The proud owner of a rural pub in Western Australia has defended her EFTPOS ban, saying the only complaints she gets are from ‘out of town’.
Sam James, 60, who runs King River Tavern, 7 miles (11 km) north of Albany, said the decision to only accept cash payments was made after a major storm 15 years ago.
Two years after purchasing the lease on the popular pub, damage from the weather forced Ms James to temporarily close her business as everything had been ‘flooded’ and needed to be replaced, reports 7News.
However, this gave Ms James time to review the pub’s accounts, which showed that the restaurant part of the business was not making a profit.
The publican reopened while the kitchen was permanently closed – meaning there was no need for the EFTPOS machine as cash was mainly used in the bar.
This WA pub switched to cash only after a storm 15 years ago when the pub owner realized monthly EFTPOS fees were too expensive while most bar payments were made in cash
Audience member Sam James, 60, (pictured) said the added benefits of cash only include being able to work during a power cut and people donating their change to the local hospice charity.
With the EFTPOS machine costing her a significant amount of money every month, it was an easy decision for Mrs James.
‘I actually had to pay to give [the EFTPOS machine] back,” she said.
Ms James installed an ATM before going completely cash-only, and although this came at an initial cost, she now saves on EFTPOS fees, which cost another local business $300 a month.
At the time, the publican admitted that the switch to cash only was ‘no problem’, and only now people seem to have a problem with it.
Another benefit the publican has discovered is that when there is a power outage, her business can still run with candles burning as she does not have to rely on electricity to receive payments.
The 60 year old said that the only time when the payment system is ‘sometimes’ a problem is when ‘out of town’ visits the pub.
The publican said when she wanted to pay cash only that it ‘wasn’t a problem’ and can’t believe people have only recently started having a problem with it (pictured is a stock image of beer being served)
Mrs James told the time a man raised his fist to pay, wearing a payment ring – and the publican instead thought he wanted to bump her with his fist, and she agreed, leaving them both confused.
‘Apparently you can pay with a ring, it just looked like a glass ring to me. He has since come back and is now very happy with the whole cash situation. He said he got rid of the ring,” she said.
However, now that the cash payment system has been introduced to eliminate bills, there is another important reason why Mrs. James will continue to use cash only.
The publican has a charity tin for the Albany Community Hospice and because people have cash the tin is regularly filled – last year alone $9,000 was raised.
“Because it’s a cash-only location, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, keep the change, keep the change,’ and I say, ‘Well, I’ll throw it in the hospice can,'” she said.
Ms James (pictured left) knows a cash-only system wouldn’t work for every business and is glad it works for her
Ms James said if she went back to a digital payment system the donations would stop.
This was said by a spokesperson for the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI). 7 News that regional areas represent 30 percent of Australian businesses.
They said many regional businesses need to find the cheapest way to collect payments and manage their banking – and cash remains popular.
Ms. James said she knows her payment method may not be suitable for some other businesses and feels fortunate that it works for her and her customers.