NO CASH, NO PROBLEM
Once upon a time, hitting the slopes meant heading to the ticket window, digging through your wallet for a few crumpled bills in exchange for a paper ticket. Now, lift tickets are stored on your phone, rental shops operate through apps, and cash is becoming increasingly obsolete.
Case in point.
This summer, Mammoth and June Mountain Ski Areas decided to only accept digital payments, phasing out cash as a payment method, effective July 8. This policy affects not only lift ticket purchases but also extends to all businesses operated by or affiliated with the resorts, including restaurants and rental shops.
Though Mammoth Mountain frames the transition as a way to increase security and streamline transactions, it has sparked frustration among employees, especially those working in food and beverage.
I spoke to four employees at Mammoth Mountain’s various restaurants. They asked to remain anonymous, for fear of jeopardizing their jobs, but they said the transition to cashless payments slows down their work and reduces their cash-out on tips.
According to these employees, the mountain’s point-of-sale (POS) system for credit cards, designed by Accesso Technology Group, is significantly buggier than the cash alternative. Rather than speeding up transactions, they say it slows them down.
The system is marketed as a one-size-fits-all solution, “from the initial ticket purchase online, to ensuring guests get the right gear before they hit the hill, to charging meals to an account while they unwind in the lodge,” Accesso’s website touts.
Restaurant employees, however, say it’s clear the system was initially designed for equipment sales and rentals. As a result, they said the system glitches during common operations, is missing products in the inventory list, and even “breaks down” when servers try to split a bill or divide it across three or more cards.
The system is also internet-dependent, which means it’s vulnerable to delays or failures in web-based infrastructure.
“I just know there’s going to be a day when a storm comes and the system won’t work, and people can’t leave [the restaurant] until it’s back on,” one server said.
There’s also a tipping issue for employees: while cash tips are not entirely a thing of the past (the mountain still permits them), with fewer people carrying cash, tips are more likely to be given via card.
Servers tend to prefer cash tips for a couple reasons:
First, cash tips are more immediately accessible, meaning servers don’t have to wait until payday to spend a portion of their earnings. In a town as expensive as Mammoth, that’s a significant advantage.
Second, although both cash and credit card tips are considered taxable income and are supposed to be reported to the IRS, cash tips often go unreported because they’re harder to track, whereas credit card tips are automatically recorded by the system.
“We have signs everywhere saying ‘we are now cashless,’” one server said. “I’m not going to go up to a table and specifically tell them they can still tip in cash unless they ask.”
And without cash drawers, servers can’t make change, which, once again, makes it harder to tip using cash.
I also spoke with an employee who works with children at Mammoth Mountain. While the cashless policy hasn’t really affected her job yet, she recalled an instance when a child had been sent to the mountain with cash for lunch but couldn’t buy anything because he didn’t have a card.
Mammoth Mountain’s website suggests parents prepay those purchases using a Mammoth Mountain gift card. However, this requires advance planning, as the purchase must either be shipped to the consumer or picked up at a ticket window, where a valid photo ID is required at the time of pickup.
Alterra’s main competitor, Vail Resorts, transitioned to a cashless system in late 2022, with the pandemic accelerating the change and there’s no indication they will switch back.
Across the nation, businesses outside the ski industry are also going cashless. It’s a widespread trend, but a controversial one.
While cashless operations are legally permissible — there is no federal statute mandating that a private business must accept currency or coin as payment for goods or services — some cities have moved to ban cashless retail services on a local scale.
The city of Los Angeles is considering such a policy. On March 8, the city’s Chief Legislative Analyst, Sharon Tso, submitted a report to the city council on potential cashless retail bans.
Tso cited a significant portion of American residents who don’t have bank accounts. Specifically, 11% of African- American households and 9% of Latino households in the U.S. are unbanked, making it difficult for them to make cashless payments, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Given these findings, the goal of improving customer experience may not resonate with all customers—particularly those who have historically been excluded from the ski industry. And although they might not be tourists, these are people who are part of the local community and the employee base at Mammoth.
Ultimately, the case for cash raises important questions about accessibility, employee satisfaction, and inclusion— values that Alterra promotes as part of its corporate philosophy, yet are sometimes overlooked in its rush toward modernization.
