3 minute read
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 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,
cash boxes had to be emptied frequently. Fortunately, cash payment technology has improved dramatically over the past two years and these new solutions can easily be integrated into smaller payment machines to offer rapid transaction times. In fact, the typical cash transaction today can often be completed just as fast as a card transaction.
Low-maintenance system
So, how does recycling technology help? Cash recyclers accept and store banknotes for use as change in future transactions. As a result, rather than having to be emptied every day, they can run for days, even weeks, at a time with minimal float levels before having to be emptied. The compact CPI SCR Advance banknote recycler can store up to four different banknote denominations to be used as change inside a two-denomination recycling architecture, as well as having a 600- or 1,200-note cashbox for safe storage of other denominations. It is also unique in offering multi-note escrow that enhances the customer experience, as well as an additional locking module for security-cautious customers.
An analysis of data extracted from two pay-on-foot machines in the UK over a three-day period – which equated to just over 1,500 transactions – demonstrated that switching from a note acceptor to an SCR Advance banknote recycler would achieve savings of more than £1,000 (US$1,350) per machine per year.
More than 10% of transactions would involve banknotes being paid out as change, which would mean no pockets full of coins for customers. The operator would also benefit from being able to reduce the volume of coins stored for use as change, as well as drastically cutting back on its cashbox collections/operational costs and associated CIT fees, especially when using the 1,200-note cashbox. The analysis also showed that the operator could free up a significant amount of assets tied up as float in coins.
Parking technology is constantly evolving and improving, and city parking managers have more options than ever before when it comes to tools that can make parking more user-friendly, manageable and profitable. Today, cash recycling technology makes it easier and more efficient for parking facilities to accept cash payment for parking and, as a result, helps them to be more user-friendly and profitable. n
Above: Crane
Payment Innovation’s SCR Advance banknote recycling machine
Left: The ability to
