Office Depot to Accept Contactless Credit Card Payments
By Justin McHenry
Office supply store Office Depot will begin accepting “contactless” credit cards in its 1000+ stores later this year, including MasterCard’s PayPass cards and American Express’ ExpressPay cards. The move is a victory of sorts for the contactless technology, which to this point has been available mainly at food-related merchants such as quick serve restaurants, convenience stores and sports stadium concessions. Moving into the retail arena, especially with a retailer whose main clientele is small business owners, could significantly increase contactless acceptance by both merchants and card customers.
MasterCard’s PayPass and ExpressPay from American Express both use radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips in their cards in order to speed credit card transactions. Instead of swiping their cards, consumers can just tap them or wave them in front of a reader to complete checkout. For smaller purchases, signing a credit card slip is not required, moving the purchase along even faster.
In related news, American Express also announced the introduction of its contactless technology at Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy Stores. a regional merchant with 276 retail stores throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas.