San Francisco must now accept cash

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco has a new law in place. Starting Friday, stores must accept cash as payment. This affects stores like Amazon Go, which were designed to be a cashless experience.

City leaders worried stores like this would exclude people who only have cash.

Stores and restaurants can be fined for not accepting cash. Fines start at a hundred dollars and go up to $1,000.

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"So, it could cost you quite a bit of money not to just do something as simple and humane as take cash," said Supervisor Vallie Brown, who introduced the legislation.

We went into the Amazon Go store on Market Street and made a purchase using cash. The store is complying with the new law. But every customer we saw was using their phone to pay for their items.

We asked Bill Anaya, who has lived on the streets for 23 years, whether he appreciates the new law. He says he has two phones and can pay with them if need be. But he does prefer using cash, saying his information has been stolen before off of his phone.

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"This girl was trying to get my pin number with her phone and it charged the same amount twice on my phone," he said.

But even with the new law in place, he says he still won't go to Amazon Go.

"I go to Safeway because it's faster and everything is on sale," Anaya said.