Payment Systems– Aha a Contentious and very grey area – So let me clarify.
The Payment systems industry (In a vending machine perspective is your unit that accepts coins and notes and dispenses change). The Life blood of your INCOME ?? So keep it clean? And service it regularly as IT IS THE HARDEST WORKING PART OF YOUR VENDING MACHINE?? It is the cash register of your shop –The Fuel Tank of your vehicle.
The Payment System Industry is a Global industry worth U$ 100 Billion per annum and experiencing rapid growth. It relates to every single commodity and or service where a transaction takes place without human intervention. Simple – Automatic Payments and or Automatic dispensing of coins and or notes and or products or commodities.
In South Africa and Africa the payment system industry is experiencing a tremendous amount of growth coupled with enormous challenges. Generally speaking the QUALITY of the bank notes and coins produced is not of a consistent quality and grade and South Africa experienced this first hand with the introduction of the Mandela notes. (These types of anomalies certainly effect vending and ultimately your vending income).
A vast majority of vending machine suppliers are NOT PAYMENT SPECIALISTS and in most cases vending machine payment systems are out-sourced and simply installed in vending machines as a facility to enable the consumer to purchase. A very clear and distinct differentiation should be made between a vending machine and the Payment System and the blanket attitude of tarnishing vending machines as un-reliable or faulty should be clearly DEFINED and be tackled and dissected.
Once again from our own internal statistics and analyses of (In-House eg Company Owned Vending Machines) and vending machines operated by our network of customers, we have ascertained that 90% of breakdowns are attributed to PAYMENT SYSTEM faults and POOR QUALITY COINS AND NOTES. With respect and admiration the Reserve Bank of South Africa also have their challenges and with the threat of counterfeiting always a Priority, the Reserve Bank are continually making subtle but effective changes to the bank notes – (Ultimately done in the interests of protecting both you and me). These subtle changes most certainly affect the acceptance of your note reader and it does require software up-grades periodically.
As a vending machine supplier the un-productive time of providing our customers with the up-grade is a value-added service and a non-profit line item.Unfortunately we have to charge for the time as these processes are completely out-sourced.
The Vending Company will gladly supply our customers with the relevant suppliers within this arena. (Coin and Note reader poor or Non-Acceptance are NOT VENDING Machine related issues and a distinct definition has to be drawn between the two elements.)
They are 2 completely different disciplines, and whilst most vending machine technicians have learnt to trouble shoot and repair basic problems, vending machine technicians and vending Machine suppliers are not payment specialists. Payment Specialists operate within a complex and SECURE environment which requires specialized software, Reserve Bank clearance and a host of un-seen and un-mentioned criteria.