Cashless Vending Machines
by Sarah Miller
Think about the last time you were thirsty and you looked around for a vending machine. Then you reached in your pocket, and you didn’t have any cash or change to pay for that cold drink you were craving. Then you thought to yourself, “I wish they took a credit card.” Let’s face it, everyone has been in this situation at least once. And if that vending machine just took credit card or apple pay you could have gotten that drink. A lot of people in the school have credit cards either with them or in their lockers or cars. And if only the vending machines took credit cards or apple pay, you could be enjoying the nice cold refreshing drink. Also, if the vending machines took credit cards or apple pay the school could profit a lot more because like I explained earlier, not everyone has cash when they want something to drink.
The cost of putting a device that reads cards or apple pay on phones is $7.95 per month plus a transaction fee of 5.95%. The school would cover this cost. The profit margin, on average, for a small school is about $150 a month. PHS would not have to get a whole new vending machine, instead going to Pay Range they can get a credit card reader for the machine. One advantage to adding credit card readers, according to an interview with Paresh Patel, the founder and chief executive officer of Payrange, on the website Vending Market Watch says, “Most operators who are deploying cashless do it to make the sale; this generally generates a lift in sales, and in some cases can capture sales that would have been lost due to the inability of the consumer to make a cash payment.” Another advantage is that once kids get to college there are vending machines that accept credit cards all over college campuses and having credit card readers in high schools helps adapt students to the real world.
Overall, adding a credit card reader on the vending machine will greatly help the students and staff of Pierce High.
