"Many of them felt that the cash, the knowledge that there may be cash on the premises, made them a target. Mandelman's office told ABC7 Eyewitness News that the risk of being targeted for physical threat has increased 33% since businesses were told in 2019 they had to accept cash."
"A 2019 paper by the Federal Reserve found that not having cash on store premises reduces opportunities for both internal and external robberies. Then there's the not-so-small problem of counterfeit money."
"Every single year without fail, we encounter counterfeit bills in a number of denominations. We have a policy of holding them up to the light, checking them with a pen, making sure they are good because once in a while somebody will pass a bad hundred, bad 20s."
San Francisco is reconsidering a 2019 law requiring most businesses to accept cash payments. Business owners report that the requirement to keep cash on hand has made them targets for robbery, with physical threat incidents increasing 33% since the law's implementation. While some businesses like Cliff's Variety have accepted cash for decades without major incidents, security concerns and counterfeit money issues persist. A Federal Reserve study supports that eliminating cash reduces robbery opportunities. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is considering allowing small businesses to decide independently whether to accept cash or operate cashless, balancing security concerns against accessibility for customers who rely on cash transactions.
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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