Are you encountering more parks that don't take cash for entrance fees?/Kurt Repanshek file
As you travel the National Park System, are you finding more and more parks no longer accept cash for entrance fees or to purchase annual passes?
Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia back on July 1 went cashless, taking only "plastic" payment for entrance fees and park passes.
Is such a policy an inconvenience, or does it make your travels easier since you don't need to carry large sums of cash with you?
We've reached out to the National Park Service to see if this cashless policy is being phased in across the park system and will let you know what we hear.
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Comments
My assumption is that the move to cashless might be to discourage theft and fraud among employees and make them less of a target for robbery while working in those aweful entrance stations. Remember the budget analyst at Sand Dunes in the 1990's who was skimming petty cash? Crime actually did pay in that situation because her fine was far less than the amount she stole. There was also a murder near Mesa Verde many years ago where the perpetrator originally planned to rob and kill the kid working the entrance station, but decided against it. Having thousands of dollars in cash readily available makes both of those scenerios more plausible. I agree that technology for card readers and internet service at most parks is woefully antiquated. I can't tell if NPS is proud of being a backwards technophobe, or the agency simply lacks the education and experience to bring it into the 21st century.
I believe that currency states 'for all debt, public or private'. The National Parks should not be allowed to go cashless.
Maybe a better solution is to adequately staff the entrance stations? A dishonest employee could also steal credit card information and misuse it.
I like the convenience of using debit and credit cards for transactions, because it is convenient. But I also carry cash for extras like souvenirs, special treats, etc, at places that don't do plastic. And that includes national parks. For many years before I could qualify for crwdit cards, I had a vacation jar I put my target money in, then would buy travelers checks. (Those were discontinued when plastic payments gained priority.
If the government is going that direction, they should convert all visits to online appointment only, with a giant warning that visitors must have a bank or credit card to enter. After all, it would then become an equal opportunity form of discrimination, not just against the poor.
Just like self serve registers the NPS wants the business, but screw customer service.
It's hard to adequately staff entrance stations when the NPS undergrades its employees....