Wash. barbershop stops taking cash

EVERETT, Wash. — There isn't much that's simple about Brenda Humbert's barbershop along Everett's Evergreen Way.  The decor alone is testament to that.   Except one thing, said her customers.

"She does a great job," said customer Ray Robinson. "I'll keep coming back."

If so, he will return to a barbershop with a brand new policy on how he'll pay to have his hair cut and his whiskers trimmed.

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"I did change my policy," Brenda Humbert said. "Reluctantly, and with a lot of hassles to go along with it, I had to change the policy. Now we can't take cash because that attracts the robbers that have been in the area, and I have to protect my clients, and I have to protect me and my family."

Robinson didn't seem to mind.

"I pretty much use everything with debit card now anyway," he said. "I never carry cash."

KIRO 7 talked to other businesses along Evergreen Way. They concede they have been robbed in the past.

"A couple of failed attempts and one smash-and-grab," said Jamey Leckner, owner of Dreamers Rods & Pickups Northwest.

But Leckner said each time, he has increased security at his performance car accessory business. He hasn't considered going cash-free.

"We take it out every night. So no, I wouldn't think so," Leckner said.

"But you understand why your neighbor might?"  he was asked.

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "It's a concern."

"See, no cash," Robinson said as he prepared to pay his bill.

The barbershop's new policy is just fine with him.

"I think we're moving to a cashless society," Robinson said.

Humbert was asked what she'll do if her new policy doesn't work. She says she hasn't thought that far.  She's just hoping her cash-free policy will keep her small business crime free too.

Cox Media Group