Is this the future of payments and pubs?

man tapping contactless card at beer pump terminal

The recent reports that we have covered about people’s Black Friday/Christmas shopping habits all have one constant – or should we say gripe: they all show that, despite the stereotype, British people dislike queuing to pay for things very much.

It should then come as no surprise that, according to new research from Barclaycard, a quarter of people said that queuing for drinks is the worst thing about a night out. Another quarter, much like shopping carts, abandon drink purchases if they have to wait too long. Two out of ten people will go to another pub if the wait time is too long.

And just like payments in shopping and e-commerce are being ruthlessly and efficiently innovated, so the time has come to upgrade payments in the good old-fashioned pub. Barclaycard’s research found that almost a fifth (19%) said that they would like to see pubs and bars install contactless beer pumps to help speed up service.

It would seem like Barclaycard has obliged as it has just launched what it describes as the ‘world’s first contactless beer pump’. According to the card issuer, the pump is designed to target the 12-minute average waiting time at the bar by speeding up the order, the pouring and the payment process.

It says the whole process can be done in 60 seconds.

Tami Hargreaves, commercial director, Digital Consumer Payments at Barclaycard, said:

“I’m sure everyone has been stuck behind the person who orders the most complicated cocktail on the menu or a round of ten drinks for their group of friends. When people told us that waiting time was one of their biggest annoyances, we wanted to help solve a common problem with a simple solution. Pay @ Pump could easily be the answer; by putting the festive cheer back into buying beer – a win-win for both bars and bar-goers!”

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