The hopeless resistance of a cash user against Tender Greens

When D.D. Smith and his girlfriend first went into Tender Greens, a cashless restaurant in Mission Valley, "I didn't want to get anything," he said in a recent phone interview with me. "Every time I find a store or restaurant that only takes credit, I don't want to visit or buy from them."

Smith recently went to the Tender Greens at Camino del Rio North and California Fish Grill — both cashless stores in Mission Valley. Cashless, as it sounds, means they only take credit and debit cards and electronic payments such as Apple Pay, Venmo, Cash App, and other phone apps.  

"Every time I find a store or restaurant that only takes credit, I don't want to visit or buy from them."

"I see it as an inevitable end, yet I keep pushing my hopeless resistance," Smith continued. "On top of that, we are living in the trend towards a cashless society — unhappily. I refuse to partake in the digital machine and continue to pay with cash."

The pros for San Diego businesses going cashless are quicker transactions, less risk of cash robbery and theft, which means fewer security, labor, and money pickup costs, easier and more accurate bookkeeping, and convenience for customers.

The cons are the dependence on technology and electricity, the exclusion of non-tech savvy customers and people who don't have bank accounts, transaction fees for both the business and customers, and vulnerability to hackers.  

For Smith and many others, it's also a matter of privacy. They don't like being tracked when making electronic and digital payments, leaving a digital paper trail—but they seem to be in the minority, as most San Diegans online say they appreciate the practicality of electronic purchasing.

"These businesses can't be picky," Smith argued. What happens when there's a blackout, or the internet signal goes out? That's tons of lost business if you don't accept cash, don't you think?"

According to PCmag.com,The U.S. loses an estimated $7,649,029 a minute when the internet and mobile data are offline.

San Diego County card and phone app readers cannot process payments when the internet signal goes down. In addition, when phones cannot pick up a signal, restaurant patrons and bar-goers cannot scan QR codes to access the menus. After the COVID scare in 2020, some restaurants have never returned to hardcopy menus.  

Then, internet downtime is inconvenient.  

Carusa and local dispensary owners would love to take credit card and debit card payments openly.

At a Jack Harlow concert I attended in the Viejas Arena in 2022,  I was with other Gen-Xer parents in line, worried that we couldn't access our digital tickets because the internet seemed shoddy. Our digital tickets had a moving graphic feature, and we needed a WiFi signal to show them to the ticket scanner. Some concertgoers' phones died and were denied access, ruining their nights and potentially causing revenue loss for Viejas Arena's concession stands and Harlow's merch booths.

One industry that would pick up if our society went cashless is the cannabis sector.

"The cannabis industry has been a cash-only business for as long as it has been around," said Joshua Caruso, founder of The Farmer’s Cup cannabis awards and canna show. "It's mostly due to the legal status of cannabis on a federal level."

Because of this, Caruso from Mira Mesa is stuck between the cold-cash world and the future "cashless utopia." He explained: "As an owner of a cannabis business, I mainly have cash as payment, so when I visit a cashless business and am not able to pay with cash, I feel discriminated against." On the flip side, he and local dispensary owners would love to take credit card and debit card payments openly, as the cashless restaurants mentioned earlier in the article. "Allowing the canna industry to have access to credit cards, loans, and bank accounts for business would change not only the retail space but the whole industry for the better."