Cashless Clash: San Francisco Bans Credit-Only Stores, Sweden Tells Citizens to Hide Cash Under Their Beds

The move toward a totally cashless society is running into some roadblocks in the US and abroad.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to become the latest municipality to require retail stores to take cash.

"I just felt it wasn't fair that if someone wanted to buy a sandwich in a store, and they had cash, that they would be turned away," Supervisor Vallie Brown, who introduced the legislation told The Associated Press. "We also have our homeless population. They're not banked."

Critics say going cashless discriminates against low-income people who don't have credit cards or bank accounts.

And some people prefer to use cash because they don't want to leave a digital trail of what they've bought and where they've been.

Some retailers argue going cashless is safer and more efficient.

But the city of Philadelphia and the state of New Jersey already require stores to take cash and a similar measure has been introduced in New York City.

The efforts come after the rollout last year of cashless Amazon Go stores, which require customers to scan an app to enter. Whatever items customers take are automatically tallied in a virtual cart and charged to a credit card. The retail giant bowed to pressure last month and agreed to accept cash at more than 30 cashless stores.

The AP reports Amazon opened its first cash-accepting store Tuesday in a high-end New York City shopping mall frequented by office workers. Anyone who wants to pay with cash will be swiped through the turnstile entrance by employees. After shoppers grab what they want, an employee will scan the items with a mobile device, take the cash and give customers their change.

Meanwhile, Sweden is telling its citizens to hide banknotes and coins in their homes just in case of a cyber attack on the nation's banks. 

The Daily Mail reports just like in the US and Britain, digital payments in Sweden have become convenient for both buyers and retail establishments alike.  Swedish government experts have warned people that they could be left without the ability to purchase anything if its computer networks were knocked offline due to accidents, malfunctions, terrorism or cyber-warfare. 

Sweden's Civil Contingencies Agency has issued guidance to every household telling residents to stockpile 'cash in small denominations' for use in emergencies.  The government has also recommended that each citizen keep cash under their bed, according to The Times.

Sweden became the first European country to issue modern banknotes, in 1661 - ahead of the Bank of England, which followed in 1694, according to The Daily Mail.