According to new legislation City Council passed earlier this month, Detroit businesses soon will be required to ditch the card-only payment option and offer an avenue for customers to use cash.
Although we have entered into a solely digital world in 2023, several residents supported the resolution but others feel it hits small businesses that have transitioned to cashless transactions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Council members voted unanimously to approve the new ordinance, proposed by council member Angela Whitfield-Calloway, who said it would remove economic barriers for more than 100,000 unbanked Detroiters.
“The ban is really going to protect the rights of the least of us. The poor, the low-income, the senior citizens, the youth, the homeless, and people like me who still like to use cash,” Whitfield-Calloway said in a statement.
In layman terms, businesses that refuse to accept cash and take only credit or debit card payments will face penalties later this year.
Exceptions include transactions conducted by mail, phone or online, along with parking garages, membership-based wholesale businesses that rent consumer goods and prearranged payments for ride-share services that operate exclusively on a mobile device.
This will essentially affect food and retail establishments, including Detroit’s sports venues.
Establishments are also prohibited from up-charging customers paying with cash, and from posting signs on the premises indicating cash is not accepted.
Anyone found guilty of violating the ordinance could face a misdemeanor with a $500 fine and 90 days in jail.
However, business owners have until the end of summer to adjust their operations. The ordinance kicks off Sept. 11.
Read full ordinance here.
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