XIV Festival Fair: cash or transfer?

Nothing can be worse than having money on a credit card and going home with an empty bag. You can’t play with food, no one has that right.

Although the customer loses the benefits of online payment, he/she can be offered the alternative of transfer to the tax account so that he/she does not leave without buying.

The concept of an integral fair, well-stocked and respectful of consumer rights, has shown its best face in the last three Sunday days at the XIV Festival square, in Matanzas city.

I associate it to pressure of authorities of the province in the attempt that these commercial options resemble the real productive possibilities of the territory, the prices are «deflated», and, in short, sellers and customers relate with respect.

Nothing can be worse than having money on your card and going home with an empty bag.

At the XIV Festival, it seems that more people are offering the payment gateway options, at least that is what I perceived in June 9th , where the presence of a group of workers from BANDEC subsidiary 3471 was very good, with its director at the head, who took the pulse of the matter.

The initiative also had, I presume, a control action, which hopefully will help to erase from the discourse phrases like «sorry, we still do not have the QR code, I forgot it in a hurry, my cell phone broke» or how many justifications imply breaking the rule, violate rights, prevent the acquisition of food or items.

To be fair, in the XIV Festival, in my opinion, the best in the banking system is the agricultural market El Bosque, which has long favored Transfermóvil and Enzona, a path in which , this Sunday Acopio gave its first steps, a real relief for the electronic purses.

On the other hand, the sellers of mango pulp, an entity belonging to the Empresa Agroindustrial Victoria de Girón, which only accepts cash, as if the banking system had no timetable or date in the calendar.

The good example of El Bosque.

And of course, there are other businesses and merchants at the Sunday fair who are blithely ignoring the February 2nd, 2024, beginning of the obligation for state and private actors to establish electronic payment gateways, even at the risk of being prevented from operating, according to the combined letters of resolutions 111/23 of the Central Bank of Cuba and 93 of the Ministry of Domestic Trade.

What is certain is that the joint action between representatives of BANDEC and BPA speaks of the route followed in favor of making bankarization a daily fact in this and in any commercial activity, without the scope, of course, in this case, of being the divine solution.

In the geographic space where the fair of the XIV Festival takes place, it should be demanded (if it is done, I apologize) the requirement to show, together with the affidavit, the QR or fiscal account. Whoever does not have it, does not sell. Whoever enters, must respect the rule, whoever violates it, violates it, and if violated, must be penalized.

That is the perception of the provincial authorities that these days are tightening controls for a comprehensive, well-stocked and demanding fair of banking and its benefits to customers, because nothing can be worse than having money on a card and going home with an empty bag. You can’t play with food, no one has that right.

Photos by the author

                                 BANDEC subsidiary 3471 monitoring banking at the XIV Festival fair.

Written by Eva Luna Acosta Armiñán.