When a San Francisco Democrat has an idea, you expect it to be stupid. This one is. District Five Supervisor Vallie Brown wants to ban bricks and mortar retail outlets that do not take cash. Amazon’s Go stores are cashier-less. All transactions are electronic. Brown’s argument?
Not everyone participates in the banking system.
I confess to being surprised. Why didn’t Brown, who claims this is an equity issue, not insist there is a natural human right to credit? Maybe that’s next?
For many city residents (for example, those who are denied access to credit, or who are unable to obtain bank accounts), the ability to purchase goods and services depends on the ability to pay for those goods and services in cash. This is especially true of the very poor.
Millions of Americans do not hold bank accounts. […] Some stand apart by choice, because they are concerned about privacy and do not want their every financial transaction recorded by banks and credit card companies.
[…] Others may not be well situated to participate in the formal banking system, or may be excluded from that system against their will.
Note to Vallie Brown: More than a few people in San Francisco are excluded from everything and not well situated to get through another day thanks to years of Democrat Party rule. But at some point, while the city was creating a homeless crisis, access to retail became a natural right. As if these people were enjoying uninterrupted access to Amazon online without credit?
Where’s the Right to Cash Transactions, Exactly?
I can probably produce a long list of places I’m excluded from simply as a result of pricing. I wouldn’t pay that much for their product or service or are happy with a cheaper alternative.
Amazon’s retail experience is designed as a hands-on extension of the digital experience but in a physical location. You see it; you grab it; you take it home now, instead of waiting for two-days or more for it to be delivered.
Brown’s proposal would require Amazon to add cashiers and accept cash or close the next-gen bricks and mortar experience. Yes, the “progressive” wants to force a disruptor, to go backward.
That’s certainly not a surprise. The same people have long sought to make us give up personal transportation for 18th-century mass-transit. A plot (commuter rail) that has grown like cancer into the Green New Deal.
And it all fits with the Left’s commitment to the return of diseases, epidemics, and health-crises typical of the middle-ages.
Forward!
Image: BizJournals.com
