Uncle Sam Accepts Venmo, But Don't Ask Him for Health Insurance
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Alright. I think it's time we admit something as a society: We've taken Venmo too far. Nobody actually wants to buy the bride a drink on her bachelorette party! And we certainly don't need to be sending Uncle Sam a hundred bucks to help pay off his debt:
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Natalia Paruz, who serenades straphangers with her musical saw, isn't getting the tips she used to. That was clear on a recent Thursday at the Herald Square station in midtown Manhattan, her gold-colored tip bucket only showing a couple dollar bills and some coins halfway through a three-hour performance during the afternoon rush. 'I have so many people who come to me and say to me, 'I love your music, I want to give, but I'm sorry, I don't carry cash,'' said Paruz, who calls herself the Saw Lady. That's led her to display QR codes for digital payment apps Venmo and PayPal for commuters to send her digital tips. The decline in cash payments is changing business for street performers. With the cash in their tip jars or guitar cases dwindling, magicians and musicians are turning toward digital payments to make money from performing. Nearly half of U.S. adults never use cash in a typical week, according to research from Capital One. 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But while performers say digital tipping is convenient, it has also affected how much audiences tip — and not necessarily for the better, said Danny Tangelo, a traveling magician who performs across Western states. He's found cash tips are often higher than digital tips. Digital payments also lack visibility: Deitz thinks people are encouraged to drop in cash or change when they see others do it. 'I do think that there is a little bit of psychology of people walking forward and saying, 'Thank you,' because they might see the QR code from far away, they might have tipped midshow and then walk away,' Deitz said. 'But then people that didn't pay see those people walk away, and they go, 'Well, I guess it's acceptable to walk away.'' For Paruz, digital payments make busking less personal: Audiences keep their distance rather than coming up to her and dropping in a tip. Cash 'fostered communication,' she said. 'People would stop and talk to us.' Apps like Venmo and Cash App also take a small cut of money received for goods and services, which adds up when performers are processing large amounts of digital payments. An alternative is a nonprofit, busker-specific payment site that allows performers to receive tips via Apple Pay, Google Pay and credit card. Berlin-based filmmaker Nick Broad started building the site in 2012 while working on a documentary about street performers. He says digital payments help make sure that buskers get paid what they're worth. 'It's as easy to give a million dollars as $1 on a cashless payments platform,' Broad said. 'You might think that it's worth $89, $10, $15, whatever, which is not the same when you're getting cash out of your wallet and you're fumbling around for change.' But Broad says fewer performers have taken up in the United States compared to countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. He says that could be because apps like Venmo or Cash App are more mainstream here. Although digital payments have helped buskers make up for a decline in cash tips, performers are still struggling. Paruz says she makes less from cash and digital tips than she did when she began performing in the 1990s, while Deitz has hit all-time lows for payment at multiple performances this year. Broadly, Americans are tired of tipping. A survey this spring found more than 40% of Americans think 'tipping culture is out of control.' That has meant many tipped workers in other industries have seen their tips dip. Besides, with the rising costs of housing and food, if audiences want to save money, 'they're going to do it watching a street performer,' Deitz said. That means performers like him don't care how you pay them — as long as you pay. A $2 tip, Deitz said, isn't going to 'sustain a white picket fence and two kids.' For magician Tangelo, though, cash has one additional benefit. 'I have a trick where money appears inside fruit,' he said. 'You can't do that with Cash App or Venmo.'
