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Cashless


arkhusker

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Looking for some general thoughts on going cashless. The one specific question that does come to mind is this; with the requirement to move to EMV, is it still worthwhile to lease or purchase readers right now? 

 

 

Who is using what hardware and what do you think about it? 

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The most affordable hardware and service I've come across so far is from USA Technologies.  I believe they have stopped selling their non-touch reader now in favor of the G8 that handles the NFC payments from a card or phone.  Crane has supposedly also become very competitive in this area with their hardware, at least.   You can use any back office provider you wish regardless of the hardware you use.  That is how Coinco sells their card readers that are on the fronts of the Vantage validators. 

 

There is no telling how long it will take for EMV readers to appear since there aren't even any card providers using that technology yet, though Target says they are moving to it within a couple of years.  The quicker the banks roll out the EMV card, the quicker we will see the card reader providers react with new models.

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EMV is the chip technology used in most of the rest of the modern world. My understanding is that it is far more secure than mag strips. I also read that what will be difficult for vending is that EMV cards require a PIN. I am wondering, though, if the future is more app driven where credit accounts are tied to Google Wallet, Paypal, etc. 

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The point is any card reader hardware you buy today will likely be obsolete within a few years.

 

As the magnetic strip cards are very likely to be replaces with the EMV often called pin and chip.

 

They have been the standard card in Europe for the last 10 years.

    

The card companies have no incentive to change systems because all fraudulent charges come out of the merchant’s pocket.

 

It is a big investment that will not generate any revenue for the card companies.

 

The Target problem put some pressure on them to change. But at this moment no one is moving and no one want to be the first.

 

If they go pin and chip it could happen very fast as everything has been tested and proven in Europe.

 

 

 

Walta 

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I personally though the pin and chip cards would have really taken off here... I remember when I joined the Army back in 1998, the card they issued us, with our pay on them was pin and chip.... If we went to the PX and bought anything or went to get a haircut or etc, that was the card we used!....... still have that card, although it has been dead for years!

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Canada should be a good indication. They went EMV years ago, and today only about 85% of terminals support EMV. Some big chains, such as Lowe's and Starbucks only converted recently.

 

There's no contact EMV support for vending there either. It is still magstripe only even after all these years. The implementation of EMV in Canada is Chip and PIN. Coinco/InOne sells the VPOS card reader that has a chip slot, but surprise, it doesn't work.

 

I believe the PIN requirement will cause a problem for low price point vending. No one will be willing to add a PIN pad to a snack machine. More likely, the solution would be contactless (PayPass/PayWave/ExpressPay/Zip).

 

- Jason

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Thank you for providing that information, Jason.  It just goes to show how far behind the US banking industry is and how out of touch the banking and vending worlds still are as well.  Maybe the issue of PIN numbers in regards to vending machines will lead to more NFC type payments from cell phones or from Google Wallet-type apps.

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I think you are right AZ. Wouldn't be shocked at all if the next iPhone were NFC capable. Sounds like EMV really doesn't even need to a consideration in going cashless, at least not yet. 

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I heard from one vender that recently that InOne stop taking Master card debit.

 

This cut his electronic sales by over 25%.

 

He said at this point none of the vending CC suppliers are taking MC debit.

 

 

Walt  

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I heard from one vender that recently that InOne stop taking Master card debit.

This cut his electronic sales by over 25%.

He said at this point none of the vending CC suppliers are taking MC debit.

Walt

This is because Visa has a special program whereby if you do not take MasterCard Debit they can provide lower rates.

Since most bank cards work on Visa Debit it shouldn't be a significant problem.

- Jason

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I have about 110 InOne card devices, and the effect on my sales when InOne stopped taking MasterCard Debit (MasterCard credit is still accepted) has been minimal, with an initial small decrease in sales, but my sales quickly recovered. I think most people have more than one card anyways, so it has not been that big of an issue and I have received no negative feedback from customers about it either.

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We have been using EMV cards here in NZ since 2011. What fast tracked the change here was us hosting the 2011 Rugby World Cup & the amount of oversea visitors that were travelling here that only had EMV cards. It was also to help control the credit card fraud rate which comes with hosting any major world sporting event.

 

The EMV rule also came into effect with unattended payments through vending machine but we do not require a pin number for transactions under $80.

 

Currently there is only 1 (vending machine) EMV reader available for sale in our market so you can imagine how expensive it is here..

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Has anyone had a problem with eports not recognizing a card? As in someone swipes it and nothing happens, it doesn't even register the card. This is happening on one of my machines and I'm not sure how to fix it.

Oh, also, it's not consistent. I.e. I was servicing the machine the other night and a guy wanted to buy something, he speed his card a few times, nothing. Tried a different card, nothing. I tried my card, first try it worked, he tried his card again, nothing. Went back to the original card and it worked

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Drachen,

 

If you aren't getting a Use Cash Only message before you swipe then you have a problem with the Eport and you will need to contact USAT for tech support or a replacement.  I've heard of this problem before and you have probably experienced it at a retailer sometime in your life so it does happen occasionally.  Your only recourse is to contact USAT.  If you have the original documentation, see if it mentions how to force a firmware update (like it ran when brand new and first installed) and see if that corrects this issue.  Again, you may need to call USAT to do this.

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Drachen,

 

If you aren't getting a Use Cash Only message before you swipe then you have a problem with the Eport and you will need to contact USAT for tech support or a replacement.  I've heard of this problem before and you have probably experienced it at a retailer sometime in your life so it does happen occasionally.  Your only recourse is to contact USAT.  If you have the original documentation, see if it mentions how to force a firmware update (like it ran when brand new and first installed) and see if that corrects this issue.  Again, you may need to call USAT to do this.

Thank you for this. I figured that would be the answer, but wanted to make sure that there was nothing I could do

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So I bit the bullet and ordered a USATech eport. We'll see how it goes. They are selling them at $239 through the end of the month. 

 

 

This isn't a one time purchase though, right?  You still have to pay monthly to keep them operational?  Let me know how it goes.  I think that a couple of my sites would definitely benefit from cashless vending.

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Correct, there is a monthly fee for cellular data and transaction fees for each transaction. If it's just a couple I would definitely buy the units. If you want 10 or more they have a lease program with option to buy.

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