ASB’s Visa PayWave….Any Use For It?
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| Contactless Technology |
UPDATE: Some BP petrol stations and The Warehouse now accept Contactless technology..
Normally, I would’ve thought that retailers would’ve caught up with technology by now… For example: Introduced PayWave (also known as Contactless) terminals that ASB’s visa cards are currently supporting for quick and effortless payments of up to $80. But no they [retailers] haven’t. It’s been over a year now since ASB have introduced their new chip-card system. In fact, the only retailer I know as of now, supporting the ASB’s PayWave technology, is the Albany Kmart. I’m not sure if the other branches support it though. But still, that is a mere one store that does support PayWave.
The shops/retailers that I would like to see implement this sort of technology, are Supermarkets – Countdown, Pak’N’Save etc, Fast-Food restaurants (and more). Wireless payment options are good for these kind of shops because it offers quick and convenient payments. You might call me lazy, but once you get the hang of just ‘hovering your card over the terminal for a second’, you will understand why this technology should have been here ages ago! It’s no use waiting at the checkout for your card to be accepted by the machine, or fumbling around your pockets/purse for some cash when you can just hover your card over the terminal.
This scenario is just like NFC payments on the smartphone. Not a lot of retailers accept NFC payments as of yet; Passbook on iOS is a completely different scenario, as Passbook only uses “barcodes” and “Voucher codes”, which have to be scanned manually and isn’t NFC capable yet.
All I hear now is: “I’m scared that someone will try and “hack” my card!” Well don’t fret! The card only works at a maximum distance of about 4cm and unless someone actually sticks a card reader to your leg, or steals your wallet, you have nothing to worry about! Also, the bank would reimburse you for any misuse, if you didn’t purposely leave your wallet lying about in shops etc.
If you have any places in mind that offer Contactless technology, or NFC payments, give us a shout down below in the comments, and we’ll happily add it to the list!
