WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A worldwide technology outage impacted some drivers and businesses in South Florida on Friday.
Florida's Turnpike posted on X that service plazas statewide are experiencing a service disruption that's affecting ATMs and "the ability to accept credit card payments."
As a result, you can only use cash inside service plazas.
Gas stations and fuel pumps at the service plazas are not affected, and you can still use a credit card there.
Florida’s Turnpike Service Plazas are experiencing a service disruption that has affected onsite ATM’s, and the ability to accept credit card payments. Services are available for purchase with cash. Gas stations are not affected. We apologize for any inconvenience.
— Florida's Turnpike (@FloridaTurnpike) July 19, 2024
WPTV reporter Tyler Hatfield visited a service plaza in West Palm Beach, which had a sign on the door reading "Cash Only. We apologize for any inconvenience."
Drake Piccone was taking Florida's Turnpike to Key West.
"We have all this technology in the world, and we're in a position where I can't even buy a bag of chips or a freaking drink," said Piccone.
Lolli Fenauf was another traveler on Friday and shared the same frustrations.
"I'm a hairdresser, so I always have cash…but guess what…I spent it all," said Fenauf. "I have my $2 bill, but they're not going to take that."
While many places were disrupted by the outage, some businesses in West Palm Beach told WPTV that they were "business as usual."
Andrew Cichewicz, store owner of Qargo Coffee in West Palm Beach, said that his business was not affected by the outage.
But Cichewicz said it was a reminder of the vulnerability in our digital world.
"As a business owner it's always scary to know that something that could potentially influence your business," said Cichewicz. "Even on a small scale, you have no control over it, and it's extremely scary."
