All the advantages at a glance:
- Guaranteed payments:
Payments made by your customers are guaranteed – as if they were using cash. The only verification customers need is the card itself: they do not have to bother with a PIN or a signature. This speeds up payment and makes it much easier for customers, especially when they pay at machines. - The GeldKarte chip cannot be forged:
If you are a vending machine operator, you no longer have to worry about foreign coins that have been hammered flat. That kind of problem simply does not arise with GeldKarte payments. - Fast and convenient payments:
Clearing payments made with GeldKarte is extremely fast and convenient – no online authorization is required, as is the case with credit cards. - GeldKarte cuts your cash handling costs:
Due to tighter central bank regulations these are on a constant increase. - You have less cash on the premises:
Therefore your are less vulnerable to robbery and theft. - You can cash up quickly:
At the end of the day you can cash up much more quickly, all the transactions are stored on a chip card (Händlerkarte) in your terminal, and can simply be read off when you close down the till. Many new vending machines also allow the wireless transmission of transaction data, in order to speed up the process even further. - Quick crediting:
Your sales are credited to your bank account very quickly, and as one lump sum. This usually happens the very next day! - Less vandalism:
Machines that take only GeldKarte payments are automatically less vulnerable to break-ins and vandalism – after all, they do not contain coins or notes. - Flexible pricing:
The GeldKarte allows you a more flexible pricing, beyond the traditional 5-cent steps nowadays used e.g. at snack vending machines. Also, it offers new ways for limited promotions with individual pricing. - Least expensive type of card:
The GeldKarte is by far the least expensive type of card – the charge to retailers is only 0.3% of sales, or at least 0.01 Euro per transaction. Other methods of payment are up to 100 times more expensive (especially via the Internet). - Using the GeldKarte in canteens:
Payment with the GeldKarte in canteens with checkout systems is easy for the canteen staff. The chip on the card can be used not only to store credit – it can also hold personal data (member of staff, trainee entitled to a price reduction, external service provider without subsidized meals, etc.). Eliminating cash from the canteen has cut down significantly on administration – cash takings, for example, no longer have to be counted. - Reduced handling costs for vending machine operators:
The use of the GeldKarte will significantly reduce the handling costs of tobacco wholesalers – i.e. sorting, counting and packaging coins, and taking them to the bank. Using the card will also minimize problems arising from forgery and foreign coins.The risk of vandalism and theft is also reduced with machines that take only the GeldKarte. This advantage should encourage the greater use of the GeldKarte in other types of machine too. - The highly versatile GeldKarte in schools and universities:
GeldKarte cuts down on administration, leaving more time for individual attention. Users are no longer tied to opening times. Universities and colleges save the costs of sending out registration forms, and students do not need a separate library card.