Contactless card issuers and banks pouring money down the drain

I have just seen the truly dreadful transaction levels achieved by contactless cards in the UK during 2010.

Over 30,000 contactless terminals, located throughout the UK, carried out a pathetic 1.7 million transactions in the whole 12-month period. That's less than 5 transactions per terminal per month!

By comparison, an average free-to-use ATM in the UK achieves 7,000 transactions per month!

Card issuers and banks have pumped hundreds of millions of pounds into developing pointless contactless technology and on advertising campaigns aimed at persuading the UK public that this unloved "innovation" is worthwhile.

ALL THIS TO ACHIEVE A MISERABLE 5 TRANSACTIONS PER MONTH!

At a time when some banks claim to be struggling to afford to provide basic services to customers (or example, universal access to ATMs), such a waste of money is patently unacceptable.

THE TIME HAS COME FOR UK CARD ISSUERS AND THE BANKS WORKING WITH THEM TO CALL A HALT TO THE CONTACTLESS FOLLY AND TO USE THE £MILLIONS THEY SAVE TO PROVIDE THE SERVICES THEIR CUSTOMERS REALLY NEED - AND THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE SILLY CONTACTLESS CARDS!

The strange thing is that contactless technology was introduced in the United States years ago - AND HAS BEEN A TOTAL FLOP!

Once again, we have failed to learn from the experience of others and in the end the bill for this ridiculous failure will be borne by the UK public - AND THAT'S YOU AND ME, BY THE WAY!
 

Friday, 28th October 2011

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