Three people have sued the National Park Service for its policy not to accept cash payments at locations across the country.
SFGATE reports Esther van der Werf of Ojai, California, Toby Stover of High Falls, New York, and Elizabeth Dasburg of Darien, Georgia, filed their lawsuit on March 6th after being prevented from paying in cash at various national parks, monuments and historic sites around the country. The trio cited a US code that states US currency is legal tender for all public charges. The lawsuit alleges that the park service’s cashless policy is in violation of federal law.
According to the lawsuit, The National Park Service has instituted cashless policies at approximately 29 locations:
“NPS’s violation of federal law cannot be overlooked in favor of any purported benefit NPS Cashless could hope to achieve such as reducing logistics of handling cash collected.”
The Park Service instituted cashless policies at a number of its locations in 2023, including California’s Death Valley National Park. In a NEWS RELEASE by Death Valley, the park said that the $22,000 in cash collected by the park during the previous year took more than $40,000 to process.
“Cash handling costs include an armored car contract to transport cash and park rangers’ time counting money and processing paperwork. The transition to cashless payments will allow the NPS to redirect the $40,000 previously spent processing cash to directly benefit park visitors.”
The plaintiffs are not requesting that the park service stop accepting non-cash payment options.
“Rather, Plaintiffs ask the Court to restore entrance to NPS sites to those who cannot access non-cash payment methods (and those who choose not to) by declaring NPS Cashless to be unlawful.”