How Armaguard's fight for survival could spell the end of cash in Australia ... trends now
Australia's only secure cash transport company is teetering on the edge of collapse which, if it does fold, could spell a rapid acceleration towards a cashless society.
Armaguard on Thursday rejected an emergency $26million rescue package put together by the major banks and retailers and instead said it would rely on $10million in extra funding injected by parent company Linfox.
The cash transit business has a monopoly since merging with competitor Prosegur last year but has been struggling as the use of physical cash is jettisoned in favour of convenient tap-and-go, card and electronic payments.
Supermarket giant Coles paused all cash delivery services over Easter concerned that if Armaguard went into administration it could lose any cash stuck enroute in its trucks.
Morning 3AW host Tom Elliot warned on his program on Thursday that a collapse of Armaguard would mean transportation of cash around the country would halt.
'What would happen? Well if a company like Coles can't move money from A to B they will stop allowing you to use cash at the supermarket,' he said.
'You get cash from a bank or ATM, how does the cash get there? Well an armoured car has to drive it there.
'If Armaguard goes bust that would pretty much be the end of cash.'
Armaguard has accepted an extra $10million in funding from owner Linfox to keep cash flowing around Australia
Numerous concerns have been raised about a shift to a cashless society including the fees accompanying each purchase, the reliance on electronic platforms that could be hacked or suffer outages, the loss of privacy afforded by cash payments, and the difficulties faced by the elderly or those escaping domestic violence.
Coles said on Thursday afternoon it had resumed deliveries of cash after Armaguard signalled it was confident of staying financially viable in the long term.
