While the number of people using cash to pay for everyday things has fallen, customers still want the choice of being able to pay with notes and coins. Photo / NZME
While the number of people using cash to pay for everyday things has fallen, customers still want the choice of being able to pay with notes and coins. Photo / NZME
More stores are no longer accepting cash as payment, with small businesses saying handling money poses security risks plus extra time. But some residents say it is important to keep cash alive for emergencies, gifting to children or paying for roadside stalls, and they are starting a movement encouraging cash use. Reporter Denise Piper investigates all sides.
Everything from retail stores like SaveMart and Bendon, hairdressers, other services like gas suppliers and even KFC drivers no longer accept cash, as is their right to in New Zealand as long as it is made clear to customers before they buy or use the service.
Tee Nah - who is so concerned about electronic transactions being traced by both banks and central government that she has asked for her nickname to be used - believed businesses should be made to accept cash.
She would like to see us follow Australia, which has introduced a new law making it compulsory for retailers to accept cash for essentials like groceries, medicines or petrol from 2026.
Tee Nah started Facebook group Cash is King NZ during Covid restrictions, and is now joining with other social media pages encouraging people to withdraw and spend cash.
She believed it is a case of use it or lose it when it comes to cash and its importance was highlighted during Northland’s Transpower pylon collapse on June 20, when no electronic transactions worked.
“There’s so many different things cash is important for: There’s teaching your children about saving money because it’s quite hard to teach them on a computer. Also, without cash there wouldn’t be roadside stalls or garage sales, all those little things.”
But the number of people using cash is declining in New Zealand, according to the latest Reserve Bank Cash Use Survey.
The percentage of people using cash as one way of paying for everyday items has fallen from 96% in 2019 to 57% in 2023. Cash is more likely to be preferred by Māori than non-Māori and by older respondents than younger ones, the survey found.
Eftpos or debit card remains the most popular method to pay for everyday items, despite a small drop in people using it from 92% in 2019 to 89% in 2023. Credit card use also fell in the same time period, from 59% in 2019 to 49% in 2023.
People using mobile phone payments like Applepay increased from 15% in 2019 to 20% in 2023.
More businesses are going cashless and customers would like it to be mandatory to accept cash. Photo / Denise Piper
New payment methods not included in the 2019 survey were also being used in 2023, such as online banking (29%), internet payment like POLi (8.7%) and buy now, pay later schemes like Afterpay (3.8%).
Despite the decline in cash use, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Te Pūtea Matua is looking into making businesses accept cash, according to its 2023/24 Annual Report.
Director of money and cash Ian Woolford said cash is still important for many people and the central bank wants to keep it available as long as people want to use it.
Because of the difficulty of banking in rural towns, the Reserve Bank is also trialling community cash services, where non-banks will provide cash services to rural towns.
The need for cash in emergencies is one key factor for keeping it alive, the Reserve Bank said in its annual report: “The public’s need for cash increases substantially when a local emergency disrupts digital payments systems.”
Cash has cost, security issues, for small businesses
But for SaveMart Whangārei manager Grace Young, having to accept cash would pose security issues for the shop, whose workers are all women in their 60s.
The store in Te Kamo went Eftpos-only in 2020 with the start of Covid restrictions and has not looked back since, she said.
Before then, SaveMart used to have to get security guards to come twice a week to pick up the store’s cash, as there are no banks in Te Kamo, plus change had to be ordered in advance, Young said.
SaveMart Whangārei has signs all over the store to advise customers that it only takes Eftpos as payment now. Photo / Denise Piper
“We find it easier to just have Eftpos. We get no problems, it’s faster and there’s no mistakes on the till.”
While the shop has signs plastered around saying it accepts Eftpos only, it occasionally gets customers complaining cash is not accepted, although Young said that is less common now.
Often, people who have only cash will be able to persuade a fellow shopper to pay for their goods in return for the equivalent in notes or coins, she said.
Fellow business owner Peter Niepel said he would have preferred to accept cash only, but customer demand pushed him into accepting Eftpos, Paywave and credit card transactions.
His small Far North bakery, Flour Power, mostly deals with wholesale but also sells directly to customers through the Kerikeri Old Packhouse Market once a week.
Niepel used to accept only cash but found more and more customers were asking if he would take a card, and would walk away or buy less when he said no.
Since accepting cards in September 2021, he finds only about 35% of customers pay cash, with Eftpos being the most popular transaction, followed by Mastercard.
Dealing with cash comes with a cost, including having to count it, add all the transactions into his accounting software, driving 15 minutes into Kaitāia to deposit the cash plus having to order change, Niepel said.
“If I think about my time, it’s not free, it’s not free for businesses to accept cash.”
In contrast, Niepel does not have to pay any bank fees when customers use Eftpos. He is charged 0.75% for PayWave and 2.25% for other credit cards, and he passes on a 2% surcharge for non-PayWave credit card use.
Another social media group, Keep Cash Alive NZ, is also dedicated to preserving the use of cash in daily transactions, for the sake of financial privacy, security and accessibility for all New Zealanders.
The Facebook group has been set up by a group called Citizens Against Digital Overreach, said one of its founders, Whangārei resident Gabrielle, who also asked for only her first name to be used.
Cash is essential in emergencies, such as Cyclone Gabrielle or the global CrowdStrike outage in July which impacted banks, supermarkets and other businesses using Microsoft Windows, Gabrielle said.
The Northland-wide power cut in June left retailers in the dark, but customers could still shop if they had cash. Here Animates Whangārei acting manager Ashaia Muriwai keeps spirits up with her dog Athena. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Keep Cash Alive NZ encourages everyone to withdraw cash and spend it at local businesses every Friday, to help keep cash alive.
“Why is this important? Cash provides financial freedom, privacy, and resilience - especially during times when digital payments may not be an option. Plus, it supports our local economy,” she said.
While the group agrees there should be laws requiring businesses to keep cash, it is also worried about the cost to businesses of having to keep cash, count it and keep it secure, she said.
“As an advocacy group, we have started a petition to keep cash alive indefinitely, but we should also be looking at advocating on behalf of small businesses to make the Government step in and lobby bank policies, in order to help keep fees down.”
The group wants to see cash remain in circulation instead of a digital cash system, which the Reserve Bank is exploring.
Woolford said the digital currency being explored is on top of physical cash, giving people more ways to pay for things.
“We also think digital cash will encourage innovation and give people more choice in how they pay for things, which should in turn save people money, as well as helping maintain trust in New Zealand’s money.”
If the Reserve Bank introduces digital cash, it won’t be until 2030, with plenty of chances for people to have their say, he said.
But Gabrielle said the digital currency raises many worries including privacy concerns, cyber security risks, financial exclusion especially for the elderly, disruption to the banking system, implementation challenges and what she called economic control and manipulation.
She hoped this will be countered by more people spending cash, showing just how important it is.
The money or the card? What do Northland shoppers use?
With the future of cash being such a talking point, the Northern Advocate took to the streets of Whangārei to ask everyday shoppers how often they use cash, and if they thought stores should be made to accept notes and coins.
Nicole Wright says using cash is a good way to budget. Photo / Denise Piper
Nicole Wright, 29, said she uses cash as much as possible.
“Once my bills are paid I take the rest out in cash. My kids do chores for me at home and they get my leftover coins. I find it easier to budget my money, rather than just swiping my card.”
Wright thought businesses should be made to accept cash.
“I do get it because in a way it’s more of a hassle for them but, for people like me that like to use cash, it stops me from taking my business there.
“There are a few more businesses not accepting cash, it’s becoming more frequent ... I think they should [accept cash].”
McCarthy Pearse says it’s usually more convenient to use Eftpos or Afterpay than cash. Photo / Denise Piper
McCarthy Pearse, 62, said he does not use cash very often because it’s usually more convenient to use Eftpos or Afterpay.
“Sometimes I do have cash on me and cash does come in handy ... I do like to use cash because it gives me independence from fees.
“Please don’t get rid of cash.”
Pearse was reluctant to see stores forced into accepting cash.
“I can understand where they’re coming from in terms of possible hold-ups and possible criminal activity from storing cash in the store - it’s a tough one.”
She understood stores not accepting cash if they were worried about the likes of ram raids: “I think cash is going out of fashion.”
Jaymi Caulfield thinks cash needs to be accepted so the older generation are not left behind. Photo / Denise Piper
But Jaymi Caulfield, also 19, thought cash was important.
She saves up her cash - given to her for doing odd jobs around the house, selling items or gifts - to use when she has no money in her account.
Caulfield thought businesses should be made to accept cash.
“It makes it inconvenient for the older people, like my grandfather, who pays for everything in cash.”
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.
