Wireless credit card transactions a reality in many industries
By Jay MacDonald • Bankrate.com

So who's going wireless? Here are some of the industries already making money from thin air:

Taxi cabs: Despite the hardware investment, the North American taxi industry is poised to follow the lead of Europe and Asia and accept plastic. Some municipalities, including Chicago, are making it mandatory.

Golf courses: Wireless is finding its place on and off the course. Rather than driving up to the clubhouse, unloading your clubs, parking your car and returning to the clubhouse to pay your greens fee, you may soon complete your check-in and payment right at the curb. On the course, you will pay for your beer with a credit card or a stored-value card issued at check-in.

"In most high-end golf courses, the vendor carts that sell you beer represents $150,000 to $200,000 in revenue for a single golf course," says Charles Lee of MIST. "But they feel that the typical fraud rate is between 25 to 30 percent on those golf carts because, since there is no receipt provided, a lot of these cart drivers will bring their own beer and sell their beer instead of the company's beer.

"Also, during corporate events, they just check off how many beers they gave away; there's no way to track it."

Rock concerts and sporting events: Don't want to miss the show standing in line for a souvenir cap or jacket? Don't worry. It will soon come to you.

"When vendors sell you beer or hot dogs or popcorn, now they can carry more high-value items as well," says Lee. "Typically, they don't carry the high-value items because people don't carry that much cash. Now, since they can accept credit cards, the vendor can sell caps, jackets, rings, whatever they want to sell."

Fast food restaurants: Wireless is already speeding up the fast food industry, especially in airports.

Farmer's markets: Parking lots, town squares and fairgrounds won't automatically mean cash-only anymore.

Ski resorts: Colorado's Copper Mountain Resort has equipped its front-range sales force with Apriva wireless POS terminals to facilitate sales of season passes and day lift tickets at corporate sites and special events.

"We used to use the old-fashioned 'knuckle-crunchers' and then entered everything manually once we got to a terminal that was not wireless," says corporate account executive Stacey Underwood. "Unfortunately, we had some credit cards that were declined and we were never able to get the money from those individuals even though they already had the products. These units have been a big timesaver and the amount of declined credit cards that we've had has decreased a lot."

Law enforcement: The next time you're pulled over, you may have the option to pay on the spot with plastic.

"If you're stopped by the side of the road for a moving violation, you have the ability to swipe your credit card and everybody gets back to work," says Joyce Leiser of U.S. Wireless Data. "There are six states that are appearance bond states, which means they either need to see the money or the body. If they have the ability to accept swiped transactions, they can get back to work and the driver can make it to the airport and get out of town."

Real estate appraisers: An unlikely customer for wireless, you say? Tell it to the bank.

"When you apply for a mortgage, the bank usually sends an evaluator to take a look at the property," Lee explains. "Right now, typically it takes 24 to 48 hours for the evaluator to report back to the bank saying how much the property is worth. In the meantime, the bank can often lose the customer to somebody else.

"So if the evaluator can go in and say the property is worth at least, say, $300,000 and the bank knows they're doing a mortgage for $250,000, they can make a decision even before the final report comes in and say, 'Your mortgage is approved.' It prevents the bank from losing customers."

Hotels and resorts: "Today, the airport shuttle picks you up and drops you at the reception area, then you have to line up at the front to check in," says Lee. "Now you can finish your check-in right in the shuttle. If they have a little card initializer right in the shuttle, you can even get your key and go directly to your room. They tag your bags right at the airport and bring your bags up."

And don't forget how easy it will be to pay for piña coladas on the beach.

Jay MacDonald is a contributing editor based in Florida.

-- Posted: July 24, 2002