* Fees for the rental and maintenance of payment card terminals.
* Gateway fees.
* Cost of fraud prevention services.
* Fees or premiums to insure against ‘forward delivery risk’
All of this erodes the already thin margins that small businesses typically operate at.
And then you have cash: no fees, instant payment, private.
Even street and marker vendors in The Netherlands accept electronic payments.
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/09/728323278/for-many-germans-ca...
The US is a big place. Maybe where you are it's like that, but that's not at all accurate where I am.
It's either mom and pop places, or places that have been around for decades that "charmingly" never added support for cards. Both of which are probably less shady than average.
Although the pandemic has forced some of those places to start accepting cards now.
Source: Know people who have recently worked across a variety of franchise type locations, they definitely still have _plenty_ of things go below board.
This is mostly for tax evasion reasons and sometimes for employees skimming off the top. The more “proper” a place, the less likely they are to encourage cash transactions.
Happens in US too, of course. It’s always the shady places that are cash only and everyone else is digital.