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The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the brokerage Robinhood is partnering with Gopuff to deliver cash directly to customers’ homes. For $6.99 (or $2.99 if you’ve got over $100K in your account), skip the teller, skip the ATM, and get your money in a sealed paper bag at your doorstep.
I’m already picturing it: an alert pops up—“Your money has been delivered!”—complete with a photo of a cash bag on my front stoop next to the Amazon delivery. Brokerage firms have been competing with traditional banks since the introduction of the money market account, which gave brokerage clients daily liquidity and check-writing privileges. Now, like Amazon, challenging Walmart with delivery, Robinhood challenges your corner bank with delivery.
What could go wrong? asks the guy who runs an app helping seniors avoid financial fraud.
Start with everything that already happens at banks: miscounts (happened to me), wrong denominations, and the fact that criminals target people leaving banks with cash. At least banks have security cameras recording everything that can be used to identify the crooks after the fact.
Now picture this: A delivery driver on a moped pulls up with a box marked “Robinhood.” (Mel Brooks would have them in tights, no doubt.) Your nosey neighbors notice: “The Neighbor got a cash delivery today.” Mmaybe it becomes a status symbol. A Mercedes parked in the driveway that we do not have to drive, as we get everything delivered. Maybe that is no different than being spotted at the bank or ATM.
Except it is different-you have lost security and opened another door to your wealth. Someone across town hacks your account—or has “befriended” you. The hacker changes your address today and tomorrow, rerouting the cash delivery. Or they wait at your door, pretending to be you. Or they hold you at gunpoint inside while signing for the cash—no security cameras. No witnesses.
Maybe withdrawal limits will be small enough that criminals won’t bother. Maybe. But what amount makes it worthwhile for the bad guys? What limit is so small that you would not use the service?
Speed is a double-edged sword. In today’s mostly cashless world, with Zelle and Venmo readily available, I see far more ways cash delivery exposes people—especially seniors—to unnecessary risk than legitimate use cases. Ask yourself, how often do you really need cash?
Here’s the truth about convenience: ease for the consumer means ease for the swindler.
Yes, two-factor authentication is a hassle. Seat belts are uncomfortable. They also save lives. By one estimate, financial frauds cost people $400 million a day. Many do not get reported because people are too embarrassed to admit that their Romeo swindled them, or that their best friend broker invested in his son’s pizza business.
Maybe you’re working now and can absorb a loss to a scammer. But once you retire? Financial setbacks are hard to recover from when you have no income. The good news: you’re not punching a clock anymore. You have time. How long does it take to drive to the bank or to pay via Zelle? That’s nothing compared to the loss.
Use time to your advantage. Slow down the money movement.
Matt Halperin, CFA, is the founder of Act2 Financial, an app that helps seniors avoid financial fraud. For 30 years, he worked as a portfolio manager and risk manager at large U.S. money managers. Matt currently serves on the investment committee of two endowments. He has a BA and MBA from the University of Chicago, and resides outside of Boston.
This should be a boon for robbers. If you don’t have enough cash on hand to make their robbery worthwhile, they can tell you how much to have delivered.
This strikes me more as a fee gimmick and less as an actual service to meet a burning need. Maybe a drug dealer still works on a cash basis, but for the rest of us, the Pandemic was the beginning of the end for carrying cash.
I still go once a month to the ATM and pull out $100, but its mostly to remind my aging brain where my bank is and to provide cash to my wife who still insists on paying for her morning coffee with cash. Otherwise, its cards only and I’m very happy to receive the cash back incentive that my card company provides us for paying off our bill each month.
If you are willing to pay $6.99 to have cash delivered, you probably are using Doordash, Shipt, Amazon, and others that all are paid online. So why do you need cash?
In the year 2025, we hardly use cash anymore!
As someone who banks online (with Capital One) and does not have access to a brick-and-mortar bank, I also maintain a local bank account solely for occasions when I need bank services, such as notarization or cash.
Usually, if I need cash, I get it from a “fee-less” ATM system, at a nationally known gas station/convenience store chain, near my home. I never use ATMs at a bank, for security reasons mentioned in the article. I also keep a few thousand dollars in cash in my home gun safe, for “emergencies.”
As far as ever using a service to deliver cash to my hope…NO WAY. I had to chuckle about the guy in tights, possibly on a moped. Too funny.
ATM at a gas station is safer than a bank? Ha, you are just as likely if not more likely to be followed and robbed.
Best bet – use the ATM inside the bank or CU.
Matt,
What is this “cash” thing you write about?
Thanks Matt, great article.
My first reaction (from over here in Australia) in reading this article was surprise that access to cash would still be regarded as important to Robinhood users.
The Reserve Bank of Australia estimated that cash use in Australia declined from 70% in 2007 to 13% in 2022. Based upon personal experience, I would guess that it has continued to decline rapidly from 2022.
Would I be correct in guessing that cash use in the USA is still pretty strong? Or am I missing something here?
Google’s AI says “one analysis found a 50% decrease in cash payments between 2016 and 2023″ in the US. I use cards (or card accounts online) for practically everything now, though I continue to carry some cash in my wallet. Why not get the cash back rewards (and pay off the balance automatically every month)?
Groceries, UberEats, Pharmacies, etc all deliver to your door. I knew med students who had toilet paper delivered, since they were too busy studying to pick up a roll or two. So, what could possibly go wrong with ATM delivery service to save time?
This reminds of an Asimov story, I think it was “The Naked Sun”, where people lived in total isolation from each other, with all services provided by robots. Personal contact was considered gross.
I love those hints of future phobias. Another good Asimov short story is “It’s Such a Beautiful Day,” in which a boy discovers the joy of going outside, in a world where teleportation had become the only way to travel. Fear of nature unknown! But we digress from Matt’s excellent take on this new cash delivery service…
Many HD readers would gladly hop in the car or bus to avoid a delivery fee for anything. Millenials and GenZ? Not so much.
David – that’s a great point. I will walk for a few blocks if it means I don’t have to pay to park near my destination.
Last year my wife and I visited DC to see my son and daughter-in-law. At the end of a tour of the National Cathedral, my wife and I took the bus to our AirBnB. The ride took almost an hour, and we saw various neighborhoods and potential stops for the next day. Later, at dinner, we heard that my son and DiL had taken an Uber home. For us, Uber or Lyft are a last resort. For others, it’s an immediate option.
Ah yes, indeed.
i grew up near DC so here’s a pro tip: Metro (Subway/underground) is a great way to get around the city and suburbs. You won’t see as much but it’s fast, safe, and convenient.
Matt, thanks for this post. When preparing taxes I noticed that the clients with Robinhood accounts were pretty young. AI tells me that the average Robinhood client is 35, while average clients of Fidelity or Vanguard tend to be upper 40s to 50s. I think it’s interesting that the age of most users of DoorDash runs from 18 to 34, also per AI.
God forbid that this business model takes off, it will be interesting to see who uses the service.
Plain and simple. This service is for people that are to wiped out from drug use to go out to an ATM to get cash in order to replenish their supply and pay their dealer.
Druggies don’t have bank accounts.
That’s an insightful piece, and I agree the security concerns are completely valid. However, I can’t help but wonder about the business viability of this service.
Does this really address a mass market need, or is it destined to be an expensive niche offering? It’s certainly not a service I could ever imagine using myself. Even for something inherently related to delivery, like foreign currency exchange, I still prefer to drive to the outlet and pick up the cash in person.
It definitely conjures an amusing visual: a driver handing over a sealed brown paper bag stuffed with cash—a genuine “money drop” straight to your doorstep! I just question if the limited demand will outweigh the complexity, security costs, and relatively high delivery fees.
I agree, seems a rather limited market for such service. Who needs cash that much that they can’t get out of the house to an ATM?
Agree it’s hard to see the takers for such a service and seems unlikely that seniors will end up particularly vulnerable.
But maybe we’re not the target market and it is for people who suddenly need fungible cash for illicit transactions. Hard to see how they don’t leave a digital trail still though although I guess nothing illegal about accessing your own money.