EdKitten 66 Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 Since the last Otakon in 2023, I've been to a few events at the WEWCC. Like last Otakon, to buy food, they only accept cards for payment. But the last two events I attended wouldn't even accept cash for on-site registration! For registering, they had a bunch of long, rectangular shaped ipads set up and you had to type in some information and pay with a card. One event did accept cash -- but you had to type in the information on the ipad, then have a staff member direct you to a far-away booth, where a staff member looked up your registration on their ipad, and then you paid them with cash. May I put in my 2 cents here -- please accept cash for Otakon! It's so much easier! The card policy might be a WEWCC policy now -- I don't know, so it might be something that can't be changed. But if it's at all possible, could we please use cash?! I can always buy gift cards at local shops and use those, but I really prefer cash. Many thanks for any help that anyone can give on this! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EdKitten 66 Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 Forgot to say -- I'd really rather have registration stay the same way that Otakon's done it in the past, if it's at all possible! 🙂 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Clutch 64 Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 A few years ago I went into a D.C. coffee shop for a cup. Place my order and dug out my cash and they told me they don't take it. Had to cancel the order. I suspect you will find fewer places down there who will accept it. The Safeway in D.C. is probably one of the few places that will be cash all the time. Even the home centers are starting to make it difficult to use cash. 1 register takes cash, the rest use credit card or electronic payment, so I wave people through until I can get to it. I picked up a pre-paid card and used that where cash was a no-go around the convention last year. Plan to do that again. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EdKitten 66 Posted February 23 Author Report Share Posted February 23 Gosh, I had no idea other places were making it hard to use cash, or not accepting it at all. Locally, there's two places that don't use cash anymore (I'm near DC now). There might be more, since I don't go to every store, of course. Yeah, a pre-paid card sounds like the way to go. Hopefully, with Otakon's pre-registration, they'll want to use their own computers/ipads, so the registration will be like last year. P.S. Sorry it took a while to respond -- I use public computers, so sometimes it takes a while to get to them. 😵 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Clutch 64 Posted February 23 Report Share Posted February 23 41 minutes ago, EdKitten said: Gosh, I had no idea other places were making it hard to use cash, or not accepting it at all. Locally, there's two places that don't use cash anymore (I'm near DC now). There might be more, since I don't go to every store, of course. Yeah, a pre-paid card sounds like the way to go. Hopefully, with Otakon's pre-registration, they'll want to use their own computers/ipads, so the registration will be like last year. P.S. Sorry it took a while to respond -- I use public computers, so sometimes it takes a while to get to them. 😵 Before you purchase a pre-paid card, read the fine print on the back. The one I bought could not be recharged, but it did say the funds would never expire. Not all cards had that last bit. Also, the one I had did not have a chip in it, and only the stripe on the back. Some sale terminals which only have a chip/tap method, so the cashier has to swipe the stripe on their register instead. Going to keep the used card around to use as a dummy. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Revan 38 Posted February 24 Report Share Posted February 24 Another thing to watch out for is that some cards lose value if they're not used for a certain period of time. I picked up a few from my credit union (the activation fees were slightly cheaper than one from a store) for a vacation in the southwest and they had a rule that if you didn't use them for 12 months straight they lost some of their value. (Good thing I did bring them, as the Desert Botanical Garden didn't take cash for admission.) I don't know if I've seen a gift card with a chip, but I haven't really looked for them either. I started taking them along after a trip to Citizens Bank Park for a Phillies game several years ago and found that they didn't take cash for anything outside the stands. Gift cards are also useful when you want to buy one shot tickets online (like a Renaissance Faire) and don't want to give them credit card or address info. On the subject of cash admissions, it tickles my fancy to think that they would have money fights a la The Simpsons with the proceeds from the con. (I'd include the gif, but it's too big to embed.) 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Clutch 64 Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 Another thing I have noticed is that some places are charging extra for credit versus debit. Had that happen at the car repair shop the other day. You get some safeguards with credit cards which are not available in debit cards. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EdKitten 66 Posted March 4 Author Report Share Posted March 4 Great info -- many thanks! Hey, they did take cash to register at the Travel and Adventure show recently (along with cards, of course)! And believe it or not, they had actual people there at the booths to register (instead of iPads)! Of course though, they only took cards to buy food and drinks inside the convention center. My guess is, each show can pick and choose what type of money they want to accept for registration. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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