SINGAPORE: Cash piling up seems like the ideal outcome for any business, but restaurateur Guy Wachs found the process of collecting, counting and banking all those notes and coins so time-consuming and subject to human error that he scrapped the whole rigmarole.
His all-day breakfast eatery Wild Honey went fully cashless in 2018, nine years after it first opened and well ahead of most other firms here.
There has been a major change since, with a growing number of businesses here choosing to go fully cashless, despite the misgivings of some customers, particularly older ones.
Around 80% of small and medium enterprises had registered for PayNow Corporate in 2022, up from 75% in 2021, said Melvyn Low, head of global transaction banking at OCBC Bank.
PayNow collection transaction volumes for businesses in 2022 were about threefold higher than in 2020, added Low. “We have seen an over 10% drop in cash deposits and over 40% drop in cash withdrawals by businesses in Singapore since 2020.”
Tesy Mathew, group head of cash product management at DBS Bank, said the increased popularity of cashless payments with the accelerated adoption during the pandemic, coupled with the rising costs of handling cash, has led to a decline in the use of notes and coins.
Turning cashless has saved Wild Honey one full-time cashier position, saving around S$50,000 to S$60,000 (RM170,722 to RM204,867) a year in salary payments, said Wachs, 52.
“This not only saves us money but also helps us with the labour crunch as well. Even before Covid-19, we’ve felt a labour shortage in the food and beverage industry,” he added.
Cafe owner Roy Lim is in the same camp, noting that going mostly cashless is saving him lost earnings.
Lim, 49, said using cash at his Black & Ink cafe had led to incidents such as theft, with some customers running off without paying the bill.
“Transitioning to cashless payments has eradicated such incidents as customers have to pay digitally after ordering from the QR-code menu before the food arrives,” said Lim, who added that about 90% of his cafe’s transactions are now fully cashless.
Sporting goods retailer Decathlon is on the same page as well, having gone fully cashless in 2019.
This has translated into quicker turnaround times for daily store operations, increased accuracy and reduced operation costs, said a company spokesman.
“In addition, our teammates are able to spend more time with our customers.”
The Social Outcast, which sells wood smoked and charcoal-grilled food, went fully cashless in 2021. — The Straits Times/ANN
