For the longest time, I have wondered why credit card readers at super markets, gas pumps, parking garages, and just about everywhere else require you to insert the credit card only in a single orientation. Well, finally, the Mobil gas station down the street from us has all new gas pumps where the magnetic stripe can face either direction. A small step forward in the world of gas pump UI’s.
Hopefully, we’ll see more of these readers across all types of businesses, unless of course we all change to RFID-based cash transaction systems first.
Comments 2
I think it might have started out as a cost issue — to read all orientations, you’d need 4 readers in each slot rather than just one.
However, I agree with you. The end-user convenience is worth the cost, and I think that extends to RFID. I’ve found the T’s CharlieCard system incredibly convenient when everyone is using properly (can slow down with tourists).
Some places are using RFID for contact-less smartcards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_card#Contactless_smart_card) but it seems that most are small transactions (parking, transportation).
Posted 23 Aug 2008 at 2:08 pm ¶I would imagine that it’s one of those incremental conveniences that was never worth the cost. In fact, I’m surprised they did it now. Perhaps the hardware cost difference is now a matter of pennies.
Re incremental convenience - the gas stations probably captured 80-90% of the benefit of pay-at-the-pump (in saved time / hassle / poor customer service of paying inside) with just any type of card reader at the pump. Saving users the extra 3 seconds and the frustration of having to re-orient the credit card is a minor added benefit. Put another way, I would have paid a penny more per gallon to go to a gas station that has pay-at-the-pump vs. one that only has pay-inside; however, I would likely not pay a penny more to go to a pump that has a reader that works with all possible orientations of a credit card vs. one that only works with one orientation.
Posted 27 Aug 2008 at 9:40 am ¶Post a Comment