Oakland Taco Bell units: Drive Through Only, No Cash Accepted

[storewanderer]

Appears to be a recent change. This Diversified franchisee owns most of the Nevada Taco Bells. During COVID they had tons of excuses about lobby closures, kept flip flopping open then closed again then open then closed again, weird hours like open from 1 PM to 5 PM, some locations not opening at all some days, and other weird stuff, and this was up in Reno. I have found one location recently that has a good manager who is doing a good job on the operation/speed, but other stupid policies from this franchisee like they refuse to take orders at the counter unless you are using cash, if you use card you must use the kiosk; they even took the pinpads off the counter-they are literally gone/removed; so if you want a printed receipt after paying with a card, it is a huge hassle.

Diversified used to be based in San Francisco but moved headquarters to Las Vegas recently.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... surge.html

I question if this is really all about safety or it is simply for cost cutting purposes. Obviously it IS safer to only offer drive through and that is why many places keep drive through open late but close inside at some certain time.

Terrible policy. Restrict access to customers who have no vehicle and restrict access to another group of customers who does not want to pay with a card which is actually quite a few customers in the fast food environment especially at these low ticket places like Taco Bell.

[storewanderer]

Same policy at a Taco Time Northwest unit in Seattle. No cash, drive through only.
https://westseattleblog.com/2023/06/biz ... bans-cash/

[Alpha8472]

The no cash rule is due to the insane amount of cash register robberies in the area. Oakland Police simply do not respond. Safeway stores have been robbed left and right.

7-Eleven stores say they don't carry more than $20 in change. They drop everything into safes throughout the day. Robbers cannot access the time delayed safes.

There are many cars being driven through storefronts to steal ATMs.

This is mainly an Oakland problem as other cities nearby have police that actually respond.

Just driving through Oakland you see restaurants and stores with bars over the windows. It is really scary in the city.

[Brian Lutz]

I remember that the City of Philadelphia and State of New Jersey made laws banning cashless stores (calling it discrimination) After Amazon Go stores opened up there in 2019, requiring those stories to offer an option to pay in cash. I wouldn't be too surprised if California did the same thing at some point, but a single Taco Bell franchise is probably small enough to fly under the radar for this, and Amazon is a frequent bete noir of the political class there so laws like that are much more likely to target them.

[veteran+]

Appears to be a recent change. This Diversified franchisee owns most of the Nevada Taco Bells. During COVID they had tons of excuses about lobby closures, kept flip flopping open then closed again then open then closed again, weird hours like open from 1 PM to 5 PM, some locations not opening at all some days, and other weird stuff, and this was up in Reno. I have found one location recently that has a good manager who is doing a good job on the operation/speed, but other stupid policies from this franchisee like they refuse to take orders at the counter unless you are using cash, if you use card you must use the kiosk; they even took the pinpads off the counter-they are literally gone/removed; so if you want a printed receipt after paying with a card, it is a huge hassle.

Diversified used to be based in San Francisco but moved headquarters to Las Vegas recently.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... surge.html

I question if this is really all about safety or it is simply for cost cutting purposes. Obviously it IS safer to only offer drive through and that is why many places keep drive through open late but close inside at some certain time.

Terrible policy. Restrict access to customers who have no vehicle and restrict access to another group of customers who does not want to pay with a card which is actually quite a few customers in the fast food environment especially at these low ticket places like Taco Bell.

And yet the "cattle" keep coming to the trough to feed.

[ClownLoach]

I remember that the City of Philadelphia and State of New Jersey made laws banning cashless stores (calling it discrimination) After Amazon Go stores opened up there in 2019, requiring those stories to offer an option to pay in cash. I wouldn't be too surprised if California did the same thing at some point, but a single Taco Bell franchise is probably small enough to fly under the radar for this, and Amazon is a frequent bete noir of the political class there so laws like that are much more likely to target them.

I know many small business operators who were burglarized several times each month until they stopped accepting cash and posted large "No Cash Accepted" signs in their windows. Bars didn't matter, gates, etc. Every time they were broken into they were out thousands of dollars. Posting signs saying "all cash removed nightly" didn't help because the burglars don't believe them, break in and completely trash the place knowing that there might be a small change fund in a safe. They'll literally break open walls, doors, rip art off the wall and smash it searching. They carry large crowbars and heavy demolition hammers. They're in and out in less than 90 seconds and the entire place is destroyed. People think that you can just file an insurance claim, but they neglect to mention that they will immediately jack up your insurance rates higher than the cost of repairing the break in damage thus rendering the policy worthless outside of a total loss situation. Many small businesses are being forced to raise deductibles to the point where they exceed the damages from these burglars who come in and trash the place hoping to find a couple hundred bucks... Average damage is $10K and insurance takes weeks to investigate then repair... The store needs to be fixed and reopened same day. Worse, they seem to break more and damage more when they're angry that they only got a few hundred dollars in small change, or they couldn't find any money at all so they do destructive things like smash all the cash registers so the business can't even operate. Likely due to the influence of drugs they are especially angry and destructive when they don't hit the jackpot as soon as they break in.

All of these operators agree that if they are forced to accept cash again they will have to close their doors permanently. Many are what I would call "progressive" folks who understand the implications of not accepting cash and how some could consider it discriminatory, but they also understand that they will be put out of business by these overnight break-ins and the damage they cause. One of these is a great Mexican restaurant in a good neighborhood in Long Beach that has been burglarized at least a dozen times. The police ignore the burglar alarm calls entirely and will not show up at all unless the business owner calls and confirms they've been robbed.

[storewanderer]

Appears to be a recent change. This Diversified franchisee owns most of the Nevada Taco Bells. During COVID they had tons of excuses about lobby closures, kept flip flopping open then closed again then open then closed again, weird hours like open from 1 PM to 5 PM, some locations not opening at all some days, and other weird stuff, and this was up in Reno. I have found one location recently that has a good manager who is doing a good job on the operation/speed, but other stupid policies from this franchisee like they refuse to take orders at the counter unless you are using cash, if you use card you must use the kiosk; they even took the pinpads off the counter-they are literally gone/removed; so if you want a printed receipt after paying with a card, it is a huge hassle.

Diversified used to be based in San Francisco but moved headquarters to Las Vegas recently.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... surge.html

I question if this is really all about safety or it is simply for cost cutting purposes. Obviously it IS safer to only offer drive through and that is why many places keep drive through open late but close inside at some certain time.

Terrible policy. Restrict access to customers who have no vehicle and restrict access to another group of customers who does not want to pay with a card which is actually quite a few customers in the fast food environment especially at these low ticket places like Taco Bell.

And yet the "cattle" keep coming to the trough to feed.

Chipotle Chicken Burrito $2- best deal around. Problem is it is off the posted menu, you have to see the cashier to order it; it isn't on the kiosk anymore... and I don't use cash there... I have no issue having Diversified franchisee pay a credit card processing fee on my $2.17 purchase.

[storewanderer]

I know many small business operators who were burglarized several times each month until they stopped accepting cash and posted large "No Cash Accepted" signs in their windows. Bars didn't matter, gates, etc. Every time they were broken into they were out thousands of dollars. Posting signs saying "all cash removed nightly" didn't help because the burglars don't believe them, break in and completely trash the place knowing that there might be a small change fund in a safe. They'll literally break open walls, doors, rip art off the wall and smash it searching. They carry large crowbars and heavy demolition hammers. They're in and out in less than 90 seconds and the entire place is destroyed. People think that you can just file an insurance claim, but they neglect to mention that they will immediately jack up your insurance rates higher than the cost of repairing the break in damage thus rendering the policy worthless outside of a total loss situation. Many small businesses are being forced to raise deductibles to the point where they exceed the damages from these burglars who come in and trash the place hoping to find a couple hundred bucks... Average damage is $10K and insurance takes weeks to investigate then repair... The store needs to be fixed and reopened same day. Worse, they seem to break more and damage more when they're angry that they only got a few hundred dollars in small change, or they couldn't find any money at all so they do destructive things like smash all the cash registers so the business can't even operate. Likely due to the influence of drugs they are especially angry and destructive when they don't hit the jackpot as soon as they break in.

All of these operators agree that if they are forced to accept cash again they will have to close their doors permanently. Many are what I would call "progressive" folks who understand the implications of not accepting cash and how some could consider it discriminatory, but they also understand that they will be put out of business by these overnight break-ins and the damage they cause. One of these is a great Mexican restaurant in a good neighborhood in Long Beach that has been burglarized at least a dozen times. The police ignore the burglar alarm calls entirely and will not show up at all unless the business owner calls and confirms they've been robbed.

There is a real conflict on this. On one side you have businesses who are implementing "cash discount" (credit card fee) policies, then on the other side you have this.

Insurance claims are getting to be a joke- you pay all this money in, then you file an actual claim and your rates skyrocket to the point that you pay them back and much more in the future 5 years. This isn't how insurance is supposed to work. Insurance is supposed to pool in the premiums from 100 people, invest that money to get a return on it, and use that return to pay the claims the 5 of 100 people have. Something has gone wrong that premiums spike as much as they do after someone files a claim. Yes premiums always spiked but not as much as they spike now.

At the end of the day I think it is up to the business. There are many benefits to being cashless but for a small ticket business it seems restrictive and not customer friendly.

These businesses in these high crime locations will probably end up out of business anyway whether they go cashless or not. This is just putting a glide path to closure out. Closing inside, card acceptance only, sales fall... sure you save money on labor not staffing inside/maintaining dine in/restroom/not giving drink refills/not cleaning bathrooms every hour since the only people using them are the 3 employees on duty but your revenue gets worse and worse... eventually you close.

[ClownLoach]

I know many small business operators who were burglarized several times each month until they stopped accepting cash and posted large "No Cash Accepted" signs in their windows. Bars didn't matter, gates, etc. Every time they were broken into they were out thousands of dollars. Posting signs saying "all cash removed nightly" didn't help because the burglars don't believe them, break in and completely trash the place knowing that there might be a small change fund in a safe. They'll literally break open walls, doors, rip art off the wall and smash it searching. They carry large crowbars and heavy demolition hammers. They're in and out in less than 90 seconds and the entire place is destroyed. People think that you can just file an insurance claim, but they neglect to mention that they will immediately jack up your insurance rates higher than the cost of repairing the break in damage thus rendering the policy worthless outside of a total loss situation. Many small businesses are being forced to raise deductibles to the point where they exceed the damages from these burglars who come in and trash the place hoping to find a couple hundred bucks... Average damage is $10K and insurance takes weeks to investigate then repair... The store needs to be fixed and reopened same day. Worse, they seem to break more and damage more when they're angry that they only got a few hundred dollars in small change, or they couldn't find any money at all so they do destructive things like smash all the cash registers so the business can't even operate. Likely due to the influence of drugs they are especially angry and destructive when they don't hit the jackpot as soon as they break in.

All of these operators agree that if they are forced to accept cash again they will have to close their doors permanently. Many are what I would call "progressive" folks who understand the implications of not accepting cash and how some could consider it discriminatory, but they also understand that they will be put out of business by these overnight break-ins and the damage they cause. One of these is a great Mexican restaurant in a good neighborhood in Long Beach that has been burglarized at least a dozen times. The police ignore the burglar alarm calls entirely and will not show up at all unless the business owner calls and confirms they've been robbed.

There is a real conflict on this. On one side you have businesses who are implementing "cash discount" (credit card fee) policies, then on the other side you have this.

Insurance claims are getting to be a joke- you pay all this money in, then you file an actual claim and your rates skyrocket to the point that you pay them back and much more in the future 5 years. This isn't how insurance is supposed to work. Insurance is supposed to pool in the premiums from 100 people, invest that money to get a return on it, and use that return to pay the claims the 5 of 100 people have. Something has gone wrong that premiums spike as much as they do after someone files a claim. Yes premiums always spiked but not as much as they spike now.

At the end of the day I think it is up to the business. There are many benefits to being cashless but for a small ticket business it seems restrictive and not customer friendly.

These businesses in these high crime locations will probably end up out of business anyway whether they go cashless or not. This is just putting a glide path to closure out. Closing inside, card acceptance only, sales fall... sure you save money on labor not staffing inside/maintaining dine in/restroom/not giving drink refills/not cleaning bathrooms every hour since the only people using them are the 3 employees on duty but your revenue gets worse and worse... eventually you close.

The cash issue is seemingly happening in what I would not describe as high crime areas normally. But they are legitimately getting robbed, usually overnight. The robbers know that when they see signs like "all cash removed nightly" then they can target the closing employee or manager and rob them directly for the cash, so that doesn't work. They also know that if such a sign is posted the odds are excellent that there is still a change fund of a few hundred dollars in the business. So they break several thousand dollars worth of windows, knock over counters, break through drywall and so forth. The only preventative at this point is no cash acceptance, and posting large signs stating such.

They also have figured out small chain restaurants. There was a story about a juice store franchise where the businesses next door were being broken into. Apparently the burglars figured out that the franchise was built out consistently so they could break into the next door business, smash holes in the walls, and remove the wall safe from the juice store. So they would go on a robbery spree and hit multiple locations of the juice store nightly, now destroying two businesses at once for a few hundred bucks. Last time I saw one of those locations it had converted to no cash accepted, and I am going to assume others did too. These locations spanned long drives, 50+ miles a night and they wouldn't necessarily hit each location so they weren't predicted. I heard the news story and never heard any follow up about if the robbers were caught. This however shows the magnitude of the problem: it doesn't matter if you're in a good neighborhood or bad because the thieves are running out of places to hit in the bad areas so they hit the road and drive.

Also seeing all the restaurants that used to host a small independent ATM have pulled them out due to destructive break ins targeting those. Of course the ATM services were paying rent and a share of the surcharge, so that is yet another burden for the restaurant who now has one less stream of income.

[storewanderer]

With the things happening maybe we will see a lot more cashless businesses then...

I am mostly cashless and always cashless when dealing with chain businesses, however I also think the cashless thing makes people less sensitive to price and causes businesses to get away with higher prices.