Several NYC businesses have been hit hard with the city rule that posits a ban on cashless establishments- with several upscale establishments getting hit hardest. Van Leeuwen, one of the foremost ice cream parlors in the city, has already been slapped with a sum of $12,750 in fines throughout all of its locations in the city for not accepting legal tender. They are just one of the many merchants in the city that have been punished for violating the ban which was set up the previous year.
Currently, NYC has gone after 23 different businesses for the violations that have cropped up. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has also been receiving close to 152 complaints about cashless establishments throughout the city.
NYC Businesses Rejecting Legal Tender Fined
So far, 16 NYC Businesses have been prosecuted by the city Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, with a fine imposed at $23,850. Kalman Yeger, the Councilman from Brooklyn, stated that the crackdown was quite harsh. He further commented that these agencies were simply looking towards weaponizing the statutes set in place to harm small businesses functioning in the city.
Yet, according to agency spokeswoman Carmel Agnant, the city had been receiving half a dozen complaints about the cashless stores of Van Leeuwen since November 2020, and they had to finally take action.
The City Council had passed the ban on cashless transactions on NYC businesses back in January 2020, with more businesses going cashless to fight the spread of COVID. Most of the supporters of the ban stated that cashless businesses went on to discriminate against poor people and minors who might not have credit cards or bank accounts.
Ritchie Torres, the Councilman from the Bronx, stated that the city of New York couldn’t possibly allow the digital economy upheld by several NYC Businesses to leave behind the 25% of New Yorkers who are underbanked.
