Posted on 03/21/2024 4:59:41 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Three people sued the National Park Service earlier this month for its policy not to accept cash payments at a growing number of locations.
Esther van der Werf of Ojai, California, Toby Stover of High Falls, New York, and Elizabeth Dasburg of Darien, Georgia, filed their lawsuit on March 6 after being prevented from paying in cash at various national parks, monuments and historic sites around the country. Citing a U.S. code that states U.S. currency is legal tender for all public charges, the lawsuit alleges that the park service’s cashless policy is in violation of federal law.
The park service instituted cashless policies at approximately 29 locations, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs said cash payments were refused at sites in Arizona, New York and Georgia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Park Service instituted cashless policies at a number of its locations in 2023, including California’s Death Valley National Park. In one news release regarding the cashless policy at Death Valley, the park service said that the $22,000 in cash collected by the park during the previous year took more than $40,000 to process.
“Cash handling costs include an armored car contract to transport cash and park rangers’ time counting money and processing paperwork,” the Park Service wrote in the news release. “The transition to cashless payments will allow the NPS to redirect the $40,000 previously spent processing cash to directly benefit park visitors.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Only the government could possibly be this incompetent. A Mom and Pop team running a pop stand could be more efficient without much effort.
AMEN. WTH.
Can’t trace you as easily with those dang cash pmts...
[[the park service said that the $22,000 in cash collected by the park during the previous year took more than $40,000 to process.]]
Isn’t that standard operating procedure for government work?
I can’t believe when I go to a hockey game, I have to pay for a bag of popcorn with a credit or debit card. I knew this would happen once the politicians legalized drugs. All they do is hand you a bag of popcorn and enter the amount in their damn computer. You have to finish the transaction and the damn computer asks how much tip you’re going to leave. I did all the work. I should be getting the tip. In Texas and Arizona, we call that bullsh**.
7-11 stores had solutions for this years back. They had a time drop safe and any time you had more than $50 in your cash drawer you made a drop in the safe. If you needed change, you could get a certain amount every x minutes. The safe was balanced out periodically against receipts and it was very efficient.
Surely a government agency could figure something out and have a pickup every two weeks. Also NPS has armed law enforcement officers, couldn’t they make a bank run every couple of weeks (or even once a week)?
$20,000 per year is $60 per day. Can't you just give it to a kid on a bicycle to ride to the bank? Or just hide the money under some work boots until you make the monthly deposit.
It costs businesses a lot of money to process cash. I’m not referring to a mom and pop store where they can handle the cash as they see fit.
When employees handle cash on various shifts, you need to follow a series of internal controls which are a pain and is expensive.
You do need an armored car (especially in remote areas) because you don’t want the employees transporting cash, even if it is not significant, for their safety, to prevent embezzling and in remote areas, you may not be near a bank. Do you want to pay an employee to make a 2 hour round trip to the bank to deposit cash? No, their purpose is not to handle cash, but to assist visitors to their national park.
You also need 2 employees to transport the cash to where ever they will count, count the cash, make the deposit, record keeping, etc etc etc. Reconcile the bank statement, etc.
Cash has outlived its usefulness in some scenarios and the national parks are a perfect place to not accept cash. It’s cheaper and safer not to and the employees can focus on their job. That is being efficient.
I’ve been to both Death Valley and Big Bend - both are remote.
At Big Bend, the closest bank is either 30 miles or 70 miles away depending on where you are.
Death Valley NP is massive...it can take half a day just to drive through it if you do nothing else.
A mom and pop store doesn’t require the internal controls to process cash. An organization with multiple shifts and employees requires an entire set of internal controls to handle cash and it is expensive.
I have to side with imabadboy99 here.
The National Park Service can refuse admittance to the park before any "debt" is incurred.
Regards,
“I have to pay for a bag of popcorn with a credit or debit card.”
Those little devices they have sitting on restaurant tables for paying bills ... I hate them. I flip them over when I sit down. We pay cash when we eat out.
“Those little devices they have sitting on restaurant tables for paying bills ...”
I move that gadget over to the next table (if vacant), or any nearby ledge/window sill, or even the floor. I hate’em. Plus, they always look so greasy...like they’ve never bothered to wipe them down. Yuck.
It was such a burden counting $22,000 dollars? LOL
If you “offer” goods or services for sale to the public and the public agrees to buy it then a contract to owe a debt for said products or services has occurred. The definition of “debt” is always the same and is not flexible or interpretive. Forms of payment other than cash (legal tender) do not hold this same weight because they do not have the disclaimer of “debts, public and private” as legal tender and can be refused.
“Legal tender” is anything recognized by law as a means to settle a public or private debt or meet a financial obligation, including tax payments, contracts, and legal fines or damages. The national currency is legal tender in practically every country. A creditor is legally obligated to accept legal tender toward repayment of a debt.”
“By default (and design), legal tender laws prevent the widespread adoption of anything other than the existing legal tender as money in the economy. A check, or a credit swipe, is not legal tender; it functions as a money substitute and merely represents a means by which the holder of the check can eventually receive legal tender for the debt.”
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/legal-tender.asp
Federal parks are another whole ballgame...
The park is public property not private property. If they refuse to let one person in they have to close and refuse to let ANYONE in. They cannot be selective. If they are open they have to accommodate everyone unless a codified law is broken requiring their removal. It they allow entry for one form of payment they have to allow entry for all types of payment or close it completely.
All or nothing.
I am starting to have issues with those who actually believe the communist lie that federal parks belong to the government and has private property rights, they do not, they are only care takers who work for us the people. This is the hidden secret with the Jan 6 mess. The capital doesn’t belong to them, it is public property and belongs to the people. We just allow to let them use it. You cannot be charged for trespassing on your own property.
No, cash is obsolete
In one news release regarding the cashless policy at Death Valley, the park service said that the $22,000 in cash collected by the park during the previous year took more than $40,000 to process.
IOW, either they've never heard of having a safe on premises, or they've been forced to use an overpriced company that kicks back to whatever corrupticrat got the bill amended to mandate them.
Once upon a time, I was the business manager for a Mom and Pop sized business. I handled the cash deposits and matched it with register receipts. It was usually just short of $1000 per day and the cash I deposited varied pennies from the register receipts. When I locked up and went home for the night, I dropped off a matching deposit on the way. Easy peasy.
Washington National was a complete dump before the renovation / rebuild and rename to Reagan National. I was traveling to DC on business a fair amount in the pre-renovation era, and it was really, really bad.
Close down the park and fire the government employees working there. Then sell the exhibit to a private company and they’ll be more than happy to take cash.
It’s California anyhow - land of the stupid and commie...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.