I’ll soon have no choices, you say, and I must comply or starve.
That makes sense for a restaurant or any low-margin business to avoid the card processing fees. I also like to tip in cash when I can, no matter how I’m paying, so the server doesn’t get doinked by processing fees. Only 3 states make it illegal to charge processing fees on tips (California, Maine, Mass).
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I didn’t know that!
Wow.
Cash is never an issue when we have a power outage as it is always welcomed.
Those who are not set up to accept a cash payment simply shut their doors until the power is back on.
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I’m not sorry in the slightest. I do not look forward to a world where we avoid contact with our fellow living creatures.
(For the record didn’t see even a single restaurant in Tuscany or Venice that even had a QR menu)
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I don’t think that will ever be an issue.
One can always request a paper menu.
Technology is tricky especially during a power outage.
Our cell phones worked for a while, then intermittently and finally not at all.
I seem to recall Yank Sing in San Francisco had us both order and pay from an app called up with a QR code a few months ago. Fancy dim sum with carts. It’s changed quite a bit since March 2020.
I rarely bring my phone with me to dinner unless I’m eating alone. I’ve yet to find a QR-only restaurant.
As for paying with cash, I was in NYC last month and at least a dozen restaurants and bars charged a fee for using a credit card. It got to the point where I asked every time if there was a fee. one restaurant said “same price, no fee” then handed me a credit card slip that was 4% higher than my bill. I stopped trying at that point and only used cash after that. Never a problem.
Half the fun of dim sum is choosing from the cart!
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It’s a lot easier for me to check boxes on a form. I don’t eat meat, and in many of the dim sum places I visit, the staff and I don’t have much in the way of a common language. l always feel like I’m wasting the cart lady’s time trying to figure out if a dumpling contains pork or not.
They had carts too, and apparently the charges ended up in the bill on the menu app, but not everything was there when we were ready to leave, and had to wait for the waitress.
This is strange logic. IF it’s a Godsend, it’s only such for management and servers. And it creates the need to ask for a menu–which should have been supplied upon seating.
Nothing says “Eat It & Beat It” quite like a server approaching the table for the first time expecting to take the food order (nevermind the omissions of greeting and taking drink orders and allowing the patrons to peruse and discuss a menu over a beverage).
This is one step closer to turning restaurant culture into a sushi conveyor belt Hell.
We ate at a casual place this weekend and when we sat down the server directed us to the QR code on the table. All of us griped as we scrolled through several pages, when I noticed that they had a stack of paper menus attached to the front door for people to grab, so I grab us some of those. Payment was through the QR code app - which I didn’t mind actually since we didn’t have to wait for a check, get it back, sign it etc. This being San Francisco they also added a 20% “Workers resilience Charge” which was confusing as we didn’t know if it was a tip/service charge or something else - the server said it was a tip, but it just added to the confusing sort of server interface.
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The restaurant has to choose whether it’s in the hospitality trade or fill-someone’s-maw business.
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I’ll see your 2% and raise you 10.625%. Took this picture last night.
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It’s not strange logic at all - my reply is just more sophisticated than your binary headline.
I distinguish between casual places and actual proper sit down restaurants. I more often visit casual places, including sitting down at a terrace only ordering drinks. So then a QR menu is a godsend. Especially when no waiter has ever been able to tell me all the drinks they have on the menu, including brands of liquor. “Hey, these guys have Cynar on the drinks menu, I’ll take that”.
OTOH in a proper restaurant QR menus are a pain, but I have never really seen them, apart from the aforementioned wine lists.
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I have to ask about Dyke Beer(cheers queers)Ale.
A local favorite or a special limited edition?
$5 for a Bud.
I feel blessed out here.
At happy hour, Bud’s only $3! Yeah, I don’t live in bargain beer country, at all. And I’ve never seen Dyke Beer before - I think it might be a Pride Month special thing.
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