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Residents in the Houma-Thibodaux area will soon be able to use their cell phones to make purchases at more than 1,000 vending machines.
M&M Sales Company, an operator of thousands of vending machines in hospitals, stores and oil and gas companies, is updating 4,000 machines to use state-of-the-art cashless technology that enables the acceptance of cash, credit or debit cards, and mobile wallet payments such as Google Wallet and Apple Pay
Apple Pay is a service offered by Apple that allows people to use their phones to pay for things. It is safer than using a credit card because a new transaction number is generated with each purchase as opposed to the information on the magnetic strip on credit cards, which never changes and is easily hacked or copied by thieves. Google Wallet is a similar service.
The upgrade comes after M&M Sales partnered with USA Technologies Partners, a cashless payment company, to upgrade the machines.
Steve Hebert, CEO of USA Technologies, says that this move represents a trend in the vending machine market that has been growing for years.
“Consumers spend approximately 30 percent more when they pay with a credit card, but when they pay with mobile [phones], they spend approximately 45 percent more,” Hebert said.
Hebert said that the machines will still accept cash, however they will also accept credit cards and Apple Pay.
“It’s important to know that cash is never going to go away,” said Mickal McMath, president and owner of M&M. He said that one-fourth of American families operate exclusively in cash with no bank account
The move represents a worldwide trend in Point of Sale Marketing that is bringing tablets to tables in restaurants, allowing friends to pay each other electronically using their phones, and even street vendors to accept cashless payments.
Many residents of the Houma-Thiboadaux area will soon be able to buy sodas and snack using Apple Pay, which allows users to link their phones to their bank accounts and is safer than using a debit card.
