According to a report from CNBC, San Francisco lawmakers are considering a ban on cashless stores.
The cashless store debate is something that has caused controversy after Philadelphia became the first city to ban the stores earlier this year. People that advocate for cashless stores believe that the stores are safer and less prone to robbery. They also think that they reduce people’s ability to evade taxes. The main reason that people believe that they should be banned is because they discriminate against people who don’t have a bank account or a credit card—typically low-income shoppers.
Amazon Go is one of the leading stores affected by the ban. In Amazon Go stores, customers simply walk through the sensors, grab what they would like, and are automatically charged. Although they are not commonplace across the whole country, Amazon noted that they would want to have up to 3000 locations opened across the country by 2021.
Although there is speculation about how widespread the popularity of the ban will be, but retailers are not hesitating to continue trialling the cashless store concept.
