Yahoo Finance Australia Post customer charged $2.20 ‘for using cash’ - but is the outrage warranted?
An Aussie has called out Australia Post for charging customers to use cash. But is this claim actually true?
As the debate over whether Australia is moving towards a ‘cashless society’ rages on, one Aussie has claimed Australia Post charged them extra to pay their bill with cash.
Brisbane resident Gerrie Hoogland shared her outrage after hearing about the supposed cash charge through a friend.
How would a cashless society impact you? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com
“A friend of my husband’s went to pay a bill at the Post Office last week,” Hoogland wrote. “He gave them $82.00 in cash and they said they would have to charge him $2.20 for using cash.
“He refused to pay it after telling them cash is legal tender, and then he left without paying the bill at all.”
A number of Aussies took to the comments to call out Australia Post for being “shady”, with some calling the fee a “scam” and a “disgrace”. But the outrage towards Australia Post might not actually be warranted.
A friend of my husband’s went to pay a bill at the Post Office last week. He gave them $82.00 in cash and they said they would have to charge him $2.20 for using cash.
He refused to pay it after telling them cash is legal tender, and then he left without paying the bill at all.…— Gerrie Hoogland (@WatchtowerRome2) January 20, 2024
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Fee for bills ‘paid in person’
Yahoo Finance has contacted Australia Post and understands the fee is set by individual billers, rather than the postal service.
The fee relates to bills paid in person at an Australia Post outlet via Post Billpay and can apply to both cash and card transactions. Whether or not the fee is passed onto the customer will depend on the individual biller.
“Some billers charge a bill-payment fee for bills paid in person,” Australia Post said. “Exemptions may apply. For further information please contact your biller direct.”
Common practice
There are a number of billers who charge a bill-payment fee for bills paid in person at Australia Post outlets. Some notable examples include telcos Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.
Telstra, for example, currently charges a $2.50 “non-electronic-payment fee” to customers who pay their bills in person at Australia Post or Telstra stores. This applies regardless of whether the customer pays the bill with cash or card.
“Australia Post charges the utility for processing the payment and it is common for companies to pass this onto the customer,” the telco previously said.
Cash use drops
The use of cash for payments has dropped over recent years, as Aussies switch to digital payment methods.
According to Reserve Bank data, the share of consumer payments made using cash plunged from 70 per cent in 2007 to just 13 per cent in 2022. This shift away from cash was accelerated by the pandemic, where contactless payments were encouraged.
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