Cash Only vs. All Payments

[Irish#1]

I pay for everything with a card.

Good luck, hope you do well.

 

[Fbolt]

thought this was an SEC recruiting thread.

 

[ND NYC]

make sure you have the Best damn product (in this case italian ices)...you take care of that-and how the people pay for it will sort itself out.

Peter Lugers in Brooklyn one of best steakhouses in the world and is and has always been "all cash"...and about 20 yrs ago they offered and still do a "Lugers credit card".

stories are legion of out of towners rolling in there, taking clients etc and the the big bill comes after a fabulous meal place a cc in the check fold...and they think the waiter is joking that says "its all cash sir".

they do have an atm around the block...problem there most only allow 300 to 400 out of it at a time (as do the banks themselves)....and a dinner bill at Lugers can be waaay more than that if have a decent sized group.

Best of Luck with the new venture Wave!

 

[Bluto]

So here's what is pretty common. Cash only for the first two to three years. Under report sales to increase your "take". Make sure there's an ATM either in the place of business..or if you can afford it lease or purchase one. After a couple years and having built up a "nest egg" start accepting credit cards if it makes sense.

 

[RDU Irish]

Sooooo, Bluto recommends tax evasion.

Take CCs and just post a $5 or $10 minimum purchase for charges. If someone doesn't have the cash for less, make the exception every time. ESPECIALLY as a college town, you want to take CCs. Kids will be much looser with Mommy and Daddy's CC than they will be with their beer money.

I use CC for most purchases but pay cash for anything under $10 normally.

I have also heard plenty of stories about employees having sticky fingers in all cash businesses. Not a problem if you are manning the station but it does not take long for sticky fingers to cost well more than CC fees.

 

[greyhammer90]

So here's what is pretty common. Cash only for the first two to three years. Under report sales to increase your "take". Make sure there's an ATM either in the place of business..or if you can afford it lease or purchase one. After a couple years and having built up a "nest egg" start accepting credit cards if it makes sense.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

Yeah, don't commit tax fraud, and don't violate your Merchant Services Agreement. M'kay?

 

[Black Irish]

Sooooo, Bluto recommends tax evasion.

Take CCs and just post a $5 or $10 minimum purchase for charges. If someone doesn't have the cash for less, make the exception every time. ESPECIALLY as a college town, you want to take CCs. Kids will be much looser with Mommy and Daddy's CC than they will be with their beer money.

I use CC for most purchases but pay cash for anything under $10 normally.

I have also heard plenty of stories about employees having sticky fingers in all cash businesses. Not a problem if you are manning the station but it does not take long for sticky fingers to cost well more than CC fees.

Doing this will violate your credit card agreement. Merchants can't put a minimum on CC purchases unless it goes below a dollar, I believe. I'm not sure if this varies state-to-state or not.

 

[RDU Irish]

Doing this will violate your credit card agreement. Merchants can't put a minimum on CC purchases unless it goes below a dollar, I believe. I'm not sure if this varies state-to-state or not.

That sucks. Are there conditions on equal pricing of cash vs. CC in most merchant agreements too?

 

[WaveDomer]

I think it'll end up being a mostly cash business even with the CC option, which I'm going to do. Snow Cone shacks are all over Boise and I think almost all of them are cash only. I was in line last year and guy had to manually take a customer's CC info. And that was a Snow Cone "chain." And even though I'm not doing Snow Cones, it'll be pretty similar and probably viewed that way. But I would be I still get majority cash on transactions. Just my feeling.

And, yeah, I won't be under reporting anything. Especially with a business that does a ton of cash. As far as sticky fingers, there are ways around that like hiring well and paying attention to inventory.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

That sucks. Are there conditions on equal pricing of cash vs. CC in most merchant agreements too?

That's what I've heard, but of course larger companies sometimes negotiate those out (e.g., pay-at-the-pumps) if they're higher volume.

 

[Bluto]

Sooooo, Bluto recommends tax evasion.

Take CCs and just post a $5 or $10 minimum purchase for charges. If someone doesn't have the cash for less, make the exception every time. ESPECIALLY as a college town, you want to take CCs. Kids will be much looser with Mommy and Daddy's CC than they will be with their beer money.

I use CC for most purchases but pay cash for anything under $10 normally.

I have also heard plenty of stories about employees having sticky fingers in all cash businesses. Not a problem if you are manning the station but it does not take long for sticky fingers to cost well more than CC fees.

Not recommending anything, just telling like it is and I feel pretty confident that this is sop for the bar and restaurant biz. I can almost garuntee that captain snow cone did just that.

 

[phgreek]

I like Black Irish's take about having an ATM near...if possible. Also maybe incentivize cash by giving more loyalty points on a punch card or something?

 

[Black Irish]

That sucks. Are there conditions on equal pricing of cash vs. CC in most merchant agreements too?

I don't believe so. As far as I know, CC companies don't care about what you charge, they just don't want you telling people how much, or little, they can spend with plastic. Equal pricing would fall under a state's commercial regulation agency.