Vending machines with credit card readers.

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The Coca-Cola man just came and installed a credit card reader on our soda machine here at the office.

If I hadn't already been late for a meeting, I would have asked him how it verifies that a credit card is good, or communicates the scan to their billing system.

But since (most) everyone here is so smart, I figured someone here would share this knowledge if I asked...
 
I believe those coke machine credit card scanners are connected to wireless internet. We have them on all of the machines at my work - but the readers that are outside of range of the wireless internet don't function.
 
My former BIL installed those stand alone ATM machines you see in casinos and c-stores. He said those had a cell phone. (Cellular packet data?)

Wonder if that's an option for these vending machines? Could have one box that you connect to a few machines.

And hopefully well encrypted!
 
Yup, it's basically a simplified aircard/mobile phone module... M2M (machine-2-machine) over cellular. No different than paying with a credit card at a parking meter.

US is fairly behind times on all this stuff. In Europe, you can just wave your phone in front of the vending machine to pay for things using Contactless Near Field Communication (NFC).
 
Surely it takes next to no bandwidth to validate this kind of thing. Just like amazon gives free 3G on some kindles to buy stuff from them, I speculate that there is a cellular wireless (could be slow, 14.4k is surely fast enough, they were doing this in the mid 1980s) connection of some kind.

May not be the case, but seems that it would be the simplest approach, and easily contracted across wide geography and area.
 
I was curious and found a vending forum (yes they exist) and I think it's about $9/mo for the cellular service for a vending machine.

I saw some interesting work-arounds.

Some guys/gals were installing bill readers that would read $5 and then they devoted a slot to containing envelopes that had four ones and four quarters because giving change for a $5 uses up the change pretty quickly.
 
If it's inside an office they might assume that there's less than $9 in thievery per month and just approves every card for a while then they're "known good".

When you pay by check at walmart, it doesn't debit from your bank instantaneously. Rather the numbers are run by a third party that blacklists bad checks.

I've seen cell antennae on "red box" DVD machines.
 
They work like anything else. We have them on the vending machines here at work. You swipe the card, it authorizes for up to a certain amount depending on the most expensive item sold, and then you select something. It will finalize the transaction for the final amount purchased. They use a cellular connection, because when they aren't working they will often sit and says "establishing cell connection..."
 
Where I live there has been a huge problem with bogus hidden card readers being put on everything from RedBox to Bank ATM's to Gas pumps. The readers were gathering the card information for thieves and sometimes even got the PIN numbers with a tiny camera. Kinda made me shy away from even using a machine that took a credit or debit card.
 
Many have point-to-point wireless, or just use a POTS line. No different than the standalone credit card readers you see in small shops.
 
Originally Posted By: RTexasF
Where I live there has been a huge problem with bogus hidden card readers being put on everything from RedBox to Bank ATM's to Gas pumps. The readers were gathering the card information for thieves and sometimes even got the PIN numbers with a tiny camera. Kinda made me shy away from even using a machine that took a credit or debit card.


Yes, you have to check for skimmers. I always wiggle the card reader (and the actual slot) to make sure it's real. The fake ones are often very loose or actually pull right off.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
The Coca-Cola man just came and installed a credit card reader on our soda machine here at the office.

If I hadn't already been late for a meeting, I would have asked him how it verifies that a credit card is good, or communicates the scan to their billing system.

But since (most) everyone here is so smart, I figured someone here would share this knowledge if I asked...


Its either wireless (WIFI) or cellular. May depend upon what is available. You can put in your credit card and buy a soda for each of your friends. Be sure to press "END" to close it out.

Our soda machine is now $1.60 for 20 oz. Walmart is $1.34 for warm 2 L. Cumberland Farms is $3.50 for two 2 L bottles. My SodaStream machine is about 25 cents.

I buy a few 2 L bottles and refill 1 L bottles and keep them in an office refrig. The 1 L bottles fit easier in the small refrig. The caps do wear out. I swap them with ones from the 2 L bottles.
 
I bet that soda is expensive if they are paying for cellular data AND credit card processing. The per swipe fees are pretty bad for small ticket items, then there is a % on top of that. Probably at least 25 cents per transaction.
 
The ones at my college actually had an ethernet cable plugged into them. They accepted student ID cards, which had a debit account for food and stuff. I'm not sure if they accepted regular credit cards; I never actually used them.
 
It's most likely a SAQ-B wireless(CDMA) or wired (analogue phone line) type of card reader.

Neither one of these card reading apparatus would have to require site owner's attention as far as wireless/wired security access's concerned, so long as there's no credit card info going through the premise.

Q.
 
I used to work for a vending machine company (not the distributors nor operators). There are many different kind of comm. Like those mentioned above: with cell's 3Gs, WiFi, or AP, and some in combination.

When I was there, we were building series of machines. on would have connected with LAN cable and the rest will have AP to main machine. It also have 42" touch screen with sensor that will sense when somebody walking by then display ads. When user touch the screen, it'll display products avail. When a product is selected, it'll display the nutrition and DV of the product.

The LAN also allows the operator to monitor the stocks from home office. It really increases efficiency for the operators by not transporting un-sold goods around the city for a joy ride.
 
My main concern is the skimmer. Other than that it should be pretty safe if they know what they are doing (encrypt all communication).

Yes, US is VERY behind in NFC transaction, everyone else in the world is already using a contact free card for small purchases and you just charge them up once in a while (i.e. every $50USD at a time), and you use that for public transit, gas, parking, soda, 7-11, etc.
 
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