Shoprite and Checkers cash deposits: how much it costs vs South Africa’s big banks

Banking customers at major banks in South Africa can now deposit cash directly onto their bank card at the till point in any Shoprite, Checkers or Usave store.

“As these stores are typically open outside of normal banking hours – and over weekends – they are significantly more convenient than traditional banking outlets,” Shoprite said.

Customers have to present their Visa or MasterCard card at any till point, along with the cash they want to deposit, enter their PIN, and the cashier will handle the rest of the transaction.

“Together with other established in-store services like cash withdrawals, money transfers, and bill payments, this new functionality means shoppers can now perform most basic banking tasks at all supermarkets within the Shoprite Group,” it said.

The functionality is available at each of the almost 1,700 Shoprite, Checkers and Usave supermarkets located throughout South Africa.

Deposit services will be available during normal operating hours, charged at a flat rate of R19.95 per transaction. Cash deposits of up to R3,000 can be made.

These are the banks for which the service is available:

• Nedbank
• FNB
• Investec
• Standard Bank
• African Bank
• TymeBank
• Discovery Bank
• Bidvest Bank
• Sasfin
• Grobank

Banking partnerships

South Africa’s banks have moved to provide more convenient access to banking services over the years, particularly in the entry-level accounts, and where customers live remotely – away from ATMs.

Point-of-sale withdrawals have become commonplace, with more recent moves by new entrants like TymeBank, offering more complete services at tills.

Despite the convenience of doing banking at the till, depositing cash with Shoprite comes at a premium cost of almost R20 per transaction. While a flat rate means there are no additional complicated calculations, it doesn’t always make the convenience the most affordable.

Most notably, if customers are not depositing a lot of cash – say, R500 – it is almost always far cheaper to head to a bank’s native ATM for cash deposits.

Banks that Shoprite has not partnered with are greyed out

However, if you are looking to deposit the cap of R3,000, the Shoprite or Checkers till works out to be one of the most affordable ways to do this, with a few exceptions.

Among the banks where the Shoprite service is available, FNB, Nedbank and TymeBank still have cheaper options for the R3,000 max transaction.

FNB’s Easy Zero and Nedbank’s MobiMoney accounts offer deposits for free, with limits. At FNB, the first R1,500 is free, thereafter customers are charged R1.10 per R100 deposited. For a R3,000 deposit, the total charge comes to R16.50 – which is more affordable than Shoprite.

Nedbank’s MobiMoney comes with a R4,000 limit to its free deposit, which negates the cost of a R3,000 transaction altogether – at least once a month.

TymeBank, meanwhile, has a partnership with Pick n Pay and Boxer stores, where deposits are charged at R6.00 per R1,000 – so it would be cheaper to deposit R3,000 at those outlets (R18.00) than using Shoprite.

For all other retail accounts, though, Shoprite’s till deposits work out as the cheapest option for a maximum transaction.

Banks that Shoprite has not partnered with are greyed out

Given the data, you can determine at which point or value a transaction will be cheaper to make at your local bank branch or ATM, versus a Shoprite till-point.

For the aforementioned Nedbank, FNB and Tymebank accounts, it is cheaper to stick to native ATM/methods of depositing, regardless of the amount.

With other banks, the threshold for when the Shoprite option becomes the more affordable route ranges between R1,000 and R2,000.

Read: The cheapest bank accounts in South Africa – how Spot Money compares to the rest