Statistics are showing that cashless vending is on the sharp rise and there are some significant profits to be realized when vendors use Credit/ Debit Card readers on their vending machines. A recent study showed that “cashless (purchases) represents 25% to 27% of total sales in the overall workplace market. That figure has risen sharply from 15% to 16% a few years ago”.
Not only can sales increase with the use of credit cards but the amount of money people are willing to pay also increases significantly when a credit is available. Have you ever wondered why a 20 oz soda bottle can cost $1.50 or more in a store but in a vending machine it normally cost $1.25. Another study by USA Tech, who is the leader in Credit card reader technology, reports that an average vending transaction with cash equals $1.15 verses the average transaction with cashless vending equals $1.49, which represents a 30% increase in your sales.
So the question that everyone has been asking me is, “How does it work and how much does it cost?” The credit card reader is attached to the vending machine and must be programmed into your machine in order for it to function. Many of the Combo Vending machines I sell have this option available where you can easily scroll through the list of MDB payment option accepted including cash, coins, and Dex Card Readers. If your machine doesn’t have this as an option, it would probably too costly to change the programming to allow for card readers.
USA Technologies developed the Eport card reader back in the year 2000 and this was the pioneer technology for cashless vending. There is a sim card built into the card reader and an antenna to transport the information, so as long as your location has cell phone coverage, you should be able to have a wireless cashless vending machine. If the connection is spotty, then you could purchase a High Gain Antenna which would increase your signal.
As for service charges to be connected, USA Tech charges the vendor a monthly fee, which is typically $8.99 to have this service, plus a transaction fee of 5.95% or $.05 cents, whichever is greater, for each transaction. At The Discount Vending Store, it typically costs $300 extra to have one of our pre-owned machines equipped with a card reader and it costs an extra $450 for our new machines. This may seem high at first but when considering the increased profit potential by using the credit card reader, your ROI would quickly be realized.
