McDonald's to roll out PayPass across the USA
The international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's is to use MasterCard's PayPass smart card-driven contactless payment system at a number of its outlets throughout the USA, starting in Dallas, Texas, and the New York metropolitan area.
Participating restaurants in Dallas and New York are to implement MasterCard PayPass toward the end of 2004, and McDonald's says that other locations will be added throughout 2005. The news of the PayPass roll-out represents an expansion of McDonald's partnership with MasterCard in the USA, which was announced earlier in 2004.
MasterCard PayPass cardholders can make purchases without swiping their card through a traditional card reader. Because the system uses contactless RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to transmit the customer's payment card identity to a wireless card reader at the point of sale, cardholders can simply tap or wave the card on or near the payment terminal to complete their transaction.
Payment hardware The payment terminal being used by McDonald's to accept PayPass payments is VeriFone's Omni 7000 MPD. VeriFone describes the unit as a modular, field-upgradeable terminal that offers the ability to run both payment and customer loyalty applications.
According to McDonald's, the restaurant chain already accepts cashless payment options (including credit and debit cards) at more than 4,500 restaurants in the USA and expects that number to increase to some 8,000 by the end of 2004. Around the world, in more than 100 countries, McDonald's has some 30,000 local restaurants serving approximately 47 million people each day. More than 70% of those restaurants are independently owned and operated as franchises, and 13,500 of them are in the USA.
Innovation "We are always looking for new and innovative ways to use technology to improve customer service. The convenience of PayPass will help our customers get their Big Macs, Premium Salads and Happy Meals even faster," said Jim Sappington, vice president of information technology for McDonald's USA.
"In today's fast-paced world, people count on the convenience and utility of electronic payment options, and PayPass simplifies the customer's experience," added Fred P. Gore, senior vice president of North America acceptance for MasterCard International.
For additional information: · Visit McDonald's at http://www.mcdonalds.com · Visit VeriFone at http://www.verifone.com · Visit MasterCard at http://www.mastercardinternational.com