Thread: CASH ONLY SALES - Version 2.0!

Originally Posted by 3toes

Do not know how far they have got with it but Coles and Woolworths are building their own payment systems and charging the banks for access and per transaction. Seems they looked at how much it was costing them in fees and charges and decided they would have some of that thanks.

Cabcharge did it for Taxis years.
They stitched up the mobile EFTPOS system after developing the technology at a cost of Millions of Dollars and recouped their investment in a few years.

Any business owner that thinks they are pulling the wool over the eyes of the ATO is a fool.
Say you are a Coffee shop owner that deals in cash only.
You collect your 3 or 4 Dollars per cup of Java and put it in the cash box and think to yourself, "Hmm, today I'll skim 20% off the top and declare 80%".
Now when the same bloke does his Tax he's going to claim all of his input costs isn't he?
X amount of bags of Coffee, X amount of Cups, X amount of Milk and Sugar.
The ATO has a Database on the 50 000 odd coffee shops in the system and pretty soon bells are going to start ringing when the numbers don't add up.
There have been a few caught out believe me.

Originally Posted by DT-P38

So why isn't an eftpos only facility available and cheap for small business ?

up to you what you put tbru your $25per month nachine

there is no compulsion for you to accept anything other than what you want

Originally Posted by Hymie

Cabcharge did it for Taxis years.
They stitched up the mobile EFTPOS system after developing the technology at a cost of Millions of Dollars and recouped their investment in a few years.

Cabcharge was the baby of Reg. Kermode who ran 50+ cabs out of an office behind the Golden Fleece in Clovelly Rd. Reg. was an agitator for computerised booking & recording systems. He was particularly annoyed by his drivers rarely declaring the 40c. radio hiring fee in their "turn-in". This was not recorded anywhere and Reg. reckoned he was entitled to his percentage. His Cabcharge business was eventually sold to the taxi industry for an indecent amount of money, $35,000,000 comes to mind but I could be wrong there.

Originally Posted by Hymie

Any business owner that thinks they are pulling the wool over the eyes of the ATO is a fool.
Say you are a Coffee shop owner that deals in cash only.
You collect your 3 or 4 Dollars per cup of Java and put it in the cash box and think to yourself, "Hmm, today I'll skim 20% off the top and declare 80%".
Now when the same bloke does his Tax he's going to claim all of his input costs isn't he?
X amount of bags of Coffee, X amount of Cups, X amount of Milk and Sugar.
The ATO has a Database on the 50 000 odd coffee shops in the system and pretty soon bells are going to start ringing when the numbers don't add up.
There have been a few caught out believe me.

When I was a DSS field officer and we were doing joint projects with the ATO I was told that racetracks, barber shops, and hot bread kitchens were major players in the hot cash black economy.

Bookies and professional punters would simply not record some transactions and pocket the cash. Race tracks are usually awash with cash.

Have you ever seen many barbers who have other than a cash drawer or a pocket? How many heads did I cut today? So many for me, so many for the Mrs. and so many for the tax man. No, that doesn't look right. I'll adjust those figures. I used to tell a barber friend that barbers were the last Australians to know how many fifties fit in a 44 gallon drum.

Most of what a hot bread shop makes is sold for cash the same day it is made. Who knows how much was made and how much was thrown out? Inputs? Well, you buy so much flour and raisins etc. on your a/c at the regular suppliers, and go to the wholesale grocer and buy some for cash. No record of your inputs and the cash fr9om these sales goes into the drum under the garage.

I will use whatever is most appropriate for the amount I am spending, be it credit / debit card, or cash.

That said, accepting cash for transactions is not free of fee's either.

The small business owner has to count, & then somehow deposit that cash into his bank, often after-hours. There is also the risk to them & their staff of holding and / or carrying cash.

For larger business, they would use a cash carrying company. Again, not cheap.

Recently, I went to book day for the youngest, as we do at the beginning of every school year. All up, the fees payable on the day are around $600. There is still about 1/3rd of the families in the school that pay by cash. The reasons are varied, but often, it is simply because the parents can't make it at the time, and the grand-parents go. "Here is the cash for the fees".

Suddenly, there is close on $80k in cash that has to be deposited. OH&S, and common sense, says that the staff cant carry that much. So, a cash carrying company has to be employed to collect, count, & deposit the money.

But, at the end of the day, it is a cost of doing business. I loath having to pay a "surcharge" for using my card, as I know the cost of dealing in cash is very similar, which does not incur a charge. Good luck to the first business that tries it on.

Originally Posted by Basil135

OH&S, and common sense, says that the staff cant carry that much. So, a cash carrying company has to be employed to collect, count, & deposit the money.

In gentler times, I recall catching a tram from my employers office to the bank with two Gladstone bags. One for coin and cheques and one for notes. One occasion it was thought prudent to send two of us as there had been a big sales event over the weekend and we were carrying 40,000 pounds in notes. Not unusual to be carrying 10,000+ pounds in notes and a back-breaking 500 in coin. No-one ever gave a thought to getting one of the security firms to carry it. We used to take the works payroll (400 men) from the office to the works on the tram and often stopped for a beer on the way.

just told my bank to shove its Visa efpos machine.

600 to buy the machine
200 a month in fees
less 2%

i do one transaction a day average so about 600 a week.

the funny thing is in NZ the banks all wanted to give you a machine for free and no fees to keep you with there bank.