USA Technologies, which provides technology to campuses allowing students to pay and monitor their laundry through their campus cards, now has targeted vending machines. The company says its e-Port terminal, a wireless cashless transaction device designed for vending machines, will accept contactless cards as if they were swiped and will help “break open the vending industry to micro transactions using credit and debit cards.”
MALVERN, Pa.– USA Technologies has announced the launch of contactless credit card technology for vending machines.
Known as ExpressPay from American Express, PayPass from MasterCard, Blink and Tap N’ Go technologies by others in the payment industry, the credit card associations in conjunction with issuing banks started providing credit cards embedded with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology last year. These RFID contactless credit cards activate USA Technologies’ e-Port terminal when the consumer passes the credit card in front of the vending machine, just as it would if a consumer swiped their credit card. The technology has been designed for speed, convenience and security. The new payment method does not require a customer’s signature. The cards are embedded with software to prevent duplication and data theft.
“This is a breakthrough for USA Technologies and for the vending industry, and could quickly change the $40 billion global vending market place as we know it,” said Wendy Jenkins, Vice President of Marketing, USA Technologies. “The card associations and other industry experts, see our technology helping to break open the vending industry to micro transactions using credit and debit cards.”
The credit card companies are conducting aggressive advertising campaigns and shipping millions of new credit cards to consumers with RFID technology.
“The card associations are actively encouraging and supporting vending machine manufacturers and operators to transform their machines to cashless, using the RFID contactless technology,” said Ms. Jenkins. “RFID contactless is more secure, helps overcome the theft of credit card numbers, is much more efficient and certainly much faster, and the vending industry is taking notice. Several customers have approached us, saying they want and need this technology to put them at the leading edge and give them competitive advantage.”
Contactless cards are already being used on a limited basis at some movie theaters, quick serve restaurants and drug stores, but up until now, not in vending machines. The card association considers vending a major opportunity for micro transactions and believes the contactless technology will finally convert the vending industry to cashless.
Only last week J.P.Morgan Chase, the nation’s largest credit-card issuer with 94 million credit cards in circulation, announced it was issuing Visa and MasterCard-branded cards with the new “Blink” technology.
“While contactless technology is just now getting a lot of media attention, USA Technologies researchers have been developing the e-Port to accept the contactless technology for vending machines for some time. We anticipated that consumers would want the convenience of contactless, and today USA Technologies has a solution for every payment option. We believe our e-Port technology is leading edge that no competitor can equal.”
About USA Technologies
USA Technologies is a leader in the networking of distributed assets, wireless non-cash transactions, associated financial/network services and energy management. USA Technologies provides networked credit card and other non-cash systems in the vending, commercial laundry, hospitality and digital imaging industries. USA Technologies is an IBM Business Partner. The Company has marketing agreements with Cingular Wireless, Honeywell, MEI, Unilever and ZiLOG Corporation. For further information on USA Technologies, please visit www.usatech.com. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/cr80news-4.gif)
