Opinions

The Day I Took Cash From A MiniMart (Legally!)

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socash

One day, I walked into a minimart and took $30 cash from the cashier.

I didn’t need to threaten, steal surreptitiously or swindle.

I didn’t have to point a gun or a knife, but my mobile phone.

And the cashier even asked me for help on how to take the money from him.

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Last time, you give the shop cash. Now the shop gives you cash. (Photo: DiscoverSG)

Welcome to the world of cash withdrawals without having to visit a bank or ATM

SoCash is an app on your phone, that allows you to make digital payments to the minimart via ibanking or PayLah! (if you’re a DBS/POSB user), then take back the money in cold hard cash.

It’s great for people who hate queues at ATMs and banks, or aren’t close to any of them atm (at-the-moment ;p).

Just:

  • find your nearest cashpoint, and enter the amount you want to draw,
  • scan the QR code on the orange handheld device at the cashier
  • take the cash and run.
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3 easy steps to withdraw cash from shops

You can also withdraw at some pet stores, convenience stores (like 7-11 with a simple purchase), mobile shop etc.

No transaction or admin fees.

Was it that easy?

Actually, yes and no.

It’s really easy for the user to download and set up SoCash.

The difficult part comes when the minimart cashier doesn’t know how to use the orange device to get to the SoCash function (as you need to scan the QR code from the device itself).

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Just scan the QR code on the orange device, pay the shop digitally and then take the cash. (Photo: GreatDeals)

But we managed to get it working together, and bond over the learning experience.

Doing it over, and over again

SoCash gives you a $5 for your second withdrawal.

You can choose to postpone to a later withdrawal as long as it’s within the validity period.

But nah, I went to take money from a second minimart on the same day haha.

Meaning if I withdrew $20, I only had to pay $15 (and SoCash will top up the remaining $5).

You can withdraw a minimum of $10, to a maximum of $500 (but I wonder if that many shops have that much cash on hand).

Earn cash for spreading the word

You get $3 for every friend you refer (share the referral link from your SoCash app).

So now more of us can walk into minimarts and take cash legally.

Extra bonus for those who love promotions

SoCash also has limited period promotions, such as this “$2 off your Haagen Dazs double scoop ice-cream” deal.

You can download SoCash on iOS or Android.

 

 

About Author

What do you want to tell others? Find me at jules <at> workersofsingapore (dot) com

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