Furious Woolworths customers threaten to BOYCOTT the supermarket chain as it moves to make more of its stores cashless

York St, George St and Manly stores transitioned to a cashless system in July

Melbourne’s Bourke St and Elizabeth St also introduced cashless payments

Shoppers are furious at being forced to use EFTPOS as the only form of payment

ALANA MAZZONI

14 October 2020

DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Woolworths customers have threatened to boycott the supermarket giant as it makes even more of its stores cashless.

Stores in Sydney’s CBD on York St and George St, as well as Manly on the Northern Beaches, transitioned to a cashless system in July. 

Melbourne’s Bourke Street and Elizabeth Street Metro stores also introduced cashless payments in July.

On Monday, stores in Caulfield North, Yarraville and Rosebery in Sydney’s south made the same change. 

But customers are furious at being forced to use EFTPOS machines as the only form of payment.

‘I won’t be buying anything from a retailer that doesn’t accept cash. Cash is a legal form of currency and everyone has a right to use it,’ one customer wrote on social media.

‘Please consider what you are doing. Giving people the choice to pay with cash is and always will be essential in my view,’ said another. 

‘I am boycotting Woolworths and any other business who will not accept my legal tender cash. I vow to never attend a Woolworths store again, and instead I will choose to trade with stores who respect me,’ another shopper declared.

Woolworths said most customers at stores that banned cash payments were already paying by card anyway.

‘We know that cash remains an important payment option for many of our customers and 99.14 per cent of our stores will still accept cash. That is all of our supermarkets and the majority of our Metro stores,’ a Woolworths employee said.

Woolworths previously said the changes were made to make checking out easier for ‘busy inner-city customers’.

A Reserve Bank of Australia survey found cash payments fell from 69 per cent in 2007 to 37 in 2016.

Last year just 27 per cent of consumers paid with cash while 63 per cent paid with debit or credit cards.

‘Many people now tap their cards, or sometimes phones, for small purchases rather than paying in cash,’ the RBA report said.