Safety concerns trigger cashless policy at McDonald’s, spark heated debate among customers
- Replies 26
Many are increasingly becoming more reliant on technology, especially businesses.
McDonald's, a global fast-food giant, has recently sparked a wave of outrage among its Australian customers due to a sudden shift towards cashless payments at certain times of the day in some Melbourne branches.
This move, which McDonald's claims is for safety reasons, has left many customers disgruntled and threatening to boycott the chain.
A customer from Clayton South McDonald’s, in Melbourne’s south, shared a photo of signs at the restaurant's entrance.
The sign read, 'For the ongoing safety of our staff and customers, we will no longer accept cash payments between midnight and 6 am.'
This customer, a regular patron for years, was taken aback by this sudden change and called for others to boycott the branch.
'Boycott this Maccas,' they said.
'I don’t come here that regularly, but I have been for years and (have) only seen this today.'
When the customer questioned the staff about the reason behind the cashless move, they were told it was due to a recent robbery.
However, the customer was not satisfied with this explanation.
'Either way, I don’t care, I’m paying cash regardless,' the customer said.
The customer's call for a boycott sparked a heated debate on social media.
While some users agreed that the cashless policy was inconvenient, others defended McDonald's, arguing it was a sensible move to protect staff.
A McDonald’s spokesperson explained that the decision to go cashless was implemented in restaurants in Melbourne’s East and South.
However, they assured that cash would still be accepted if that was the only payment method available to the customer.
'The safety and wellbeing of our people and customers is our top priority,' the spokesperson said.
'In response to recent incidents, McDonald’s restaurants in Melbourne’s East and South have implemented a number of proactive safety measures to ensure the ongoing protection of our people and customers.'
'This includes asking customers to use cashless payment methods where possible.'
The spokesperson thanked customers for their understanding and cooperation as the company continues to prioritise safety in its restaurants.
This comes after news of outrage from the recent nationwide Optus outage, which left millions of Aussies unable to make digital transactions.
The incident also ignited a heated debate about the country's readiness to abandon cash entirely, with many arguing that the outage underscores the importance of maintaining a dual system of cash and digital payments.
The outage—which went on for over nine hours—had a domino effect, crippling thousands of businesses across the country that rely on EFTPOS machines for transactions. As a result, customers were forced to revert to cash payments.
You can read more about this story here.
What's your take on this, dear readers? Does opting for cashless transactions as an anti-robbery measure make sense? Or is it an unreasonable move for a food business? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
McDonald's, a global fast-food giant, has recently sparked a wave of outrage among its Australian customers due to a sudden shift towards cashless payments at certain times of the day in some Melbourne branches.
This move, which McDonald's claims is for safety reasons, has left many customers disgruntled and threatening to boycott the chain.
A customer from Clayton South McDonald’s, in Melbourne’s south, shared a photo of signs at the restaurant's entrance.
The sign read, 'For the ongoing safety of our staff and customers, we will no longer accept cash payments between midnight and 6 am.'
Some McDonald’s stores in Melbourne implemented a cashless policy from midnight to 6 am. Image source: Shutterstock.
This customer, a regular patron for years, was taken aback by this sudden change and called for others to boycott the branch.
'Boycott this Maccas,' they said.
'I don’t come here that regularly, but I have been for years and (have) only seen this today.'
When the customer questioned the staff about the reason behind the cashless move, they were told it was due to a recent robbery.
However, the customer was not satisfied with this explanation.
'Either way, I don’t care, I’m paying cash regardless,' the customer said.
The customer's call for a boycott sparked a heated debate on social media.
While some users agreed that the cashless policy was inconvenient, others defended McDonald's, arguing it was a sensible move to protect staff.
A McDonald’s spokesperson explained that the decision to go cashless was implemented in restaurants in Melbourne’s East and South.
However, they assured that cash would still be accepted if that was the only payment method available to the customer.
'The safety and wellbeing of our people and customers is our top priority,' the spokesperson said.
'In response to recent incidents, McDonald’s restaurants in Melbourne’s East and South have implemented a number of proactive safety measures to ensure the ongoing protection of our people and customers.'
'This includes asking customers to use cashless payment methods where possible.'
The spokesperson thanked customers for their understanding and cooperation as the company continues to prioritise safety in its restaurants.
This comes after news of outrage from the recent nationwide Optus outage, which left millions of Aussies unable to make digital transactions.
The incident also ignited a heated debate about the country's readiness to abandon cash entirely, with many arguing that the outage underscores the importance of maintaining a dual system of cash and digital payments.
The outage—which went on for over nine hours—had a domino effect, crippling thousands of businesses across the country that rely on EFTPOS machines for transactions. As a result, customers were forced to revert to cash payments.
You can read more about this story here.
.png){kind=icon}
.
