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Post Office to begin rolling out contactless payment solutions
24 Jun 2011

The Post Office will soon begin introducing contactless payment solutions to its facilities in the UK.

Almost 12,000 branches are set to benefit from the new technology. Michael Birchall, payment project manager for the Post Office, told NFC Times that there will be around 30,000 to 35,000 contactless point-of-sales terminals installed around the country by October next year.

This move will make the Post Office one of the largest merchants in the UK to offer and accept contactless payment solutions.

"As far as speed, someone doing a tap-to-buy postage is faster than handing over a £10 note or a chip-and-PIN transaction," explained Mr Birchall.

Around 60 per cent of the company's transactions currently have a value of less than £15, he told the news provider, explaining that contactless payment could speed up queue times.

Recently, the consumer acceptance of contactless payment solutions was tested at the Isle of Wight Festival.

The first-ever pre-paid contactless wristbands were rolled out there by MasterCard and the response was overwhelmingly positive, with 96 per cent of festival-goers saying the cashless payment solution was far quicker to use than a debit or credit card.