Will Disney Parks ever go cashless and just take debit and credit cards?

["El Gran Magnifico"]

No Publix here.

If you send me the cash - I'll count it for you.

 

[WDWLOVER1957]

I hope they do. There is no reason to use cash at all in 2020, anywhere.

I always tip Bell services are you suggesting they should carry card reader with them ?

 

[LAKid53]

The one in Publix changes to use it. My Credit Union will do it for free if you are a customer. You have to go to a teller to get the charge removed.

I had taken out about $150 in cash back in late January. I still have over $100 left. The $50 went to buy some pretty masks from someone who only accepted cash.

My daughter's bank tells customers to go to a machine like the ones at Publix if they bring in a large amount of loose coins. Won't accept unrolled coins anymore.

 

[The Mom]

My daughter's bank tells customers to go to a machine like the ones at Publix if they bring in a large amount of loose coins. Won't accept unrolled coins anymore.

My Credit Union has a machine in the lobby, so they don't accept loose coins, either. They just don't deduct the service charge if you're a customer.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Theres a shortage of coins, people are not moving them around like they did pre-covid lockdown.

I had read that on the news, but when I looked up Wal-Mart not accepting cash, what came up was they were encouraging cards instead of cash, and would give you change via a credit, or gift card. I would have been fine with that, or I would have donated it to whatever cause they were asking you to donate to- because I always do anyway but they were not accepting cash payments at all. I actually was going to pay with cash, but used a card instead. Just seemed weird that even if you had exact payment, they were not taking it either.

 

[James J]

When we travel from UK, we use a prepaid travel card. Revolut is the current one, this means we can pre-load it before we go, and so cannot overspend. It can also be topped up when we are in the US, if there is some kind of emergency and we would need extra money. If we have currency left over we can then transfer it to GBP and use it at hoem or to another currency, usually euro for a disneyland Paris trip. It can be used to get cash from an ATM if we do need cash, but as someone else said the only cash we use now is tips in hotels, paying for taxis, snacks from carts that don't have a card reader.

We do the exact same thing. It's made life so much easier on every trip to the USA I've made over the last few years.

 

[jaklgreen]

If they can come up with a fool proof system where technology NEVER goes down, then it will be a cashless society. Even as early as my last October trip to WDW, the "system" went down and you could not charge anything for a while. Lots of angry people that did not have any cash on them. Anything can happen. At my last place of employment on Christmas week, road workers accidentally cut the cable wires. Everyone's internet went down and with it, the way for the register to take credit cards. All commerce stops when that happens if you do not have cash.

 

[Jon81uk]

If they can come up with a fool proof system where technology NEVER goes down, then it will be a cashless society. Even as early as my last October trip to WDW, the "system" went down and you could not charge anything for a while. Lots of angry people that did not have any cash on them. Anything can happen. At my last place of employment on Christmas week, road workers accidentally cut the cable wires. Everyone's internet went down and with it, the way for the register to take credit cards. All commerce stops when that happens if you do not have cash.

It is very rare for the Visa / Mastercard / American Express systems to go down and if they do it is usually only one of them, so if Visa is down you can use Mastercard for example.
But it seems more common for Disneys room charge system to go down. I would never rely solely on charging to my hotel room account at Disney, I would always carry a credit/debit card as well (or at least Apple Pay).

There are some businesses where if they lost power they just would close, no register would mean no cash payments and no card transactions. Some cards can be taken offline, if the register is working but the phone/internet isn't. Similar to doing it with the old carbon-copy roller machines and the embossed digits on the card.

 

[jaklgreen]

It is very rare for the Visa / Mastercard / American Express systems to go down and if they do it is usually only one of them, so if Visa is down you can use Mastercard for example.
But it seems more common for Disneys room charge system to go down. I would never rely solely on charging to my hotel room account at Disney, I would always carry a credit/debit card as well (or at least Apple Pay).

There are some businesses where if they lost power they just would close, no register would mean no cash payments and no card transactions. Some cards can be taken offline, if the register is working but the phone/internet isn't. Similar to doing it with the old carbon-copy roller machines and the embossed digits on the card.

I don't think you understand my point. It would not be the actual credit card companies that do down, the technology at the point of the sale. And I have been to plenty of stores that have not closed but only will take cash. I have also worked at a time when we lost they system and tried to do, as you said, the old carbon-copy roller system and people are too skeptical for that. They think that we are going to use their numbers for nefarious reasons or something, they just don't trust it. And it is easy to add things up and take cash/make change by hand without a register like they used to do in the olden days. Break out the old calculator. I think what you believe is practical in theory, but in reality, that is not how things are being done.

 

[thomas998]

Why would a company want to go cashless? With cash they don't have to give a percent of their sales to the card processor which can be quite high. And as a consumer you don't have to touch a keypad that probably has more germs on it than a toilet bowl.

 

[Jon81uk]

I don't think you understand my point. It would not be the actual credit card companies that do down, the technology at the point of the sale. And I have been to plenty of stores that have not closed but only will take cash. I have also worked at a time when we lost they system and tried to do, as you said, the old carbon-copy roller system and people are too skeptical for that. They think that we are going to use their numbers for nefarious reasons or something, they just don't trust it. And it is easy to add things up and take cash/make change by hand without a register like they used to do in the olden days. Break out the old calculator. I think what you believe is practical in theory, but in reality, that is not how things are being done.

I answered your point as well.
There are some cards that a register can accept as long as it has power and then it sends the information to the bank once it has a phone connection again. Think of the carbon roller method, they only get processed once they are sent off to the bank. Most cards will allow a similar thing digitally and the terminal just stores the card data and sends it through later. Other cards (usually debit) will go through if the bank is "phoned" by the card machine to check you have funds available. So some can still process with no phone/internet, but yes no internet/phone could take out that payment method for a store and people would need to get cash out to pay instead. But if that was the case I would just go and shop somewhere else.
At Disney that would be more difficult, if they lost the credit card system I probably wouldn't have enough cash on me to pay anyway, its then likely the ATM doesn't have a phone line either and won't work. More likely is the terminal will just process the charge once it gets connected again.
At Disney its more likely their room charge system will fail not the visa/mastercard system.

For many retailers if they had a power cut then they would just close up for the day as no lighting etc would also be an issue.

 

[Jon81uk]

Why would a company want to go cashless? With cash they don't have to give a percent of their sales to the card processor which can be quite high. And as a consumer you don't have to touch a keypad that probably has more germs on it than a toilet bowl.

In the UK some places went cashless as the cash kept getting stolen and the card fees were lower than costs of handling and more importantly insuring cash. A good example here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46507529
There is also the risk of staff stealing cash too. The hotels at Alton Towers (UK theme park) went cashless in the bar and restaurant, so you could pay by card or charge to room (and then sort the cash out at the front desk), mainly as it stopped the bartenders having a chance to steal cash.

Also card fees were capped by the EU for us and we widely accept contactless or Apple/Google/Samsung Pay so no need to use the keypad.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Why would a company want to go cashless? With cash they don't have to give a percent of their sales to the card processor which can be quite high. And as a consumer you don't have to touch a keypad that probably has more germs on it than a toilet bowl.

Those processing fees can be less than the cost of handling the cash. Technology like tap-to-pay doesn't require contact with a keypad.

 

[donsullivan]

This is not just a Disney thing but we are rapidly moving toward a cashless society, and all of that is accelerated by the pandemic. More and more merchants (including Disney) are emphasizing the desire for non-cash payments to reduce the risk of virus transmission.

I get that you can come up with a scenario where 'cash is better' but it will not change the momentum to cashless, contactless payment being the preferred method in the very near future.

 

[BASS]

This is not just a Disney thing but we are rapidly moving toward a cashless society, and all of that is accelerated by the pandemic. More and more merchants (including Disney) are emphasizing the desire for non-cash payments to reduce the risk of virus transmission.

I get that you can come up with a scenario where 'cash is better' but it will not change the momentum to cashless, contactless payment being the preferred method in the very near future.

Yup. And with a lot of credit card companies attempting to attract consumers with credit card reward programs, a lot of credit card users like myself feel incentivized to use the card for miles, cash back, account credits, etc. It seems that there is more competition among credit card companies to maximize these programs to attract new customers, which has subsequently improved reward programs across the board for credit card users. Granted, the reliance on credit card is a trap for many (most?); but if you can learn to use it safely, it is advantageous.

 

[HarperRose]

I doubt Disney would ever go cashless. It's simply not feasible or practical given the wide socioeconomic range of their clientele. The limit for Disney is likely their current scenario, where you can visit certain locations and pay cash for gift cards to use in the parks and DS.

Their IT capabilities are an issue, too.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Why would a company want to go cashless? With cash they don't have to give a percent of their sales to the card processor which can be quite high. And as a consumer you don't have to touch a keypad that probably has more germs on it than a toilet bowl.

Dealing with cash takes time. Drawers have to be counted, then it has to be picked up by armored trucks, and in some cases it takes longer at the register. Not a big deal for some businesses, but in the case of like fast food, it can make a difference. Cashless has also been touted as a green option, because paper and metal money have to be manufactured. (The dollar bill paper formula is a kept secret, but supposedly it is mostly cotton.)

However, there was considerable backlash a few years ago when companies tried to go cashless, because it was thought to be unfair to people who don't have a bank account. They tend to be lower income. Others said it just felt wrong, as cash is legal tender, and legal tender ought to be accepted everywhere.

Mind, I'm not saying these as my opinion, just relaying the discussion - more or less - that was reported in the news at the time.

 

[thomas998]

Yup. And with a lot of credit card companies attempting to attract consumers with credit card reward programs, a lot of credit card users like myself feel incentivized to use the card for miles, cash back, account credits, etc. It seems that there is more competition among credit card companies to maximize these programs to attract new customers, which has subsequently improved reward programs across the board for credit card users. Granted, the reliance on credit card is a trap for many (most?); but if you can learn to use it safely, it is advantageous.

I've found the problem with the rewards programs is that they like to suck you in with great deals that slowly change over time.

 

[SoFloMagic]

They do. Handling cash has significant costs, liabilities, fraud, and analytics implications. It is also slower than molasses to pay with cash.

Not to mention, some of these are fixed costs, so cash gets more expensive (per transaction) when you take less of it