April 14, 2008
Galaxy Hut Will Not Go Cash-Only
A couple weeks ago we linked to a post on popular Clarendon bar Galaxy Hut's MySpace blog announcing that owner Lary Hoffman had decided to stop accepting credit cards. The announcement sparked a number of agitated and sarcastic comments accusing Hoffman of passing on unnecessary extra costs, like ATM fees, to his customers. Thanks to the negative reaction, over the weekend Hoffman emailed us and posted a comment on the same thread saying he'd changed his mind.
"Galaxy Hut is not going cash-only," Hoffman wrote in an email. "I decided against it due to negative feedback and friendly words of caution. I didn't realize people were going to feel so strongly about trying to streamline my business expenses, but I don't want to piss people off so yes, we continue to accept credit cards."
Good news for die-hard fans of what is arguably Arlington's best watering hole. In other news posted to the Hut's MySpace page over the weekend, Hoffman has announced that regular Karaoke nights will return to the bar this summer. Karaoke will happen the first Sunday of each month at 8 p.m., beginning in July.
Photo by Waleed123
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moral of the story: it pays to bitch and moan.
I was concerned that the move could precipitate an eventual closing. As you see with Capitol Hill Murky, when a small business is in trouble, it often uses a cash-only system to start hiding revenues.
I'm glad to see that they've backed away from it.
Good to know, but the guy is still a douchebag. Who doesn't realize that credit card processing fees are a cost of doing business, the same as rent and utilities? What would be next, no chilled drinks because ice is so fucking expensive?
WHAZZUP -- Do you hate the Black Cat too?
As a matter of fact, I do!
@ Whazzup:
Do you own an independent business or a bar? If not, you probably have very little idea of the massive expenses that small businesses have to endure and why so many close. Lary made a bad choice in the beginning, but "douche" is reserved for politicians who use our tax-dollars for pork-barrel spending - not for business owners who make their tiny space the last bastion for independent music.
In short, STFU.
whoa whoa whoa....lets not throw STFUs around like they're zimbabwean dollars. we need to save those for when they really are necessary.
first, what does murky have to do with this? it is two totally separate issues. you don't go cash only to hide revenues. the reason to go cash only is because it is cheaper for a business. when a small business takes credit cards visa/mastercard/etc charges a percentage to the company for the convenience. credit card companies cut into profits for the business.
two, don't you think people are in enough debt that we don't need to be charging our alcohol?
sorry to inconvenience you crybabies. maybe you can go charge a onesies at the baby gap.
first, what does murky have to do with this? it is two totally separate issues.
Indeed they are; one might get the impression from reading this thread that Murky went cash only when it got in trouble and then went belly up, but that's not the case. Murky was always a cash only business.
If I can't wallow in my own crapulence by laying my shabby hiptard lifestyle that I just charged to my AmEx down on a bed of complacency and slowly f*** it to death, the terrorists have already won.
Hoffman's comment belongs on the "passsive aggressive notes" blog. If it's such a pain in his ass, I just won't go there anymore. Don't want to be a bother to anyone.
I can out passive-aggressive anybody! Booyah!
I agree, the whiny attitude will probably do more to hurt business than switching to cash-only ever could.
I was just using Murky as an example of how a cash-only business can use that status to hide revenues when it's troubled. I was aware that it was always cash only (although Common Grounds accepted credit cards, and I'm not sure whether it still did/does under Murky reign). I'd have used a better example, but no other one jumped to mind...Besides, even if a move to cash-only is not a sign of a tax-cheat on the make, it may be the sign of a struggling bar regardless. I personally don't care whether it's cash-only or not, I just am glad that it's apparently healthy enough to decide to not go cash-only.
I was just using Murky as an example of how a cash-only business can use that status to hide revenues when it's troubled.
I hear ya; but given that we know Murky's problem wasn't with generating cash flow, but rather they (apparently) had poor internal financial controls that allowed them to get in arrears with OTR. I can't imagine that anyone who couldn't figure their monthly receipts and cut a check to OTR for 10% of same, was cannily using the lack of paper trail to hide assets. Either way, it's a shame to see Murky gone from the Hill. :(
There are inherent costs to processing cash -- including time for employees to count and balance the registers, in addition to whatever costs come from time wasted making change, running to the bank, etc. Add in the safety issues of handling large amounts of cash and keeping said cash around a business -- businesses need to get rid of cash period. But that CC processing fee is something that they can see specifically, so it looks like the first thing that should be eliminated.
A quiet victory for those whose drinking habits are highly leveraged.
Here's the real problem with cash only: slim fit jeans. No one wants to stuff a cash-filled wallet into their snug denim environment.
Same goes for IDing at restaurants. I'm so tired of playing limbo with the booth and stepping on my girlfriend just because some tosser wants me to prove I'm not 17. LIsten chief, if I was 17 I wouldn't be ordering a single-malt.
"two, don't you think people are in enough debt that we don't need to be charging our alcohol?"
If I can live within my means, and pay off the credit card debt, then yes, I can charge my alcohol. I am simply borrowing money against myself. As West points out, a wad of cash in slim-fit jeans is not very practical. Plus if I lose it, I can cancel the card and recoup my losses, as opposed to paper money.
"lets not throw STFUs around like they're zimbabwean dollars. we need to save those for when they really are necessary."
Hysterical. I am going to have to borrow that one IMGoph.
no problem drew, i just ask for proper credit ;)
good points west and drew! i never thought of my slim fit jeans. where was my head? oh, it's in my slim fit jeans along with my wads of fat cash, my chained wallet, my junk, and my ego.
and the nerve of some people to ask for ID! especially from someone with such impecable taste to order a single-malt.
I totally understand where they're coming from. I've actually been working with a group at the site unfaircreditcardfees.com since early last year on the issue.
The underlying issue is Interchange fees, which are ostensibly transaction costs, but the fees keep going up even though the transaction costs go down. The money goes to rewards programs and propping up Visa and MasterCard's profit margins.
Merchants hate the fees, and are looking for a way out of it, even if that means not accepting cards. Also, Conyers has a bill in committee called the Credit Card Fair Fee Act which would give merchants a seat at the negotiating table, which they can't get the banks to agree to now.
First, who are all these damn hipsters guys wearing 'slim fit' jeans that are too tight to wedge a wallet with two twenties, an ID and a rubber left over when you last got laid in 2006? A wallet with a little cash isn't a burden unless your pants are too tight for your own good.
Second, I may be the odd one out, but a cash-only bar for me is a serious deterrent to going there. Carrying around cash isn't a great idea in large parts of the city, and a debit/credit card is much more concealable.
"What would be next, no chilled drinks because ice is so fucking expensive?"
-That's pretty awesome, since i actually AM too cheap to get our ice machine (which broke 6 months ago) fixed!!! fuck it, we just keep the sodas in the beer cooler now. we don't have liquor so don't really need an ice machine anyway.
i still can't believe people feel so strongly about this credit card issue, it was simply a knee jerk reaction to looking at the breakdown of my expenses last year and being like "what? $9,000 in credit card processing fees???"
every business owner looks for ways to cut costs. i just looked in the wrong place, obviously!!! sorry about that!
douchebaggingly yrs,
lary