Rant: Why I still swear by cash in my bar's daily ops

Tessa Wood · 2026-03-01T18:45:59.575223+00:00

I see a lot of talk about how digital payments are the future and cash is dying. I get it, but in my bar, cash is king for our daily operations. When we're packed on a Friday night, swiping cards or tapping phones takes extra seconds that add up. With cash, it's hand over the bills, make change, and done. No waiting for machines to connect or dealing with app crashes. We had a system update once that shut down our card reader for an hour, and cash saved the day. I know digital has its perks, but for speed and making sure things run smooth in a fast paced place, cash still wins big time.

craig.tyler7mo ago

How long does it take for a card machine to come back online once it goes down? I had a similar thing happen at a place I used to work, and the line just stopped moving. People got mad and some even left. Cash kept us going through that mess, no question. It's just a solid backup plan that always works.

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john1617mo ago

What? An hour without card payments?

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margaret_gibson707mo ago

Yeah an hour is crazy long, I'd be panicking. (Like, what system update takes that long during business hours?) That's a huge chunk of prime time sales just gone if you're only on cards.

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