ATM queue? Use supermarket till to pay cash into your bank account

Supermarkets are taking their next step towards replacing automated teller machines (ATMs) by accepting cash deposits at tills.

Customers from most banks can deposit up to R5,000 at a cost of R19.95 per transaction, Pick n Pay announced on Wednesday.

More than R36bn in cash was withdrawn at Pick n Pay tills in 2019, and the supermarket group said cash deposits could be made at more than 1,700 stores nationwide.

“Deposits at till points will provide easy access for customers who don’t have a bank branch or ATM in their area," said chief information officer Richard van Rensburg.

"This will save them time and money they would have spent on transport. Our stores will also provide a safe environment to deposit their cash, seven days a week.

Aldo Laubscher, country manager at Visa SA, one of the partners in the new system,  said cash deposits would reflect in a customer's bank accounts immediately.

“The digitisation of cash deposits is another example of the many ways we are advancing our goal of digitising payments by increasing how and where our products and services can be used," he said.

Laubscher's counterpart at Mastercard, Suzanne Morel, said consumers were increasingly moving away from cash and opting for digital payments.

“Cash is inconvenient, costly and unsafe. By partnering Pick n Pay, Mastercard can bring this convenient solution to the market in a step that will further speed the transition towards a cashless and more inclusive society,” she said.