Cashless

The Cashless Committee works to develop a common standard for proprietary, cashless vending specifications and to produce common requirements vis-à-vis bank card schemes.

The Cashless Committee’s aim is to set standards for readers and machines and encourage card schemes to design systems that meet the requirements of the vending industry. It brings together representatives of cashless payment suppliers and vending machine manufacturers.  It regularly seeks feedback from operators in order to have a good understanding of their requirements and to meet their expectations.  The Committee has responded to the emergence of various electronic purses in Europe in the 90s, and to the vending industry’s need for alternative means of payment, especially in closed environments such as the workplace.  The EVA-CVS (Cashless Vending specification) meets the need for standardising a number of physical dimensions, machine interface, scheme functionality and human interface. In 2003, with the emergence of mobile phones and new technologies, the Cashless Committee drafted a Mobile Vending Specification (EVA-MPS) following the model of the EVA-CVS.

The EVA has just launched a position paper on contactless payments in the vending industry. Please click here to read the position paper.

Jürgen Göbel, Chairman of the Cashless Committee was interviewed at the Cartes 2009 event (video produced by Krowne Online Broadcast Network). Click here to see the first part of the interview (and don't forget to scroll down once you’re on the website to see the rest of the interview – it’s in 3 parts!).

Coins or cashless?

Most of the vending industry in Europe is coin-operated.  However, cashless readers are fitted in about 10% of machines in Europe and are expected to continue to grow slowly but surely.  These are mainly proprietary systems, i.e. systems that will only work in a closed environment as opposed to universal systems, which are made available by banks to the general public. In those environments cashless payment has the advantage of being fast, easier to manage and eliminates the disadvantage of cash handling. It is also multi-function and can include access and control features (e.g. access to the building or car park, etc).  The emergence of the electronic purse in Europe and the expected “cashless revolution” that one might have expected have furthered the need for the vending industry to create standard requirements for such systems to be functional in an unattended environment. A number of technical imperatives had to be taken into account by banks when designing electronic purses such as: the high speed of transactions or the sequence of a vending transaction and its consequences.   Proprietary cashless schemes in operation have also had to take these imperatives into account when developing their products.

The EVA-CVS (Cashless Vending specification) was developed by the Committee to set a standard to which all parties could refer as a common basis for cashless implementation, which would take into account both the specificity of vending and the functioning of closed and universal schemes.

The CVS 1.3 takes into account the new “tap and go” contact and contactless payment features, which have emerged and are being promoted by bank card providers.

The incredible boom of new technologies and the fast development of mobile solutions have inspired the Cashless Committee’s innovative streak. The Cashless Committee produced the EVA-MPS in 2003, which sets the basic electrical and mechanical requirements for vending machine and mobile payment equipment designers/manufacturers on the one hand, and on the other, incorporates the essential user interface and functional characteristics; i.e. customers’ requirements for easy-to-use mobile payment devices.

Cashless payments have not only become another payment option, but they have established themselves on the vending market as a highly sophisticated and multi-functional means of payment. Today, consumers increasingly expect to use more payment options in retail environments. The Cashless Committee creates the right environment to make this technically possible. It is then up to the operators to meet consumers’ demands for more payment options in those environments where it makes economic sense.

In a highly competitive environment with demanding consumers, the vending industry must offer a great vending experience every time.