Ampol sparks fury by expanding cashless sites despite new cash mandate

The Cash Welcome group has slammed Ampol’s latest expansion plans, calling it “un-Australian” as they no longer accept legal tender.

In a move announced earlier this month, petroleum giant Ampol is preparing to triple its network of discounted and unstaffed chain U-Go services across Australia.

Cash Welcome founder Jason Bryce labelled the move “un-Australian” because it made it harder for locals to pay with cash.

“Ampol is not a small business,” he wrote in his latest email.

“Ampol is able to accept cash – but doesn’t want to accept cash.

“That’s, frankly (in our humble opinion) un-Australian because it excludes people, limits our payment choice, our ability to control our budget and our personal information.”

In a statement to NewsWire, Ampol confirmed it could not accept cash, but pointed out it allowed everyday Australians to save at the fuel pump.

“U-Go is an unstaffed model which by keeping overhead costs low offers Australian motorists significant savings and quality fuel through a convenient pay-at-the-pump experience,” an Ampol spokesman said.

“Following recent constructive engagement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Ampol has received a five-year cash mandate exemption for its existing U-Go sites.”

Ampol said it is worth noting U-Go had never accepted cash due to the format of the site.

At the start of June, the ACCC approved Ampol’s acquisition of EG Australia, which would add about 470 servos to its footprint for $1.1bn.

This is after divesting 41 sites from EG’s network.

About 125 of these newly acquired sites will be converted into the U-Go format.

Ampol currently operates 46 U-Go sites nationwide and 576 service stations under its main Ampol brand.

Australia’s cash acceptance mandate officially commenced on January 1, with the mandate legally requiring certain fuel retailers and grocery supermarkets to accept physical cash for in-person transactions of $500 or less.

Mr Bryce said Ampol had just been granted a giant exemption from the government’s new cash mandate by the ACCC, which stated large businesses must offer both cash and credit payments on essential items.

The current cash mandate includes fuel retailers because petrol is defined as an essential item.

Small businesses with turnover under $10m per year are exempt from this mandate.

“Ampol sells an essential product and is a huge corporation so there is no good reason to be allowed to reject cash,” Mr Bryce said.

“The cash mandate only applies to fuel retailers and supermarkets so Ampol is blowing a giant hole in Australia’s cash mandate.”