Why does the Luckin coffee store cash policy burden staff?

Luckin Coffee stores lack cash register systems and equipment, so employees who receive cash must accept the money, then use their own phones to scan codes and place orders for customers. Staff end up holding stacks of small bills, struggle to make change, risk taking counterfeit notes, and customers lose online discounts.

A complaint post from a Luckin employee drew wide discussion after describing students paying with cash at a store near a school. The practice adds strain when a coffee store is short-staffed and busy. Mobile payment dominates in China, yet some consumers still rely on cash, so whether the brand should install cash register facilities is now a shared concern.

Recently, a post about Luckin employees being forced to accept cash has sparked heated discussion on social media. Because Luckin stores are not equipped with cash register systems or equipment, employees can only accept cash from customers first, then use their own phones to scan codes and place orders on the customers' behalf. This practice not only leaves employees with a large amount of loose change that is difficult to handle, but also brings a series of problems such as difficulty making change, the risk of inadvertently accepting counterfeit bills, and customers being unable to enjoy online discounts. Especially when stores are overwhelmed with orders and short-staffed, cash ordering becomes an even heavier burden for employees. Although mobile payment has become mainstream, some consumers still rely on cash. Whether brands should improve their cash register facilities has become a focal point of concern for both employees and customers.

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Recently, a complaint post appeared on social media with a rather blunt title—"When will Luckin stop forcing employees to accept cash!" The post quickly attracted a large number of onlookers and discussion.

The poster is an employee at a Luckin store. According to their description, there is a school near their store, and students often come to the store with cash. However, Luckin stores are not equipped with cash register systems or related equipment, so whenever a customer comes to the counter with cash to place an order, employees can only accept the cash first, then use their own phones to scan codes and complete the order on the customer's behalf.

After all this, the cash paid by customers ends up in the employees' hands. Looking at the stack of 20-yuan and 10-yuan bills in their hands, this employee felt very frustrated: "Young people don't buy groceries or go out, and holding this wad of cash, it's hard to even deposit it... so annoying..."

Nowadays, most young people only need a phone when going out—either showing a payment code for merchants to scan, or simply placing orders on their phones directly, which saves both time and effort.

But there are still some people who, for personal reasons, cannot use mobile payment and rely mostly on cash for daily consumption. According to relevant regulations, Luckin employees cannot refuse customers who use cash, but since the counter has no cash register equipment, the storage of cash, making change, and other steps become extremely cumbersome, and there is even the risk of inadvertently accepting counterfeit bills due to the lack of bill verification tools.

In addition, customers who choose to order with cash cannot enjoy the discounts available on the mobile platform, which means they need to pay the original price for drinks. Some customers who are unfamiliar with the store's discount rules easily develop misunderstandings because of this, and employees have to spend time and energy explaining.

The combination of these factors has led some employees to admit that they resist accepting cash. Especially when stores are overwhelmed with orders and short-staffed, flustered employees feel their vision go black the moment they see a customer enter with cash, and simply cannot spare the time to receive them and help place orders, so they selectively ignore the customer's request.

It cannot be denied that mobile ordering is convenient for customers and also saves employees' time in receiving them. For Luckin, not installing cash register equipment not only saves equipment costs, but also allows each store to assign one fewer employee dedicated to taking orders.

However, there will always be a portion of cash users among the consumer group. They may not be the brand's most important users, but in the eyes of employees, since Luckin does not refuse these customers from visiting the store, it should accommodate their payment habits and change the current cash register model that makes employees place orders on their behalf.

Employees suggest that the brand could consider equipping stores with a complete cash register system and related equipment, so that cash received in daily operations has a place to be stored and change is available, rather than requiring employees to collect on behalf of the store a pile of coins and bills that even ATMs won't accept, adding unnecessary trouble.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.