230 | PARKING
It pays to recycle cash
Cashless payments are often seen as the parking payment method of choice, but with new technology enabling machines to return banknotes as change plus reduce running costs, cash is staging a comeback Words | Andrew McArdle Booker, Crane Payment Innovations, UK
Cash payments can be easier and cheaper for operators to manage than card payments
In the global push toward fully automated parking, more operators are examining the impact of different payment options on efficiency and profitability. In recent years, cash has been in the spotlight as an increasing number of electronic payment methods promise to reduce the challenges and expenses associated with managing it. As recent cases of data breaches at parking facilities across the USA and elsewhere have demonstrated, paying for parking by card brings potential security risks. Studies have shown that people
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typically prefer to use cash for moderately priced transactions. Also, as PaymentEye reported, cash transactions have seen a steady decline in the UK, from 52% of all transactions in 2014 to 47% in 2015 – although they still make up a large portion of payments. According to MasterCard, 85% of transactions worldwide are made with cash. Although limiting the number of payment options that customers can use may seem like a good idea, it can actually be a very risky decision. Cash payments may help operators to save money for as long as a
cash machine is installed and in use. The initial cost of the cash technology, together with ongoing operational costs, may actually work out less than the combined transaction fees when accepting cashless payments.
Functional rather than practical Until recently, money used in banknote payment solutions was stored – rather than reused – inside the machine. Standard parking pay-on-foot machines had to accommodate them. As banknote payment solutions didn’t recycle notes as change,
