New York Councilmembers Seek Action Against Cashless ‘Fast-Delivery’ Stores

A new style of fast-delivery grocery stores is causing concern among New York City lawmakers, who in 2020 banned cashless businesses, saying they “discriminated against low-income consumers, who are less likely to have a credit card or bank account.” Yet a survey from Councilmember Gale Brewer’s office shows that 83 percent of fast-delivery operations do not accept cash payment, reports Arun Venugopal in Gothamist.

Although the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection says they “actively enforce” the policy, “Brewer said the city is failing to regulate this growing industry, one that is backed by venture capital and has been hyped in national media as the future of post-pandemic commerce. She complains the businesses, sometimes referred to as “dark stores,” flout other city laws, such as pricing-display rules, governing the commercial sector.”

According to Venugopal, “The city's ban against cashless businesses excludes purchases made online, by phone or by mail. But Brewer’s office notes that some locations do business both ways – taking remote orders and conducting in-person transactions – and need to follow the law barring cashless businesses as well as other city ordinances.”

Other councilmembers expressed concerns about data privacy and the threat these businesses pose to small, mom-and-pop stores in the city. “Councilmember Christopher Marte, whose father operated a bodega, is raising other concerns. He says the pandemic has caused numerous storefront vacancies in Chinatown and the Lower East Side, and worries that the small shops cannot stand up to the new fulfillment stores.”