[Albion] Cashless Amex en route...

[Bozza]

Albion’s American Express Community Stadium will become a cashless venue on matchdays from the start of the 2020/21 season at the latest.

Fans can expect to see speedier service at the Amex in future, when purchasing their pre-match pint or half-time food, as the club transitions to cashless matchdays at the Amex during the coming months.

Working with American Express and catering partner Sodexo, the stadium’s catering kiosks, hospitality bars, merchandise store and programme booths will switch to card payments only, for all matches and event days, by August 2020 or possibly even sooner.

https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/1336289/amex-to-go-cashless

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Ah, gone are the days of the supporters’ Club going round with a blanket at half time for charity!

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Excellent news.

 

[Is it PotG?]

It's the future, Spuds have it and many other grounds heading that way.

Why ever not?

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Good news, will help with quicker service.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm still not sure why this speeds things up. Is it really much quicker to key in a PIN than hand over some dosh? People make mistakes when they tap in a key in and that will slow things down. And what if the connection's a bit slow?

 

[blue-shifted]

Well, it will mostly be contactless. I like Harveys and pie as much as the next man, but I've never got near to £30 limit

I'm still not sure why this speeds things up. Is it really much quicker to key in a PIN than hand over some dosh? People make mistakes when they tap in a key in and that will slow things down. And what if the connection's a bit slow?

 

[beorhthelm]

... And what if the connection's a bit slow?

or down. hope they have contingency planning for this.
on more regular days, seems unnecessay to extend to programme booths and presumably sweet stands, inconveniencing parents to have to be present to make all purchases (or do all children have cards now?

 

[Da Man Clay]

I'm still not sure why this speeds things up. Is it really much quicker to key in a PIN than hand over some dosh? People make mistakes when they tap in a key in and that will slow things down. And what if the connection's a bit slow?

Vast majority are below the requirement for pin and are contactless. Given the club already know card is pretty much twice as quick all of this type of stuff has already been worked out.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

I'm still not sure why this speeds things up. Is it really much quicker to key in a PIN than hand over some dosh?

Yes.

 

[marcos3263]

I love the idea and the continual decline in physical cash. I for one rarely use the dirty stuff and so this is another small step towards a society where it is both expected and the norm not to use cash.

I know the arguments about the old, poor and disadvantaged not being able to adapt or learn to budget, but systems can be put in place, apps used etc and this outways the money lost via theft, cashing up time and mistakes.

However the queue for Harveys at a stand alone booth (counter? bar? trolley?) was delayed considerably by the card machine not connecting properly. The network will have to be much quicker to allow for the transactions without waiting 2-3 minutes each time to log on.

Of course the bar man could have pre-poured the next order instead of staring at the terminal.........

 

[Hamilton]

or down. hope they have contingency planning for this.
on more regular days, seems unnecessay to extend to programme booths and presumably sweet stands, inconveniencing parents to have to be present to make all purchases (or do all children have cards now?

The sweet stands are run separately by another supplier, so the little dears should still be able to get their bon bons.

 

[blue-shifted]

I reckon if the average order ( say a couple of pints and a burger or two), currently takes about 30 seconds, the handing over cash and sorting change part is probably about 3 seconds. Not long, but if they can deal with orders 10% quicker that will make a noticeable difference to queues and thus drive up sales.

More likely to me is that the club are doing it because of the costs of handling cash

 

[Springal]

More likely to me is that the club are doing it because of the costs of handling cash

I agree this is likely a big factor in this

 

[loz]

I can confirm its MUCH quicker at the bars...no old boys going through there change looking for £4.70 exactly and counting it out in the bar persons hand.

 

[Notters]

Will the charity buckets be contactless too or will they lose out?

 

[Is it PotG?]

Will the charity buckets be contactless too or will they lose out?

 

[Springal]

Will the charity buckets be contactless too or will they lose out?

Not unless Sodexho have taken over charity collections too

 

[hampshirebrightonboy]

I'm still not sure why this speeds things up. Is it really much quicker to key in a PIN than hand over some dosh? People make mistakes when they tap in a key in and that will slow things down. And what if the connection's a bit slow?

surely most people will just do contactless rather than put the card into the machine

 

[Gwylan]

Well, it will mostly be contactless. I like Harveys and pie as much as the next man, but I've never got near to £30 limit

What if your card (like mine) doesn't do contactless payments?

It's no biggie for me because I very rarely use the bars at the Amex but, given the amount of times in shops that I'm waiting more than 30 seconds for a payment to go through, they'd better make sure they have a decent connection