cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/1624944

(edit: from another crosspost, apparently NL shops are operating legally)

Saw a “no cash” sign at a bakery. Conversation went like this:

me: So, no cash? What’s going on there?

cashier: Yeah, we’re not allowed to accept cash.

me: Isn’t it the other way around? Isn’t there a legal tender law in #Netherlands?

cashier: Yeah, we’re not allowed to refuse cash.

me: So this sign posting says loud and clear “we are breaking the law”, in effect, no? Is that not being enforced?

cashier: That’s right. It’s unenforced in Netherlands.

The same thing is happening in #Belgium. This kind of forces me to revise my understanding of European culture & norms. In both the US & Europe there is a culture of certain laws (rightfully) going unenforced against individual natural people. E.g. small amounts of marijuana possession. But I previously thought when it came to moral/legal people (businesses), they simply complied with the law in Europe to a great extent.

IOW, companies complied with laws in Europe. Contrast that with the US where corporations small and large will blatantly disregard any laws that interfere with profit based on the calculated risk of getting caught and risk of penalties.

I just wonder if Europe is being influenced by cavalier US corps and changing to comply only when penalties are likely. Or is this something I had wrong all along… that EU companies were always loose with compliance?

#WarOnCash

  • @activistPnkOP
    2•9 months ago

    Are you talking w.r.t. Netherlands, Belgium, or elsewhere?

    Europe used to have a fair number of cash only stores for the reason you mention. But Belgium recently changed the law. There are 3 laws on the books now:

    1. You must accept cash (per the old still-existing Belgian legal tender law)
    2. You must accept at least two forms of payment (new law)
    3. Of the forms of payment you accept, one of them must be electronic (new law). Note that “electronic” need not necessarily involve a bank. E.g. cryptocurrency satisfies the compliance.

    But Belgium is not enforcing law “1”.

      • @activistPnkOP
        1•9 months ago

        That’s redeeming. But I should point out France is on-board with the war on cash in other ways: they have banned cash transactions that exceed a certain threshold (€3k, i think?).