Before COVID began to spread earlier this year Mr Georgopoulos - who owns Jimmy's Yeeros and Takeaway on Woodward Street - estimated about 60 per cent of people paid by card and 40 percent by cash.

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Today, with concerns over the cleanliness of money, 90 percent of people pay by card.

And that means the bank fees are piling up, to a point where it's costing him about $5,000 a year.

"The younger generation are all using cards, they don't carry cash," Mr Georgopoulos said.

"The older generation still carries cash."

To stem the flow of money going out in fees Mr Georgopoulos said he had been forced to investigate a widely-used tap and go system that charges the customer any fees rather than the business.

Orange Business Chamber's Ash Brown said "banks and credit card companies would be loving COVID for the reason that use of cash went to almost zero".

"They've just increased their profit overnight without doing anything, it's money for nothing, and there should be more lobbying for those fees to be decreased."

While a handful of businesses, including some bakeries, have continued to operate as cash-only for the duration of the pandemic, others - such as the recently-opened Birdie Noshery and Drinking Est. - have turned the tap off altogether and insist on payment by card.

A 2019 Reserve Bank survey showed an increasing reliance on cards or phones to make smaller purchases.

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