Kylie Kirk and Janice Brown hold up the ‘cash preferred’ sign at Echuca Lucky Lotto.
Photo by
Louie Cina
There is more cash in Australia than there’s ever been.
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According to the RBA, more than $109.389 billion worth of cash is currently in circulation throughout the country, topping the previous high of $109.253 billion set in December last year.
The record follows last month’s introduction of the RBA’s card surcharge ban, which advocacy group Cash Welcome says has seen businesses across the state, including Echuca Lucky Lotto, encourage customers to make the switch back to physical currency.
“It’s just something we’ve had to do to absorb extra costs,” store owner Kylie Kirk said.
“We’re telling people we prefer cash because we’re not getting a surcharge with our EFTPOS transactions, which might seem small but it definitely has repercussions, especially for a small business like us.”
Ms Kirk explained because the store was a franchise of TattsLotto, her business was unable to adjust most product costs to offset the money lost to cash transaction fees, a problem previously addressed with transaction surcharges.
She said the request for cash transactions had been well received, estimating the majority of the store’s sales were now made with cash.
Echuca Lucky Lotto has signs up outside and at the counter of its store requesting customers to use cash.
Photo by
Louie Cina
“People have been great,” she said.
“A lot of them have gone to use card, seen the sign, apologised, and made the decision to bring cash next time.
“But it shouldn’t be something we have to do, it would be really nice to get some more support from the RBA.”
Jess Fanning, the owner of Echuca-based mobile cafe Peggy Coffee, has faced similar problems despite having more control over her prices.
“Honestly it feels like a hit to small business,” she said.
“Losing out on one per cent doesn’t seem like much, but it really adds up over the day.”
The RBA claims the removal of surcharges will save Australian consumers $1.6 billion annually and the broader policy reforms will benefit small businesses in large part due to reduced interchange fee caps.
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