We recently published a blog assessing the role self-service kiosks are playing in the shift towards a ‘cashless’ society. In it, we argued that the kiosk industry should be cautious about pushing the cashless ticket too fast.

People are by and large far from averse to innovation and new ideas. But as we’ve seen with the reduction of staffed checkouts in supermarkets and, even more starkly, the disappearance of banks from our high streets in favour of ATMs, they don’t necessarily like having innovations pushed on them at the exclusion of what they know.

So it is with cash. Sure, 84% of payments are now cashless. But for that other 16% of the time, people value having the choice. Some people still prefer and even depend on cash. Driving cashless orthodoxy too hard could lead to a backlash against kiosks themselves.

Fast forward 10 months, and we spotted some interesting news out of the US. McDonald’s is reportedly introducing ordering kiosks capable of accepting cash in a small number of restaurants. The move is being made in franchises where a lot of payments are still made in cash and therefore go through cashiers, with the aim of reducing wait times, increasing throughput and improving the customer experience.

Exactly the reasons why McDonalds introduced kiosks to such spectacular effect in the first place all those years ago, ushering in a revolution that has swept the entire QSR sector.

So this got us thinking. Rather than having to be cautious of its role in cash’s demise – could the kiosk industry in fact be part of the rear-guard action that keeps cash alive?

Making Cash Efficient

It’s certainly interesting that a name as big as McDonald’s is going all back to the future by investing in cash-capable kiosks. It should be pointed out that the move affects around 2% of its US outlets, and the fast food giant has no plans as yet for a larger rollout. But it’s a tantalising possibility. And given its storied history with kiosks, where McDonald’s leads on self-service, you can be sure others will follow.

Would a rise in the number of kiosks capable of accepting cash make a difference to the number of people choosing to use it? Would it make sense for vendors?

There’s little doubt that the driving force behind the transition from cash to digital payments is because the latter is faster, simpler and more convenient. Tapping a card for an instant payment is intrinsically faster than handing over notes and coins to a cashier, who then has to count it out, put it in a cash drawer, and count out change. It’s also more accurate. Cash payments have always been prone to human error.

But what if you could eliminate that? What is you could make cash payments more seamless and accurate? Ok, it’s never going to quite match the tap-and-go simplicity of contactless. But ‘teller’ cash counting technology that rapidly scans notes and coins is old hat, and is becoming faster and more efficient with AI. The slickest machines can count cash and dispense the correct change in on one fluid, uninterrupted process that might take a couple of seconds at most, with 100% accuracy.

That’s what McDonald’s is leaning into with its new cash kiosk experiment. It’s not cash itself that is lumbering and slow compared to digital payments. It’s the human element. But if you could automate cash payments as part of the self-service experience, you would remove one of the key reasons why so many people prefer digital payments.

And with more payment options at kiosks, with more choice and autonomy, perhaps more people would continue to use cash after all.