Why SoCal Vendors Are Slowly Integrating Mobile Pay Options
By Maria Medina, Joseph Marquez, and Pablo Orihuela
Maximo Sanchez walked up to the customers who asked for a cup of fresh fruit on a hot desert day when the customers pulled out a gun. That changed how he sold fruit forever.
“When I walked up to their car to hand it to them, that’s when it happened, they pulled a gun on me and asked for all my money. I had to give it to them,” Sanchez said in Spanish.
An increasing number of street vendors are accepting, and even encouraging, electronic payments as an alternative payment method to cash. A 2019 article by CNBC revealed that society is gradually going cashless, with modern day consumers “ditching bills and coins in favor of credit, debit and digital payments,” according to surveys by Pew Research Center.
The theft and violent assaults on street vendors along their usual routes in Southern California throughout 2021 influenced the shift in a more digital direction, which protects vendors’ profits from greedy criminals and their small businesses from closing to cashless customers.
By incorporating this more efficient and convenient payment method into their businesses, through visible flyers and sometimes verbally announced, vendors are breaking the cash-only tradition, attracting cash-less clients while keeping their earnings safe and out-of-sight.
As a two-year veteran of sidewalk vending in north LA County’s Antelope Valley, Sanchez relocated his fruit cart from the East side of Palmdale, near the freeways, to the “safer,” more quiet part of town on the West side, where he has been for over a year.
His relocation was triggered by safety concerns for himself and his business after the assault in 2020.
Unlike traditional fruit stands, he accepts both cash and credit card payments, utilizing a square credit card reader to satisfy cashless clients’ needs.
“The majority of people use cards, since they don’t carry cash. Very few carry anymore because so many people are getting assaulted, “ Sanchez said.
Luis Ramirez made his return to street vending after taking a few months off from selling fruit in Pasadena due to the pandemic. This time he made the transition into mobile payments only, now accepting electronic payments including CashApp, Zelle, and PayPal.
The business turn-around was for two reasons for Ramirez: he noticed more individuals carried around less physical cash and it’s much easier for someone to go shopping as it’s more convenient.
In past years Ramirez has stuck to strictly the traditional cash only method for his small businesses.
Customers would mention to Ramirez if he took other payment methods which he would tell no as it was cash only. After customers would hear his response they would often cancel their transaction. Due to the fact they had no cash on them and mobile payments were the only option.
“That’s when I first got the idea to start accepting digital payments,” said Ramirez. “ I was hesitant at first because it would be new to me and I didn’t know much about it.”
One San Fernando Valley street vendor that has adjusted to the shift in technology is the “Mil Hojas” food car, run by Lucia Hernandez and Rolando Sobrino Guzman, on the corner of Reseda and Dearborn.
“I started selling here the first three months of last year,” said Hernandez. “And the entire year this year.”
Similar to many businesses, the “Mil Hojas” food car was forced to shut down in March 2020, when lockdowns and quarantines began as a result of the rising COVID-19 pandemic.
“Yes, all we could do was wait for it to end,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez and Guzman were eventually able to come back at the start of 2021, but their cart included some changes since they began their business a year prior. One of those changes being the ability for customers to use mobile pay/cash transfer.
“The pandemic motivated me to start using electronic payments,” Hernandez said. We accept Venmo and Zelle.”
Although reluctant to use the service, Hernandez has noticed that her customers seem to be taking advantage of the service.
“Now with electronic payments, I would say it’s about a 50/50 split on people who pay with cash and people who pay with money transfer,” Hernandez said.
“Cash is very useful to me. For me that would be best, but with all the changes in customer habits, what can you do? ”
Regardless of the hesitancy to accept digital payments, though, Hernandez shares the same anxieties her customers do when it comes to working and serving people during the pandemic.
“It frightens us a little,” Hernandez said. “But we’ve got to survive, we’ve gotta work.”
