It’s the latest effort to move toward a cashless society.
Visa says it will pay restaurants a $10,000 up-front bonus to go completely cash free.
For now, the offer is limited to 50 restaurants and other small food vendors … but it’s the first volley in the credit card giant’s war on cash.
“It makes them a fortune, of course,” financial expert Leonard Raskin, CEO of Raskin Global, tells NewsRadio 740 KTRH. “How? Because, very simply, they charge merchants for every transaction we make.”
He adds: “They’re gonna clean up on us not carrying cash – and them getting a little piece of every single thing we spend money on.”
The restaurants will be picked next month. They’ll get checkout terminal upgrades and marketing subsidies – and after that, they’ll only accept payment by credit or debit card … or by mobile payment, like Apple Pay.
Such transactions may be trending, but they still face a steep climb. Cash is still king with American shoppers. It accounts for 32 percent of all consumer transactions … outdistancing the 27 percent for debit cards and 21 percent for credit cards.