Philadelphia Bans Cashless Stores

The Philadelphia City Council has approved a bill that would ban most stores from only accepting cashless payments.

The bill’s sponsor, Councilman Bill Greenlee, argues that going cashless would be “unjust,” especially with about 26 percent of the city’s population falling below the poverty level and having less access to credit cards and even bank accounts. The bill is now awaiting approval from Mayor Jim Kenney.

According to PhillyVoice, this could impact Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. from pursuing plans to open its cashierless Amazon Go stores within the city. The company had planned to open a location in Philadelphia as a part of its nationwide rollout but now is reportedly reconsidering its plan.

The move from Philadelphia follows a similar ban that the state of New Jersey passed earlier this month to ban cashless businesses within its state lines.