The days of giving your child a dollar to play on the ride outside the shops have ended as the iconic firetruck has gone cashless.
The red fire truck ride outside Woolworths powered by Australian company Ride On has been changed to cashless without warning and has left parents and grandparents reeling.
Collie grandmother Pat Garofano said she was unhappy that the change wasn't communicated to the community and believes it would be the children who miss out.
"We're a small country town, not a city, we don't want to use our credit cards for a kids ride," she said.
"The worst part is that the change wasn't and still isn't communicated.
"There's only this small little notice on the ride that is easy to miss, and I've seen kids and mum's confused where to put their coins already."
A Ride On spokesperson said the change was a regional trial driven by society's move away from petty cash.
"Firstly...people today are preferring to pay by cashless means, and no longer carry coin on them like they used to," she said.
"Hence why ATM's are being removed from shopping centres at an alarming rate.
"Second, an important reason why this is being trialled, currently in a few remote sites where our operations team can not readily get to, is because a majority of problems that occur with the rides not working relates directly back to coin jams and the coin mechanism.
"By removing the coin aspect we are able to decrease this issue, and ultimately offering a better service."
The spokesperson encouraged customers to purchase the Let's Ride app which allowed customers to pre-purchase discounted tickets rather than using credit cards each time a child wanted to ride.
"While the ride might be cashless only, there is definitely more than one way to purchase a ride," she said.
The spokesperson said the organisation had not seen a decrease in revenue since the change and not received any complains from Collie Central Centre Management about the change.
