Eat, Blink and Pay Up

By Coco Masters

Cashless consumers can now "blink" for strawberry Slurpees and feed the meter using their cell phones. Chase Bank U.S.A. has rolled out new credit cards with "blink": wave the card within 2 in. of a reader and a "beep" eliminates the need for a swipe, PIN or signature. Blink cuts purchase time 10% to 40% and increases spending about 20% over using cash, says Chase. There's a variable credit limit and, as with all other credit cards, minimal liability for lost or stolen plastic. One million MasterCard and Visa blink cards will be issued by summer's end, so companies such as 7-Eleven and Arby's franchiser Bailey Co. are blink-enabling their payment systems, beginning in Colorado-area stores; 7-Eleven's 5,300 U.S. stores will be enabled by next year, says Rick Updyke, V.P. of business development. And perennially coinless drivers in Coral Gables, Fla., can register online with Toronto-based PayMint and pay the city's 4,600 parking meters by cell phone. Parkers dial a toll-free number, log in, enter their lot number and log out after parking. (Of the current 850 users, 10% have agreed to pay the $7-per-month service fee; the rest pay 25-c- per parking period.) Text messages inform parkers that their time is up, with the option to add more. "It's like an insurance policy against an $18 ticket," says city manager David Brown. --By Coco Masters