Consumer rights advocates deplore a worrying rise in businesses in Quebec refusing cash following abandoning this type of payment during the pandemic.
“It concerns us because the biggest users of cash are economically disadvantaged people and it excludes them,” denounces Alexandre Plourde, lawyer and analyst at Option consommateurs.
According to him, low-income Quebecers, the elderly, less educated individuals and the homeless are those who depend the most on cash payments to make purchases.
“It is not marginal to pay in cash. There are also many people who just don’t have a bank account, who prefer not to leave traces of certain transactions or who want to have a reliable means of paying in the event of a computer failure or attack. It is their right, ”says the lawyer.
Recall that a resulted in the inability to make purchases by debit for an entire day in July 2022, to the chagrin of merchants and their customers.
Photo Francis Pilon
La Beignerie, on Le Plateau-Mont-Royal in Montreal, also refuses any cash payment in its business.
More and more numerous
Consumer option in Quebec who are abandoning cash payment. According to Alexandre Plourde, the list has indeed grown in 2023.
The Journal went to Quartier Dix30 in Brossard on Monday to confirm this trend. At least two companies were refusing cash, the Jack & Jones clothing store and the DavidsTea chain. Posters have been installed in front of the cash desks to this effect.
Photo Francis Pilon
The Jack & Jones store, in Quartier DIX30 in Brossard, prohibits at its checkout that “no cash payment” is accepted.
“We have made the decision, as part of our COVID-19 protocols in 2020, to go fully digital in order to provide the most efficient in-store experience possible and reduce hand-to-hand contact,” confirms in an email Sarah Vincent, spokesperson for DavidsTea.
Photo Francis Pilon
Not all David’s Tea stores in Quebec, like this one in Brossard, accept cash. “Bye Bye counting”, indicates their placard.
Especially in restaurants
In Montreal, our representative has noticed that several shops, but especially restaurants, refuse all cash payments. This is the case of the La Beignerie bakery, the Fugazzi pizzeria or the Mandy’s salad counters.
Photo Francis Pilon
Fugazzi Pizza, in Montreal, only accepts card payments.
“We just stopped taking cash because of the COVID and it never came back”, explains an employee of Mandy’s, behind her counter installed in Old Montreal.
Photo Francis Pilon
Mandy’s restaurants, located in Greater Montreal, warn their customers that cash is refused as soon as they set foot in one of their businesses.
A shopkeeper, who preferred not to mention her name for fear of reprisals, also confessed to the Journal that “some people get inflamed quickly” regarding it. For her part, she does not accept cash, mainly for security reasons.
“We don’t want to make our employees vulnerable by forcing them to have money on them and we don’t want to have to worry regarding the presence of money in the premises,” defends this entrepreneur.
Note that carriers are also following this trend. The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has indeed abandoned cash in its metro station boxes in February 2022. As for VIA Rail, only bank cards are accepted on board their trains.
Photo QMI Agency, Charles Mathieu
Cash has not been accepted in Montreal metro boxes since February 2022.
Is it legal?
Alexandre Plourde, a lawyer at Option consommateurs, insists that the federal government act quickly to force businesses to accept cash.
“The law is outdated and remains unclear whether or not merchants can refuse cash. Basically, if the business puts a clear and visible sign that it refuses cash or if it puts a clause in a contract to this effect, it might be legal in these circumstances, ”sums up Ms.e Plunder.
Similar observation for Laurence Marget, Executive Director of the Coalition of Consumer Associations of Quebec (CACQ).
“The government must change the law so that it is forbidden to refuse payment in cash. If ever merchants who sell essential goods, such as pharmacies or grocery stores, refuse cash payments, it would be catastrophic,” worries Ms.me Marget.
The conspirators get involved
The CACQ notes that many people want to pay in cash to avoid bank fraud, but also so that certain transactions remain anonymous. We are thinking here of purchases from the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) for example.
“There are quote-unquote conspirators saying on the internet that cash is going to completely disappear and it’s to better trace them. Others share false information regarding it. You have to be careful and make sense of things, without falling completely into the conspiracy, ”warns Laurence Marget.
L’France Media Agency notably published an article on this subject last month where conspiracy theorists shared false theories according to which cash would soon disappear from our modern societies.
“If this theme is recurrent, it is also because it fits well into a conspiratorial reading grid, according to which a society without cash would be synonymous with total control by the authorities”, can we read there.
LOCAL COMPANIES REFUSING CASH:
- DavidsTea
- Jack & Jones
- Mandy’s
- The donut shop
- Fugazzi Pizza
- The STM (in its metro boxes)
- VIA Rail (in its trains)
WHY STILL PAY CASH?
- The only means available to certain disadvantaged people
- Avoid credit card fraud
- Prevent tracing a transaction
- Want to reduce bank charges
- Better control your budget by seeing the money spent
- Always accessible in the event of an attack or computer failure
*Source: Consumer Option
CASH PAYMENT IN CANADA, AT A GLANCE:
- The number of cash transactions has decreased by 62% in the last five years
- 10% of payments are always made in cash
- Cash is the fourth most used payment method
- The average value of cash transactions is $29
