Whether you are traveling abroad or studying abroad. You will find a very interesting phenomenon. Many or even most Chinese restaurants will have "Cash Only" signs posted in the store. Most of them are handwritten, but there are also slightly processed printed versions.

At first I thought it was nothing, just cash. But after staying abroad for a long time, when I was almost used to going out with only one card, I suddenly found that "Cash Only" caused me great trouble. Except for Chinese restaurants, almost all other payment scenarios can be solved with one card. For small amounts, you can also use QuickPass by swiping it on the POST machine without even needing a password. However, every time I go to a Chinese restaurant after class, my heart is extremely divided. My Chinese stomach pulled me hard toward the Chinese restaurant, while my brain tried its best to pull me toward home. There are three reasons: firstly, eating Chinese food is a bit expensive; secondly, having to pay cash makes me feel that it is more expensive; thirdly, I am lazy and have to go to an ATM to withdraw money. Although, more often than not, I will still go to a Chinese restaurant to have a good meal alone, so that my devastated heart can get long-term and stable satisfaction, especially after adding two tablespoons of chili sauce.

But as a quasi-slash young man, I need to think carefully after every meal, why do Chinese restaurants require Cash Only?

I go to Zhihu and Quora( I checked Zhihu in foreign countries, no, Zhihu is Quora in China) and searched my personal database (Evernote) to list the five major reasons why Chinese restaurants only accept cash (in order from what I think is the possibility) Ranked from low to high):

1. Chinese gangs steal credit card information. Many local Chinese gangs abroad will "patronize" Chinese restaurants and then steal the credit card information left by the POST machine to do some "bad things." It is possible for this kind of thing to happen, but it is definitely very rare. Stealing credit card information abroad seems to be a very serious crime. All I know is that a friend of mine mistakenly filled in the information on a website that started with "R" and the information card was stolen. However, the bank called to verify it as soon as possible and then immediately froze the bank card. There was no property loss. . Compared with China, the government and banking institutions issue announcements every day to remind the general public to be wary of credit card information theft. Why not upgrade and improve the financial system to eliminate fraud from the bottom, but they always teach consumers as much as parents do. How to prevent fraud. Do you care about consumers or don’t want to improve the system?

2. Black workers and illegal immigrants. Many Chinese restaurants recruit illegal immigrants to work as illegal workers because the wages are low and they can save costs. Chinese restaurants will only pay wages in cash, because if it is recorded in the account, tax or immigration authorities will come to trouble.

3. Handling fee. For a long time, I thought Chinese restaurants were just there to save on handling fees. But you will find another phenomenon. Many Chinese restaurants also support card payment, but the front desk will secretly tell you that there is a discount if you pay with cash, usually ranging from 15% to 95% off. I checked and found that in catering businesses like Chinese restaurants, you need to pay a handling fee of about 2 to VISA or MASTER every time you use a credit card service. Obviously, this fee is far lower than the discount rate, so this point is untenable.

4. The Chinese have a long-standing affinity for cash. This makes some sense, but I don't believe that other ethnic groups don't love cash. I think brother Xiao Hei likes to wear gold chains the most, and he probably also likes cash.

5. Tax evasion. This is the most likely reason. The tax rate is different in each country and region, but because the catering industry is a service industry, the tax rate will be much higher than that of the manufacturing industry. Generally, it is 20-30. In some countries, it is lower than 20. But for Chinese restaurants, this expense is very high. Big ones. Is it difficult for the tax department not to investigate? Someone answered on Quora that the tax bureau has special personnel to check these restaurants. How to check? Tax collectors will pretend to be customers and then enter the restaurant to eat. While pretending to eat, they mentally estimate the restaurant's customer flow, table turnover rate and consumption amount per order. Sometimes they will count the number of parking lots in the parking lot.

Then I go back and use a set of algorithms to estimate the restaurant's turnover, and compare it with the numbers reported by the restaurant. If it exceeds a certain range, I go directly to the store and seal the computer and bring it back for inspection. However, there are still many restaurants that openly accept cash only. The main reason is that the cost of law enforcement is too high. If every restaurant does this, the government investment may be much higher than the amount of fines, so it is simply not necessary to investigate.

Okay, here comes the biggest problem. If this is the case, why don’t other restaurants do the same, except Chinese restaurants that openly display “Cash Only”?

Some people say that Chinese people like to take advantage of loopholes and take advantage of small things, while Westerners are law-abiding and have a spirit of contract. Yes, that’s true! But is that all?

Chinese restaurant owners who appear to be smart are actually ignorant. Let me analyze it carefully.

Chinese restaurant owners definitely don’t know a word: “payment pain.” Compared with card consumption, cash payment will cause consumers to feel greater pain of loss. But the key is not the visual impact of cash payments, but the sense of being “on the spot” that doubles our loss aversion. There is a good example in behavioral economics. Many of us don’t care much about water and electricity bills because they are only paid once a month or even half a year. If a water meter is installed at the faucet, as soon as the water is discharged, the meter will follow, so that everyone You will save a lot of money every month.

This reminds me of an incident when I was a child:

When I was a child, because my parents were busy at work, I was fostered with relatives. The water meter at my relative's house was installed next to the faucet. Every time I went to my relative's house for dinner after playing football, I would turn on the faucet and take a shower, and the water meter would keep spinning. My relatives thought it was a waste of water, so every time before I came back, they would prepare a bucket of water saved from drip irrigation for me. The old water meters in the past were not sensitive. If you master the personality of each faucet, the amount on your home's water bill can be zero.

There are also examples studied by economists:

In the bidding auction, if people can pay by credit card, they will be willing to pay twice as much as cash. . Tipping with a credit card at a restaurant should be at least 10 more than tipping with cash. Even people who are usually very frugal can easily become generous once they use a credit card.

Therefore, behavioral economists believe that paying by card can make consumers more willing to pay, while cash gives people a great sense of pain. Don't think that economists are liars. "How We Decide" mentioned that credit card payments are less painful, and there is even experimental evidence from brain imaging:

The experiment found that using credit cards to spend money can weaken the insula in the brain ( insula), which is responsible for negative emotions.

Look, this is based on scientific experiments! Legitimate Science!

Next, "Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work" says:

When paying with a credit card, the money in your mind is a continuously changing amount. You won't feel too much. But to pay with cash, you need to take out individual bills, which is equivalent to dividing the money into several small pieces, and each bill is a whole dollar. People are not sensitive to continuous quantities, but are sensitive to chunked things.

To sum up the above, that is to say, when using a credit card or swiping a card, consumers will spend more money for consumption. This will not only facilitate consumers, but also increase sales. Do you think the owners of Chinese restaurants are ignorant?

So, I'm going to give my conclusion. Chinese restaurant owners are smart.

Yes, you read that right, he is smart.

If you carefully observe these Chinese restaurants that advertise "cash only", you will find that they all have one thing in common: more than 95% of the consumers are Chinese! These Chinese restaurant owners know one fact very well: my consumer group is Chinese (mainly international students), those foreigners are not my target customers, and the number of Chinese in an area is limited, so my turnover is relatively stable. , I don’t need to increase operating costs to install a POST machine, and improve the service experience to attract consumers who would never patronize it in the first place.

Many Chinese restaurants in the city center provide credit card services because their target customers are not only Chinese but also foreigners. The market economy is so great, and the Chinese people are really smart.

But, is this really the case? My point of view: Chinese wisdom is based on Chinese servility. Once I went to a Chinese restaurant with my friends to eat. The rice that was served was a little undercooked. One friend said to ask the boss to come over and change the rice. Another friend and I quickly said, forget it, the worst is not to come next time. Eat here. My friend said righteously that we compromise like this every time and are afraid of trouble. This not only damages our own rights and interests, but also makes these restaurants more unscrupulous and do not pay attention to quality and service.

My friend’s words were really enlightening and struck my ears like thunder.

You see, many times we blame many things in China for being unreasonable, such as the bank’s anti-fraud system that I complained about above, or the poor service. As consumers, we are also responsible. We Chinese people like to make do, are afraid of trouble, and have no sense of citizenship, which makes the entire environment in China bad.

There is no doubt that the government or enterprises should bear no less responsibility. But don’t forget, aren’t we also part of the government and thousands of companies?

references:

"How We Decide", the Chinese version of the book is called "Why Gorillas Are Better than Experts", the author is Jonah Lehrer. ?

"Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work", the Chinese version of the book is called "Decision", the authors are Chip Heath and Dan Heath Heath).