Before COVID-19, people who wished to show their appreciation for Stephen Tashi's music might have dropped a few coins into an old hat or the like.
But these days they are presented with a small, white plastic box and asked to tap their credit or debit card instead.
"With COVID-19 hitting Australia, all of a sudden people were no longer carrying cash," Mr Tashi said.
"It became patently obvious that … we weren't making any money. They're carrying cards [so] we've got to get card ready."
New tech met with resistance
The technology Mr Tashi has adopted is called a Square Reader — a mobile card reader that has become popular with small businesses like cafes, food vans, and market traders.
But despite widespread use of the technology by traders, the general public have been slow to accept its use by a street musician.
Mr Tashi described the general response so far as "disbelief".
"A busker with a swipe? They don't trust buskers to handle their card details," he said.
The Square company said it keeps payment information safe by encryption and it follows appropriate protocols to ensure data stays safe.
Mr Tashi said he had to have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and be registered with the Australian Tax Office to use the technology.
Yet people are still reluctant to swipe their cards and nominate a donation.
Mr Tashi said he hoped in time it would become more accepted in a busking context.
"This technology is one of the best, most secure things," he said.
"The cafe owners that are using it wouldn't be using it unless it is."
Busking income slashed amid pandemic
Despite innovating, Mr Tashi's income has taken a huge hit since the pandemic arrived.
Whereas he would once comfortably earn $150 to $200 a night, he now struggles to make $30.
To make matters worse, he has been homeless for the past two months after his rural farmhouse burned down.
Totally reliant upon his pension and busking income, he has been living at a pub in exchange for busking.
Mr Tashi said despite the initial setbacks, he believed contactless busking payments were the way of the future.
He was aware of possibly one other busker using the technology in Albany and could not see himself ever returning to cash.
"Contactless everything in a COVID environment, we're just going to have to be contactless," he said.
"It's just got to happen."
Editor's Note 29/09/2020: An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated that Mr Tashi has been homeless for two years, whereas he has in fact been homeless for two months. This story has been corrected to address this error.
