It was one of those rare days. Either my mother or my husband was playing the full-time child care attendant while I ran errands and enjoyed some much needed me-time. After picking up items for family members and getting in a mild workout at the gym, I decided a latte would be awesome.
See, despite living in a neighborhood with about five coffee shops on every block, I rarely buy coffee. With two toddlers, it is just too much of a hassle to get them out the door and down the street for something as benign as a beverage. Not to mention, as adorable as I find my kids, surely not everyone in society at large feels that way. I usually enjoy some home brewed local Peace Coffee in my kitchen. Local. I’ll come back to that.
So anyway, I kept seeing groovy looking people walk by the gym with cups from a local coffee house down the street. I had never been there, so I thought I would continue my lovely afternoon with a special treat. By this point my mouth was watering thinking of espresso and milk foam. I walk through the door and come to a cash only sign. The sign also included what was basically a rant about supporting local business by putting down The Man. Ok. I get it. I am a business owner too. Credit card and debit card fees are annoying. But denying them does not help local business.
Call it what it is: you want to save money.
I hate that 4% transaction fee I pay out too. But I am not shilling lattes with a 700% markup and selling $7 donuts along side of them. I walked out with most of the customer line. See, anyone with even half a brain would never carry cash in this neighborhood. It isn’t what I would call bad, it just requires caution. The only people able to support this oh-so-local business with regularity are the very local muggers.
As I thought about this, I hauled my butt down to the non-local Starbucks where they allowed me to order a non-local plain latte with my non-local Visa card. It was a buck cheaper there too. And they let me use my stainless steel travel cup. The local support at the hipster house wasn’t keen on that. Apparently, part of the agenda is to support your local landfill! Reusables are The Man trying to control you!
You see, sometimes cash-only works. Sometimes supporting local in that capacity is best. Sometimes supporting small business is best. But sometimes you’re just being a pretentious hipster pseudo-activist turning away half your clientele all in the name of some cause that has nothing to do with your real reason.
