By Martin Moylan

MPR News/90.1 FM

What’s in your wallet? Any greenbacks? A lot of people carry little or no cash these days. They know they can pay for just about anything anywhere with a credit or debit card. And now, some businesses are deciding to go cashless, too.

Among those in the vanguard is Indochino, a custom clothing store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. Your cash is no good there. You’d better bring your plastic.

Indochino started out as an online retailer that didn’t, of course, take cash. And the company stuck with that strategy when it started opening brick-and-mortar stores.

Assistant Showroom Manager Jeremy Thao said most customers are in their 20s and 30s and accustomed to paying with plastic. Even though credit card companies siphon off a few percentage points of each sale, Thao said there are a lot of advantages for the business. For starters, there’s no cash to secure and daily audits are much easier and faster.

“Moving forward I think a lot of people will start moving into cashless,” he said. “For the most part, going cashless is more beneficial than it is a detriment.”

To be sure, cashless merchants are still relatively rare. But there’s a cashless creep going on. At least two other stores at the mall — Bonobos and Casper Mattress — are cashless. Delta Air Lines won’t take cash at major airports or accept greenbacks for food or drink during flights. And Revolution Hall, a cashless food court, opened at Rosedale Center. Some people have grumbled about the food court no accepting cash.

Revolution Hall would not agree to an interview but said going cashless makes for a safer and cleaner operation, while speeding up customer service. And customers who only have cash can buy gift cards to pay with.

At this point, a merchant can catch a lot of grief for going cashless. Some people don’t think it’s a good idea — or fair. Saed Wadi found that out last summer. He’s a co-owner of World Street Kitchen and Milkjam Creamery in Minneapolis. When he opened a seasonal second location in the city last summer, he figured he could get away with taking only payment cards. He didn’t want to be bothered counting cash and making deposits. After all, only about 13 percent of his sales are in cash.

But he caught some criticism.

“Some guests were not happy that we were not accepting cash,” he said. “They were concerned, ‘what if kids wanted to come and buy ice cream or hot dogs and they don’t have a credit card?’”

This summer, Wadi will take cash at the second operation. Meanwhile, he’s heard some gripes from customers unhappy that he doesn’t yet accept payment via smartphones, with Apple or Google Pay.

Visa and its peers have made it easy for consumers to use cards for everything from light rail rides and parking meters to hospital and tax bills. Now Visa is encouraging some merchants to give up on cash — which, of course, would mean more revenue for the company.

“The long-term future is going to be a cashless one,” said Jack Forestell, chief product officer for Visa.

He said businesses are now just experimenting with going cashless.

“A small number of a first-mover businesses are realizing that the vast majority of their consumers are opting for electronic payments,” he said. Forestell argues plastic is better for business, too, offering greater safety, security, efficiency and other benefits.

A recent San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank survey found that cards account for nearly half of consumer payments, while cash accounts for less than a third.

But Shaun O’Brien, a senior policy consultant at the bank, said it’s too early to count out cash. “More than half of the adult population uses cash daily. And more than 80 percent carry cash, even if they don’t necessarily use it.”