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No Cash aceepted on Brightline trains is this the future?

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No Cash aceepted on Brightline trains is this the future?
Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 11:52 AM

I like cash its easy and confidentiaol and fee free its seems that having any privacy is out the window. No word if Brightline is going to take Bitcoin in the future. BTW Virgina Rail Express is the same way.

 

Yes! We are bike friendly as we have designated bike racks in our coaches.

 

 "Unfortunately, we don’t take cash. You can pay at the station kiosks in our lobby, online at www.gobrightline.com or our app. As long as you have an email address you can receive confirmation of your ticket # via email. You can print the tickets at home or at the station at our kiosks.

 

 

See you on board!

 

 

 

 
www.gobrightline.com
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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 4:10 PM

CandOforprogress2
I like cash its easy and confidentiaol and fee free its seems that having any privacy is out the window. No word if Brightline is going to take Bitcoin in the future. BTW Virgina Rail Express is the same way.

 

Yes! We are bike friendly as we have designated bike racks in our coaches.

 

 "Unfortunately, we don’t take cash. You can pay at the station kiosks in our lobby, online at www.gobrightline.com or our app. As long as you have an email address you can receive confirmation of your ticket # via email. You can print the tickets at home or at the station at our kiosks. 

See you on board! 
 
www.gobrightline.com
 

Jacksonville Jaguars had a home playoff game two weeks ago - paper tickets were not accepted.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 4:25 PM

I'm with you C&O, I like cash too.  Instantly recognizeable and always welcome just about everywhere.  Also, watching the diminishing supply of the same in your wallet is a great inducement to spending discipline. 

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 7:53 PM

What about Undocumented workers in Miami that get paid in cash? i get Paid in cash sometimes too. The Brightline Station does not even have a agent that takes cash

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 8:02 PM

Hard to believe they are willing to limit their potential market in this way.

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 12:06 AM
I like cash for the exact same reason. It forces me to acknowledge the finite resource. Having said that, from a business perspective it is cheaper and less risky to go Cashless. a ticket kiosk that accepts cash is a target for thieves. Not to mention the costs associated with emptying it and resupplying it. Using the app to scan barcodes also makes life easier. reduces costs for paper to print the tickets and the waste to clean up. Perhaps if the service becomes popular, they will start selling them at the service desks at local grocery stores or similar where cash is already handled.
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Thursday, January 18, 2018 10:56 AM

I seem to remember some item in the Constitution of the United States that says that a buisiness MUST accept U.S. Currency.  If they refuse it, you can take the goods or services without paying for it.  I think this was designed to prohibit the use of private currency that might restrict trade between the states, but is it applicable to this current situation?

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by ruderunner on Thursday, January 18, 2018 11:47 AM

Semper Vaporo

I seem to remember some item in the Constitution of the United States that says that a buisiness MUST accept U.S. Currency.  If they refuse it, you can take the goods or services without paying for it.  I think this was designed to prohibit the use of private currency that might restrict trade between the states, but is it applicable to this current situation?

 

I recall something similar, though not from the Constitution. the taking of goods is new to me and rather awkward. Wonder if I can make this work at Starbucks?

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 12:08 PM
The Constitution says NO SUCH THING. Perhaps a bit of research on this topic is required. https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm
There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services.
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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, January 18, 2018 12:09 PM

Semper Vaporo
I seem to remember some item in the Constitution of the United States that says that a business MUST accept U.S. Currency.

Point me to it, please.

What I remember is that the Constitution reserves to Congress the right to coin money (by extension, arrange printing of paper money), regulate the nominal value of that money, and arrange standards for weights and measures (in part to formalize the process of assessing value of money).  That is in Article 1 section 8.

Meanwhile the 'several States' are expressly forbidden to establish 'legal tender' of anything except gold and silver -- the reason for which was well understood at the time, the tendency of states to issue their own currencies with little or no backing.  Note that this includes 'legal tender' in foreign coinage as well as American dollars, as long as it is precious metal.  (Art. I sec. 10)  Interestingly, there are some arguments to be made for the idea the state can define what is not legal tender, at least in some circumstances; if I recall correctly, one of the 'greenback' cases during the Civil War resulted in the decision in a state supreme court that a paper issue had no value in 'legal tender' for settling debts in that state that were incurred or contracted before Congress passed the law authorizing greenback issue, and this view was (albeit not for very long) upheld by the Supreme Court in 1870.  I don't believe that before Julliard v. Greenman there was any precedent that United States Notes were required as an acceptable legal tender, so any informed discussion on required acceptance of paper money as 'cash' would have to be grounded on subsequent jurisprudence and not on a 'constitutional' argument of any kind. 

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 12:10 PM

If you are Creditcardless then the option is to go a doller store and buy a gift card. So the gift card fee is 5.00 for a 50.00 card and a some places charge a fee for everytime you use it at there esablshment and for Greendot Cards they charge 10.00 right off the top and a monthly fee. Also with gift and any debit card walking around Miami anyone could bonk you on the head and use your card with impunity as many places just swipe your card and dont even ask for signature or ID with the card.

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Posted by Euclid on Thursday, January 18, 2018 2:28 PM

Convicted One

Hard to believe they are willing to limit their potential market in this way.

 

 

It must take a special kind of attitude to decide that your business will not take cash.  What reasons do they give? 

 

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 2:53 PM

Euclid
It must take a special kind of attitude to decide that your business will not take cash.  What reasons do they give?   

I would opine that the fact that people buy a $2.00 coffee with plastic goes a long way to explaining this phenomenon.

It's already been mentioned that using cash actually costs money.  Cash is a physical object that must be handled.  One needs machines (or people) to handle it, collect it from the points of sale, count it, and take it to the bank.

All you need to handle plastic is a machine and a wire...

If there is enough demand, they might set up to use cash.  I wouldn't hold my breath.

I wonder if gift cards would work.  Pay cash at a grocery store for a Visa gift card and use that instead.  

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Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, January 18, 2018 3:13 PM

tree68

 

 
Euclid
It must take a special kind of attitude to decide that your business will not take cash.  What reasons do they give?   

 

I would opine that the fact that people buy a $2.00 coffee with plastic goes a long way to explaining this phenomenon.

It's already been mentioned that using cash actually costs money.  Cash is a physical object that must be handled.  One needs machines (or people) to handle it, collect it from the points of sale, count it, and take it to the bank.

All you need to handle plastic is a machine and a wire...

If there is enough demand, they might set up to use cash.  I wouldn't hold my breath.

I wonder if gift cards would work.  Pay cash at a grocery store for a Visa gift card and use that instead.  

 

You forgot banking fees, something banks love with plastic.  Smart phone apps?  I spent 2 1/2 hours yesterday at Verizon trying to replace my wife's old phone with a new one.  Half the problem was their computer (wireless tablet) not working properly, the other half my wife's dinosaur smart phone (about 4 years old) lacking enough memory to work properly.  So I'm not sold on some of this technology.  When it works, it works great.  When it doesn't, it's a pain the you know what.  

There have been articles recently on various media about some businesses no longer accepting cash.  It seems to be the coming thing, unless a law is passed actually providing the requirement of accepting cash.

Ah, for the good old days when the question of accepting cash was limited to paying off a bill entirely in pennies.

Jeff

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 3:22 PM

For a 10-15.00 fare and not take cash?

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 3:43 PM

jeffhergert
There have been articles recently on various media about some businesses no longer accepting cash.  It seems to be the coming thing, unless a law is passed actually providing the requirement of accepting cash.

One must remember that some of the younger folks setting these systems up consider cash as much of a dinosaur as a flip phone.  They're used to touching their phone to a spot at the "cash register" to pay via one of the on-line systems, like PayPal or GooglePay.

We've been lamenting for some years now about how kids can't make change unless the register tells them how much it is.  

With kiosks replacing counter help at many eateries, it just goes that much further.

I read an article about the use of RFID tags, and how the day was coming when you would fill up your basket at the grocery store, then simply walk through a portal where the RFID tags on all of the items in your cart would be read, and the amount would be charged via the store courtesy card (also with RFID) to whatever payment method you had chosen.

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, January 18, 2018 3:59 PM

Back in the dim, dark days of the late forties, once when I went to a certain store in town, the owner's wife waited on me. To make certain she was giving me the proper change, she counted on her fingers to determine how much--and I had determined, mentally, how much; she got it right.

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Posted by rrbrewer on Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:05 PM

This week here in Seattle, Starbucks started one store on an experiment of taking no cash. You can use plastic or the Starbucks app on your phone.  The store is in a corporate location inside an office building 

If it is a success, I assume meaning customers will not riot in the aisles, they will extend it to other stores. For those of us who have worked in retail, we know the tremendous hassle of maintaining cash drawers and the security around same

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Posted by SD70Dude on Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:13 PM

tree68

I read an article about the use of RFID tags, and how the day was coming when you would fill up your basket at the grocery store, then simply walk through a portal where the RFID tags on all of the items in your cart would be read, and the amount would be charged via the store courtesy card (also with RFID) to whatever payment method you had chosen.

Sounds like a railroad AEI scanner. 

Toronto's privately-owned 407 expressway uses license plate cameras to track how far you travel on it, and calculates your toll accordingly.  Bills are currently mailed to users, but that may change to an electronic method in the future.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:16 PM

I worked retail myself and didn't consider cash any more of a hassle than credit cards, neither did my co-workers.  All depends on what you're used to.

Reminds me, the late great Chicago newsman Mike Royko once said cash will never go away.  Why?  Three words.  "Off the books."

Make of that what you will. 

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Posted by Euclid on Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:30 PM

I suppose that if 99% of a company’s transactions are cashless and if the overhead of accepting cash from the 1% exceeds the profit from that 1%, then it makes sense to stop accepting cash.  But there could be another reason to refuse cash.  That would be that the fashion of being an exclusively cashless business sends a marketing message that attracts more customers (and more profit) than would be attracted without that fashion.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:38 PM

     I don't think it takes a big leap of technology to put in a kiosk that accepts bills like a self-serve checkout at a Walmart.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by ben on Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:46 PM

SD70Dude

 

 
tree68

I read an article about the use of RFID tags, and how the day was coming when you would fill up your basket at the grocery store, then simply walk through a portal where the RFID tags on all of the items in your cart would be read, and the amount would be charged via the store courtesy card (also with RFID) to whatever payment method you had chosen.

 

 

Sounds like a railroad AEI scanner. 

Toronto's privately-owned 407 expressway uses license plate cameras to track how far you travel on it, and calculates your toll accordingly.  Bills are currently mailed to users, but that may change to an electronic method in the future.

 

 

Same in Massachusetts

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Posted by ben on Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:47 PM

In Sweden such a large percentage of the transactions that are done use credit that homeless people have started to carry around credit card scanners instead of asking for cash.

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 6:21 PM

Many Dive bars in PGH refuse credit cards because of taxes,Card Machine Fees and Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board that would measure every pour. Cash only-Double No Trouble! Credit Car Bar,PGH South Side,Double is really a single.

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Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, January 18, 2018 6:23 PM

Firelock76

I worked retail myself and didn't consider cash any more of a hassle than credit cards, neither did my co-workers.  All depends on what you're used to.

Reminds me, the late great Chicago newsman Mike Royko once said cash will never go away.  Why?  Three words.  "Off the books."

Make of that what you will. 

 

A few places won't take plastic unless you have a minimum purchase amount.  Usually $5.00 because of fees charged retailers to process the sale.

A local service station on it's sign board (message changes from time to time) "Sorry, we don't accept Bitcoins."

Jeff

PS.  I've read that some people waiting in line now are complaining about those paying with the new cards that have the embedded chip.  It's slowing down the payment process, thus making people wait in line a few seconds longer. 

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Posted by ben on Thursday, January 18, 2018 6:38 PM

Credit cards in the United States are horrible. In other countries the only option is using the chip, but it is much quicker there than here. For some reason their credit card technology is better, an alternative is Apple Pay, and eventually bitcoin.

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, January 18, 2018 6:46 PM

Euclid
It must take a special kind of attitude to decide that your business will not take cash.  What reasons do they give?   

 

My guess is that they want automation,...avoid as many paid positions as possible.

 

I'd guess that the customer service offices at Walmart, grocery stores, bill pay locations, etc will end up selling Brightline passes for cash. 

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, January 18, 2018 8:28 PM

ben
Same in Massachusetts

I thought you needed a transponder on the MassPike.  Of course, last time I was there I was driving a rental, so if a bill was sent, the rental place must have eaten it, as I never got any sort of bill.

Unlike those toll plazas using EZPass, the MassPike reads your transponder at speed.

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Posted by ben on Thursday, January 18, 2018 9:38 PM

tree68

 

 
ben
Same in Massachusetts

 

I thought you needed a transponder on the MassPike.  Of course, last time I was there I was driving a rental, so if a bill was sent, the rental place must have eaten it, as I never got any sort of bill.

Unlike those toll plazas using EZPass, the MassPike reads your transponder at speed.

 

 

In the past year Massachusetts switched from having toll booth to either having a transponder which will get a discounted rate, or not having one in which case it scans your license plate.

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