
Some Detroit spots remain cash-only: No cards, no Bitcoin - evo_9
https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2018/12/01/cash-only-businesses-detroit/2142238002/
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reaperducer
This article focuses on Detroit, because it's a Detroit publication, but there
are easily hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of businesses across
America that are cash-only.

Everything from restaurant equipment supply (to hide profits) to some of the
best dive eateries in the nation (because of low margins).

Off the top of my head, in the last six months, I've patronized cash-only
businesses in Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minnesota (cash only or _checks
and they give you cash back_ ), Arizona, rural Nevada, and probably other
places I can't remember.

Once you expand your horizons beyond Yelp and Google, there's a whole other
world out there.

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danans
> Once you expand your horizons beyond Yelp and Google, there's a whole other
> world out there.

You don't even have to expand that far. A large amount of domestic labor is
paid in cash only, under the table. For legal residents, this is a way to
avoid tax, but for many undocumented workers it is the only way to be paid.

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coherentpony
> For legal residents, this is a way to avoid tax ...

I'd argue it's tax _evasion_, not avoidance. Tax avoidance is the legal use of
the tax law to pay as little tax as possible. Tax evasion is circumventing of
the law to relieve yourself of a tax burden that you are required to pay.

~~~
reaperducer
You are entirely correct. And there's also a huge economy in informal payments
to people too young to work, or who work so intermittently that it's not worth
reporting.

Babysitters, lemonade stands, cat sitters, guys selling their own rap CDs in
supermarket parking lots, garage sales, flea markets, etc...

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SlowRobotAhead
First off, I’ve been to a couple of these places in Detroit and adding “no
bitcoin” to the title to make relevant for HN... is like saying _”and they
also don’t have space shuttle parking!!”_

Second, I wonder how many places are really avoiding cards because of a 3% fee
or because of extra administration and not really because they may be creative
with their tax reporting?

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starbeast
There is another possible reason. Germany has retained a large cash economy
mainly due to privacy concerns.
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-02-06/germany-i...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-02-06/germany-
is-still-obsessed-with-cash)

~~~
SlowRobotAhead
Yea, maybe... I work in Detroit. The reason cards aren’t taken in some places
is not because of privacy, I highly doubt. I have never met a privacy minded
person in real life except maybe outside of a tech program in A2 (Ann Arbor)

~~~
starbeast
>I have never met a privacy minded person in real life except maybe outside of
a tech program in A2

How would you know? By definition, they generally don't let on.

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NathanKP
As a New Yorker I really don't see why this is news at all. There are tons of
businesses in NY that are cash only. I'd estimate anywhere as high as 20% of
restaurants are cash only

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pasbesoin
My local farm style cafe is cash only. Has been for the two decades I've
patronized it.

They're about 200 feet from the police station, and some of the cops come in
for breakfast (they open quite early; also a legacy of the farm style cafe).
Security... does not seem to be a concern.

Visa and crew don't need to be taking X percent of their gross revenue. More
power to them -- and better prices for us.

Or, to paraphrase SNL: "No card. Cash!"

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aviv
Surely an HN user with 42k karma and 8 year old account should know better
than to purposefully use a clickbait title instead of the original. Or maybe
that's how they got to 42k karma...?

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javagram
I wonder if it was the original or alternate title? The subtitle on the
article now is “None of them accept Bitcoin, either“ although why anyone would
expect a business to accept bitcoin is beyond me.

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iammiles
I was at a bar last week in Santa Barbara that was cash only. I couldn't help
but feel it was a ploy to extract more money out of their customers with their
well-advertised ATM.

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pstuart
No doubt. Double bonus is that cash isn't tracked for taxation.

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Waterluvian
It must be so easy and so attractive for a percentage of your alcohol to just
go missing.

And my understanding is that margins are so thin on bars and restaurants...
Can't say I wouldn't do it if it kept me from having to shut down.

~~~
sjg007
In CA, a bar has to buy their booze from a state authorized liquor
"wholesaler". They can do some fancy math to figure out if your cash flow
matches up with your usage.

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purplezooey
10 years ago this was cute, now it's obnoxious. I'm glad Baker's Keyboard
Lounge is still around though.

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dmh2000
the opposite of Sweden apparently
[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-41095004](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-41095004)

