Contactless payments for post users

The Post Office has started installing contactless payment terminals in its branches up and down the country. With a network of over 11,500 branches, this investment will make the Post Office the biggest user of the technology in Europe. It is expected that the new service will greatly reduce transaction times and simplify purchases.

The service allows customers to easily pay for goods or services without the need to insert their card and type in a pin. Instead, customers can simply wave their card over a receptor on a specially designed terminal. This will allow holders of contactless supported bank cards to instantly pay for transactions up to £20.

Along with retailers, more and more banks are supporting the contactless technology. Many new debit and credit cards are issued with the new chip which allows contactless terminals to quickly identify the card and automatically deduct money from the bank account. HSBC is the latest bank to embrace the technology and its new current cards all come with the new chips. It follows in the footsteps of Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays in issuing the new cards to customers.

It is expected that the contactless payment technology will encourage more and more consumers to use their cards for low-value transactions. Similar developments have been made with mobile phone applications, as PayPal has announced that they will be installing scanners in clothes stores owned by the Aurora Fashions Group. These scanners will allow customers to pay for goods via their mobile phone. The phone app is linked to the user’s Paypal account and can be accessed via a unique pin. The app generates a unique barcode which can be read by the shop’s specially installed scanners. When scanned, this barcode automatically deducts the amount from the user’s Paypal account, and the transaction can be completed without an available phone signal.