The problem here isn’t that the store doesn’t take cash, it’s that these people don’t have a bank. If you want to pass a regulation, it’s offer fee-less checking accounts with no minimum balance. This isn’t some crazy thing. It’s literally a product every bank used to offer, until very recently.
It blows my mind that so many people in the US don’t have bank accounts. The ads for alternative banks equally blow my mind. Their selling point is... direct deposit.
It’s a whole alternative world out there of people that take physical checks to stores, pay $3 to cash a check, the. Turn around and pay their electric bill at the same place (probably for another $3). Just get direct deposit and autopay, and your credit will probably improve automagically as well.
I’m not really sure any of this actually explains a majority of the unbanked. Sure, it explains why people engaged in illicit trade don’t use a bank, but I find it hard to believe that is a sufficient explanation, especially when compared to lack of identification, perceptions of banks, and perhaps lack viable products (eg A checking account with “$25 maintenance fee waved if you keep a balance of $500 or more” is out of reach for the paycheck to paycheck crowd.)
It blows my mind that so many people in the US don’t have bank accounts. The ads for alternative banks equally blow my mind. Their selling point is... direct deposit.
It’s a whole alternative world out there of people that take physical checks to stores, pay $3 to cash a check, the. Turn around and pay their electric bill at the same place (probably for another $3). Just get direct deposit and autopay, and your credit will probably improve automagically as well.