Discount for cash: every state, city, town and trade

A discount for cash is a reduction from a business's normal displayed price that applies only when the customer pays with notes and coins. The displayed price stays the price everyone pays, and the cash price sits below it.

Yes. The Reserve Bank of Australia states businesses can continue to offer discounts for particular payment methods, and that removing its prohibition on no-surcharge rules is not intended to prevent discounts being offered to consumers for using certain payment methods. Card surcharging itself is being removed as the card networks introduce no-surcharge rules from 1 October 2026.

Because a cash price only changes behaviour if the customer has notes in hand at the counter. Where the nearest ATM is a block away, most customers use a card anyway. Free ATM placement puts a machine in line of sight of the counter at no cost to the venue.

Businesses where the customer decides at the counter and baskets are small and frequent — convenience stores, service stations, cafes and takeaway, pubs, clubs, bottle shops, markets, laundromats and salons. Higher-value trades such as mechanics, restaurants and accommodation usually price a percentage discount instead of a flat one.