Here’s Why Wareham Walmart Suddenly Went Cashless

Retailers not accepting cash has been a hot-button issue lately here in Massachusetts. This week, one major retailer on the SouthCoast became the latest to go cashless – though that wasn't the plan.

With big venues such as Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park and TD Garden going cashless over the past several years, the Attorney General of the Commonwealth is calling a foul.

While she was Attorney General, now Governor Maura Healey was supportive of a cashless payment system. However, our current AG, Andrea Campbell, has come out against the trend of not accepting cash.

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The reasons? There are a few.

This all began as we were collectively trying to reopen and gather in crowds again as the pandemic cooled. One concern was the germs on money being passed around. I can imagine that the venues also saw the cashless system as a more secure way to control finances. There would be no opportunities to pilfer and no time wasted on counting cash in drawers.

Wareham Walmart Wasn't Accepting Cash Tuesday

Interestingly enough, during the same week that Campbell emphasized the importance of all retail businesses accepting cash, Walmart in Wareham went cashless on February 28 – for a little while, anyway.

As you can imagine, this change at checkout quickly made its way to social media, where conspiracy theories were in full effect. Walmart is no stranger to tough talk online, especially among folks who aren't huge fans of self-checkout. 

We called Wareham Walmart to separate fact from fiction.

No, the Tobey Road Wareham has not gotten rid of a cash option.

The cash issue stemmed from a problem the store was having.

"The system went down yesterday so we weren't allowed to accept cash," a manager said. "We didn't have an option to get change from our cash room yesterday. There was a malfunction. That's why they weren't able to accept cash."

Walmart in Wareham was still unable to accept cash as of Wednesday afternoon.