The McDonald's Cash-Only Rule That Could Catch You Off Guard

One of the great conveniences of fast food is that you can often find it 24 hours a day. While not every restaurant is open that long, big chains like McDonald's usually have locations that can cater to burger and fries cravings at all hours. That said, you need to be aware that service might not be exactly the same in the wee hours of the morning. In some locations, often after midnight, you'll need to bring cash if you plan to get a Big Mac.

McDonald's locations rely on a number of computer systems to keep things working optimally, and locations that never close still need time to perform system resets. Just like your phone or modem, nothing can run uninterrupted forever. During resets, updates are installed and the day's financial tallies are finalized. According to one Redditor, a McDonald's may have as many as 20 different computers that need a reset to ensure they keep running reliably.

Since the electronic payment systems are down, debit and credit cards can't be accepted. But old school cash will still work just fine. In fact, this is the time when employees remove the cash drawers and do a count of the day's cash. It's typically done late at night or in the early hours of the morning, before the McDonald's breakfast crowd gets there, since customer traffic is lightest at that time.

There is no set in stone time for this system reset to happen at McDonald's. Some sources say midnight, others say 2 a.m., and some report as late as 4 a.m. Sometimes the drive thru may still accept electronic payments while the indoor registers are limited to cash (or vice versa). This is because the drive-thru and the front of house may be running on different systems and one takes longer to update than the other. Some payment systems at McDonald's can be quite old and take longer to do a full reset.

The reset may only last for 20 to 30 minutes, though some sources say as long as 45 minutes. Twenty minutes may not be an egregious wait, but if it's late at night and all you want is a tasty McDonald's burger, it's probably more time than you're willing to spend waiting around.

Having to pay with cash can be a serious inconvenience if you are not prepared for it. According to DepositAccounts, 66% of people surveyed don't always carry cash, and 61% of people have used cash less than five times in a month. If you're not thinking about it, odds are you're not going to have cash on you when you hit up that McDonald's for a late night craving. However, now that you know, maybe you can stash a few bucks in your wallet and consult our ultimate ranking of McDonald's menu items before heading to the drive-thru.