Is the world set to follow Japan and use cashless wave and pay?

May 8, 2007

We all like a little convenience but in Japan convenience is part of everyday life. They have created wave and pay credit cards which do not even have to go into a reader for you to pay for an item.

Basically wave and pay credit cards are designed to pay for your item when they go near to a reader. You do not have to type anything in, you just simple wave the credit card by the reader and it pays. This is a novel idea to people around the UK, but in Japan it has already happened and experts are predicting that most other countries will also follow suit in the near future.

We all hate having crumpled notes and loose bits of change in our pockets, but the wave and pay cards will stop that. There is no doubt that consumers will want to see this card but there is also likely to be some sceptism for example what happens if you were to walk past a reader and it scanned your credit card without you meaning to?

The great news is that these wave and pay systems will be excellent for those who are in a rush. It will make queues go down and that can only be a good thing. Also this new level of convenience will allow many stores to offer more services and therefore they will benefit too.

There are also other faster ways of paying such as using fingerprints to pay for our goods. Some countries are offering this service and basically instead of placing your card in a reader, you show the machine your finger and it recognizes it from that. Obviously this is extremely high tech and at the moment people have no idea how that could come about but it can and it no doubt will in the not so distant future!