Cards payment in vending machines are not just debit/credit cards

Payment cards used in vending machines are not just credit or debit cards.

 

Today we can use debit cards, credit cards, customer cards and even corporate cards to get a product from a vending machine and in Japan you can even pay using your mobile phone.

Being deeply involved with vending and knowing operators and manufacturers quite well here in Europe, I must say that card payment systems are the future line of business for the main reasons bellow: 1. Vending machines today have technology platforms that are flexible and allow payments and communications in a much grater scale than for example 10 years ago 2. Card payment in a machine does not merely presume the use of debit/credit card. This is basic in Europe. You can have a card, given by your employer, with a credit limit to use in a vending machine - this is even regarded as a PERK or fringe benefit 3. Moreover card payment for a vending machine is today also quite desirable: if you miss five cents you still can have your drink or snack. if the machine does not have change you still can have the product you want 4. Furthermore if the machine is equipped with a card reader you can charge your customer card: you insert a bank note or coins and you charge your card for latter on to use when buying drinks. Hence it even allows the security of not having to recover cash from the machines. Moreover, today we have machines installed with printers to give a receipt that acts as warranty - so, in our case, when we supply a machine that sells electric hand tools - we can get a receipt  that acts as warranty. Are there these machines in the market? - Yes indeed. I am selling them! Then we have reverse vending: The initial stage is that you deliver a glass bottle for recycling and the machine gives you 5 cents for for it. Excellent: you get a few cents and you manage an initiative to recycle and save the environment. However in certain locations a reverse vending machine is being used in a way to charge cards: How? 1. You buy a cold drink for example in a a glass or can from a cold drink machine2. You finish the drink3. You insert the bottle or can in the reverse vending machine along with your customer card and get the refund directly into the card instead of getting your 5 cents coin back However today cards in Europe are really not the only way of cashless payment systems in machines: there are keys like COGES or the ones that N&W uses that do what a card does, are smaller and more stylish and are actually used as excellent promotion items. Furthermore the size of the key reader in the machine can actually be smaller than the card reader and the price lower as well. From my point of view and knowing vending well from the point of views of operators, product suppliers and manufacturers - cashless payment systems are widely accepted and have clear advantages within "indoors" vending. If we talk about "public" vending this is different of course. Finally obviously we have to consider that telemetry works very well also with cashless payments in vending.

This author consults with leading institutions through GLG