‍Retailers must accept cash or lose business.

Retailers must accept cash or lose business.

Tyro problems highlight a massive problem for small business.

Thousands of merchants are STILL impacted by Tyro’s “terminal connectivity issue” 22 days after the problem was first detected and reported on 5 January 2021.

As of yesterday:

·       486 merchants using Tyro transaction acquiring services and terminals still do not have an operational Tyro payment terminal.

·       1490 Tyro merchants have at least one non-functioning Tyro terminal.

·       643 Tyro merchants are being advised to upgrade their terminals.

Tyro is Australia’s fifth largest merchant acquiring bank by number of terminals in the market, behind the four major banks. All four major banks have also suffered payment system problems in the last few years.

“Retailers must accept cash or be completely vulnerable to bank or financial institution outages and ‘terminal connectivity issues.’” said Jason Bryce, consumer affairs journalist and spokesperson for the Cash Welcome campaign.

“There is only one payment system that is always up and running, 24 hours, 365 days per year and that is cash.

“Without cash, business can be stopped completely, without notice and without compensation.”

Sydney based law firm Bannister Law is currently investigating a potential class action against Tyro on behalf of businesses that have been unable to accept cashless payments during January 2021. Tyro boasts over 32,000 Australian business customers.

Bannister Law also says it is also considering potential shareholder claims against Tyro, which is listed on the Australian Share Market (TYR). On the 4th January Tyro’s shares were worth $3.36. Today (28 January 2021) they are down 88 cents or 26 per cent to $2.48.

Before this Tyro debacle, Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe had flagged this issue at a payments systems conference in December.

Dr Lowe said he doubts Australia will ever become a cashless society but more likely simply a “society with less cash in it”.

Cash has an important role to play as an emergency payment method said the RBA governor.

He talked about ‘stories where a bank’s systems have gone down or a merchant’s internet is not working.’

“In almost every case you can guarantee that you can use cash to make the payment,” said Dr Lowe.

“So I think many people will want to hold cash.”

For retailers, continuing to be able to accept cash payments is critical to being open for business even when bank systems and internet connectivity are down.


And Australians still love and trust cash so not accepting cash is possibly putting a retailer’s business at risk of losing sales and losing customers. Woolworths is one such retailer. Many Woolies Metro supermarkets have gone cashless, angering customers.


These former Woolworths customers, writing comments on Facebook above, are clearly unhappy with the chain for not accepting banknotes and coins. What will happen when Woolworths suffers an internet connection issue or, for some reason, can’t accept card and cashless payments? Presumably customers will go without food and essential items. That can’t be good for Woolworths, the customers or the Australian economy.

Please sign the petition to stop Australia going cashless.

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