Cash: Still the King

You still need to carry both

Square has expanded beyond its roots in mobile payments and now offers an array of services, such as inventory and payroll, to businesses. The risk to small enterprises is that their dependency on one provider like Square could be disastrous when the provider shuts down:

During what would become an hours-long [Thursday noon - Friday morning], nationwide outage of payment system Square...restaurants and bars throughout the Bay Area who rely on Square to take payments were left frustrated and scrambling. Many posted to social media, telling customers to bring cash.

Contingency planning is often neglected, and this experience should be a wake-up call to small businesses to work on back-up plans.

But customers need to be prepared, too. I've had to pay cash on two different occasions this year when the systems on fast food franchises went down. As noted earlier this year,

My thicker wallet undoubtedly reflects personal insecurities. I carry at least $100, 1 debit and 3 credit cards, a driver's license, a gym membership, a health insurance card, and an auto club card.

It has to be said: every small business I deal with--independent restaurants, dry cleaners, and hair salons-- prefers cash. When I handed a cab driver cash instead of the credit card he was expecting, his eyes lit up.

So carry a little green in your wallet: it insures against system outages, and it seems to make merchants happier!