(Main Square) Private businesses in New Jersey that don’t accept cash or that charge extra fees for using credit cards are getting the boot.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin reported that his office has issued citations to many business owners this month for failing to disclose fees associated with the use of credit, debit, and prepaid cards by customers or for refusing to take cash as payment.<\/p>\n

According to Platkin<\/strong>, the Office of Consumer Protection at the Division of Consumer Affairs has looked into scores of complaints about firms that refused to accept cash payments or charged customers extra fees for doing so.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/strong>:\u00a0A Former Colleague Has Allegedly Shot and Killed a New Jersey Councilman.<\/a><\/p>\n

He said this practice was illegal under New Jersey law, which mandates that stores offer customers the choice to pay in cash and provide full pricing information, including any fees associated with utilizing a specific payment method.<\/p>\n

Platkin argued that shoppers in New Jersey should be given clear pricing information and given the option to pay with a variety of methods.<\/p>\n

The reliance on cash by low-income areas, minorities, and the elderly, as stated by Platkin, causes equity difficulties when businesses refuse to accept paper money.<\/p>\n

Skyviews of America, LLC, which runs the Dream Wheel in the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, was named as a violator for allegedly forcing cash-paying customers to purchase gift cards from a third-party vendor who added a premium. According to Plotkin’s office, the fine levied against the corporation was $1,000.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/strong>:\u00a0New Jersey\u2019s Gun Law is Challenged by Saf\u2019s Revised Complaint<\/a><\/p>\n

There are also allegations that Ronnie’s Hot Bagels in Hillsdale and Seymour’s Caf\u00e9 in Clifton broke state law by neglecting to inform customers about credit card surcharges before they placed their orders. The AG’s office claimed that they were each issued a $500 fine for the infractions.<\/p>\n

The actions taken in New Jersey are indicative of the continued efforts to crack down on cashless retailers and restaurants that blossomed during the COVID-19 outbreak when contactless payments were seen as aiding in protecting public health.<\/p>\n

In recent years, cities like New York and states have passed or considered measures that restrict merchants from refusing to accept cash, a strategy that critics claim excludes the millions of Americans who don’t have a bank account or credit cards.<\/p>\n

In an effort to combat fraud, New Jersey was one of the first states to update its law to include the option of paying in cash.<\/p>\n

Some have complained that the government’s crackdown on cash firms is stifling innovation, while others have urged lawmakers to make it easier for low-income people to use banks.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/strong>:\u00a0A Missing Man From Washington Has Been Located Dead Next to the Highway.<\/a><\/p>\n

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced legislation during the previous Congress that would have barred retailers from charging cash consumers a premium on purchases under $2,000 and mandated that they accept cash payments. However, the initiative didn’t go anywhere.<\/p>\n

In the United States today, private companies are not mandated by law to take cash or coins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Main Square) Private businesses in New Jersey that don’t accept cash or that charge extra fees for using credit cards are getting the boot. Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin reported that his office has issued citations to many business owners this month for failing to disclose fees associated with the use of credit, debit, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":44940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1008,1009,184,44,371,417],"class_list":{"0":"post-44939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-cashless-businesses","9":"tag-covid-19-outbreak","10":"tag-new-jersey","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newsbreak","13":"tag-united-state-of-america"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newjerseylocalnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}