North Hills, Pittsburgh PA.-SHEETZ Gas/Convenience Store-CASH ONLY-Is A Banking Crisis Close?

My wife and I were traveling in the North Hills of Pittsburgh PA (Wexford) this afternoon. We stopped to gas up and grab lunch. I paid for the gasoline at the pump with a debit card. No problem. When I walked into the store I saw this sign taped to the glass doors when I entered: CASH ONLY.

So when I paid for my salad inside, I had to pay cash.

So why does a store allow you to pay for gas with your debit card outside but anything else in the store has to be paid for with cash? It is not a problem with their system or their electronic relationship with the banking system. If there was a problem there I wouldn’t have been able to buy my gas at the pump with a debit card. The only reasonable deduction is that they can either see or are in the know of an impending problem in the banking system. If the banking system were to come screeching to a halt because of war, insurrection, hacker attack, Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) etc.-the only thing that one could use to transact business, at least in the near term would be cash. Soon thereafter, barter would spring up at least for small transactions. But for a business the size of Sheetz barter would be all but an impossibility.

I did not check with any other of their stores to see if this was system wide or not. But I find it very strange indeed this dichotomy of financial settlement and it doesn’t set well with me. Is there a banking crisis around the corner? If Sheetz is indeed accumulating cash while it can during ‘normal’ times, what should the average person consider doing?

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Stan Szymanski (or Encouraging Angels) is not a medical doctor. This is not medical advice. In all matters pertaining to the health and care of a human being consult a medical doctor. This is not legal, financial or personal advice. Consult appropriate professionals in those fields for that type of advice.