Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the National Park System locations that have moved to cashless systems for entrance fees/Kurt Repanshek file
The National Park Service's increasing move to only accept credit cards for entrance to parks has driven three visitors to sue the agency, saying its policy is unreasonable and an abuse of discretion and that federal law states that legal tender is suitable "for all public charges."
Esther van der Werf of Ojai, California, Toby Stover, of High Falls, New York, and Elizabeth Dasburg, of Darien, Georgia, brought the lawsuit [attached below] earlier this month after being told their U.S. currency would not be accepted for entry into Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Tonto National Monument, Saguaro National Park, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site, and Fort Pulaski National Monument.
"NPS’s violation of federal law cannot be overlooked in favor of any purported benefit NPS cashless could hope to achieve, such as reducing logistics of handling cash collected," reads a section of the lawsuit. "Moreover, there is an increased cost to the NPS in going cashless, such as additional processing fees that will be borne by NPS and by visitors who ultimately fund the federal government through taxes, in addition to personal surcharges and bank fees visitors may incur under NPS cashless policy.
"However, plaintiffs do not ask the court to prohibit NPS from accepting credit cards, debit cards, or digital payment methods (such as ApplePay) should visitors to NPS sites prefer to use them. Rather, plaintiffs ask the court to restore entrance to NPS sites to those who cannot access non-cash payment methods (and those who choose not to) by declaring NPS cashless to be unlawful."
According to the lawsuit, Stover was denied entrance to the FDR home at Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site when she tried to pay the fee with a $10 bill.
Van der Werf asked Saguaro National Park staff in an email if she could pay with cash and was told, "[W]e do not have the capability to accept cash. On your way to Arizona, you might be able to stop at a park that does accept cash and purchase an Interagency Annual pass.”
Organ Pipe Cactus staff sold van der Werf that, "[W]e do not accept cash for those transactions. At the visitor center we only accept card transactions. Take care. . .”
Dasburg was told by Fort Pulaski staff that she could "go to the local grocery stores or big chains like Walmart to purchase a gift card. Since those are cards, we can accept them in leu [sic] of cash.”
Among National Park System units that don't accept cash, or soon won't, for entrance are Mount Rainier, Death Valley, Lassen Volcanic, Rocky Mountain, Hovenweep and Natural Bridges national monuments, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle national monuments, Badlands National Park, and Wind Cave National Park (for cave tours).
In announcing the decision to go cashless, parks say, "[M]oving to a cashless system allows the park to be better stewards of visitor dollars by reducing the cost of collecting and managing fees, increasing the amount of fee revenue available to support critical projects and visitor services, and improving accountability and reducing risk.
Comments
It's not fair to a person who might be denied a credit card or check card especially as people can now be "debanked" for free speech. One shouldn't have to go through a forprofit bank and get "approval" to be able to use somethingy they likey have been paying taxes for their entire life.
Add Castillo de San Marcos NM to that list. I sat in the meeting when management decided to make the change. I made the point of how it would be discrimnotory to certaian groups and submitted academic research to prove it... it was ignored and then spent the next few years being cursed at and recoevong death threats for the policy... #RangerOn
I'm for returning Legal US Tender (cash) as a form of payment to a US department. I agree with most of what you said, but just know that those entry pay cash machines are not owned by the parks. They are managed by private companies that take a huge cut of the entry fee. More so than using a credit card at a visitor center or manned entry station.
Except a fee is legally different than a debt. You are indebted to the federal government for your taxes, not the national parks that you choose to enter.
"My safety is more important than your convenience."
Then don't volunteer and stay home and live under a rock to ensure your safety. Federal Reserve Notes are legal tender that the government may not refuse for imagined gains in "safety." (You probably have a greater chance of dying in car crash in a national park than dying in a robbery; do you support the ban of cars in national parks so you can feel safe?)
The courts need to stop everyone from refusing to accept cash for payment. The policy of refusing cash is discriminatory, mean, and obviously illegal. The justification, that refusing cash reduces cost to the business, is irrelevent. You are a business, you are charging a fee, you accept payment for a debt, the government puts on all its paper money that it accepted for all debts public or private. ALL means ALL... you need to take the cash for payment. Too bad if you have to deal with handling cash. Stop charging the fee if the fee doesn't cover the cost of collection and processing.
Just try buying a post card - one post card - and have to use a credit card at a National Park Site? How much more will it cost in fees aside from the postage? I have just left the card and the park due to this policy way back when they first tried this.
So all the business that post "no bills larger than $20 accepted" should be forced to accept all dominations as well?