Digital payments are now the preferred payment method at vending machines in the U.S.

Cantaloupe, Inc., a digital payments and software services company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for the unattended retail market, today announced the findings of a joint study with Michigan State University (MSU). The study found that while usage of cash payments was being outpaced by digital payments (magstripe credit cards, contactless credit cards and mobile payments) in 2019, on average the number of digital payment transactions per machine finally exceeded those made with cash in April of 2020 (137 digital and 135 cash transactions per machine), with the monthly digital sales volume per machine in April of 2020 being 47 percent higher on average than with cash ($235 versus $160).

The study found the growth of digital payments increased steadily through 2020. By November of 2020, the average number of payments made in cash that month had decreased from 52 percent in November of 2019 to 40 percent in November 2020.

Meanwhile, as a percentage of digital payment transactions, usage of contactless credit cards increased 57 percent from 14 percent in November 2019 to 22 percent that same month in 2020, with a 9 percent dip in magstripe credit cards during that same period (86 percent to 78 percent of total payments).

The joint study evaluated sales and transaction data from approximately 122,000 vending machines connected to Cantaloupe’s digital payment platform across the United States.

Additional findings include:

Hospitals and Military Locations Show Largest Annual Increases in Digital and Contactless Payments

Primary locations including businesses and professional, industrial, hospital, education, retail and military locations (averaging 25,000 transactions annually) saw significant increases year over year in digital payments. Military locations in particular showed the greatest percentage of digital payments overall compared to cash, including an increase from 83 percent of all sales in November of 2019 to 90 percent in November 2020.

Businesses and professional settings, which ranked second in terms of digital usage overall, also saw a significant increase in percentage of sales, with 60 percent in sales being digital in November of 2019, to about 65 percent in November of 2020. In the midst of the pandemic, hospitals saw the sharpest rise in percentage of digital sales overall, jumping from 42 percent in November of 2019 to 55 percent last November.

Contactless payments took up a growing percentage of these increases, particularly in military and hospital settings. The percentage of contactless sales within military locations was roughly 11 percent in November 2019 but jumped to more than 32 percent in November of 2020. Hospitals increased from 15 percent in November 2019 to 27 percent in November of last year.

Low Volume Machines Show Growth in Contactless Payments

Low volume machines, or those with less than $2000 in sales per year, showed increases in digital payments also, led by growth in contactless. While 46 percent of sales in 2019 were made with magstripe credit cards and 15 percent were made using contactless cards, in 2020, 57 percent were magstripe credit cards, and 25 percent were contactless cards. Meanwhile, cash sales fell year over year as a percentage of sales, representing 48 percent of sales in November of 2019 and only 36 percent in November of 2020.

Interestingly, transactions per machine for magstripe credit card and contactless payments increased about the same amount (11 percentage points) within low volume machines between November 2019 and November 2020. In November of 2019, 43 percent of transactions were magstripe credit card, with 20 percent coming from a contactless form of payment. By November 2020, 55 percent of transactions were magstripe credit card, while 31 percent of the 55 percent were contactless.