Philadelphia Bans Cashless Stores

Philadelphia has become the first major U.S. city to ban “cashless” stores. The city is making this move, in part, to protect those “unbanked” consumers who may not have credit cards and only use cash. The law, which goes into effect on July 1st, exempts some businesses including parking structures, rentals requiring a security deposit, and those with a membership model. Amazon, for example, was informed they could work around the law, as long as membership is required. So are restrictions on cashless businesses ultimately good for consumers and for the municipalities and will other metropolitan areas follow Philly’s lead? To discuss more on this complex issue, host Dan Loney is joined by William Greenlee, Democratic Philadelphia City Councilman–at-large and co-sponsor of the bill, Mehrsa Baradaran, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law and author of  The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, and Jay Zagorsky, Economist and Senior Lecturer of Markets, Public Policy and Law at Boston University’s School of Management on Knowledge at Wharton.