A Queensland small business has accused its bank of making it “actively difficult” to deal in cash, after facing an “unacceptable” situation where coin deposit machines were down at multiple branches.
But the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has rejected suggestions it’s phasing out deposit machines, saying “cash is and will remain an important part of Australia’s economy”.
Street Feast has held dozens of night-time food festivals and markets across the state and in northern NSW, including regional locations of Goondiwindi, Oakey, Kingaroy, Nanango and Dalby, since launching in January.
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The business charges $2 per person for entry to its events, meaning staff often hold thousands of dollars worth of notes and coins.
“That creates safety concerns for the staff members and owners, to be left with that much cash,” Street Feast sales and relationships executive Phoenix Diamond told 7NEWS.com.au.
The issue came to a head when management announced to followers late last month that attendees would need to pay by card at the door.
This sparked an uproar from people who argued there should be a choice over the form of payment.
“Cash is king! Use it or lose it,” one person wrote on their Facebook page.
Another said: “I was all in, until you stipulated ‘card only’. That’s a family of five who won’t be attending.”
A third person said: “I would also like to know why it is card-only entry. I think that it is totally unfair and as a business/event it should be illegal to refuse legal tender.”
Days later, Street Feast announced it would again accept cash at its upcoming events.
“We’ve heard you — loudly,” read a post on social media.
“We are bringing cash back at the gate to all our events. Please have correct change.”
Diamond said the “absolute uproar” from the community also included staff being “abused” at events by people who were “clearly upset” by not being able to pay cash on the door.
At one event in a regional community, “protesters came out” and pushed a “sentiment” that the business was “part of a problem helping banks push cashless agenda”, Diamond said.
“We had to call the police because one guy was abusing staff, telling us we were responsible for the new world order,” he said.
However, he said management was understanding of the community reaction, instead pointing the finger squarely at CBA for making it difficult for staff to deal with cash in the first place.
“For us, it was just an issue dealing with the banks — Commonwealth Bank specifically,” he said.
“There was one day in which the owner travelled to six different branches and the coin deposit system was down.
“It became a logistical nightmare.
“I don’t blame the reaction from the public. It was understandable. We understand their frustration, we share their frustration.
“But banks are making it impossible to do business with (cash)… It almost makes it feel like there’s a push to make it hard for businesses to operate.”
He said banks had “no right” to make it “actively difficult” to refuse to handle cash, labelling the situation “unacceptable”.
7NEWS.com.au provided CBA with evidence of the bank’s coin deposit machines being down.
In response, the bank claimed the machines at the locations provided were in working order 98 per cent of the time.
“As we’ve said before, cash is and will remain an important part of Australia’s economy,” a CBA spokesperson said in a statement.
“In addition to the largest branch and ATM network in Australia, our business customers with coin handling requirements have access to over 850 designated self-service coin deposit machines.”
