Post Office delivers handset payments

A METHOD of paying out cash by sending barcodes to mobile phones has been launched by the UK's Post Office. Known as Payout it is now available from any of the Post Office's 14,000 UK branches.

The system will handle amounts up to £100 and is an ideal way of sending small amounts of cash or providing refunds to people who don't have bank accounts.

As well as sending the barcodes via text, it will also be possible to email them or even send them via Snail mail. One happy triallist has been cleaning product specialist, Unilever.

According to Joanna Weston, Unilever's direct communication executive, "We didn't have a clear fulfilment process in place to make a large quantity of small payments to our customer base.

This could have been problematic for us as raising a cheque is 600 per cent more expensive than using the Post Office payout service."

Rival system supplier, Monitise, criticised the scheme because recipients have to go into a Post Office branch to get their money. The company says its own scheme allows payments to be made without such a visit.

Sending barcodes to handsets is becoming a popular method of flexible payment. Chiltern Railways, for example, has been experimenting with its use to purchase train tickets.

The arch rival is RFID, or more precisely its mobile equivalent, NFC (Near Field Communication). The banks are keen to head off such a challenge.

Barclaycard aims to provide a combined credit and Oyster card by September. First customers will be those living in the Docklands area. The card will therefore be capable of paying for trips on London Transport.

Seven leading UK banks are leading the charge to provide combined RFID and credit cards.

The INQ would question the relevancy of such a move. Inner London is unusual. We suspect the majority of top end credit card users wouldn't be seen dead travelling on a bus. So how can such a move be cost effective? µ

L'INQ
Payout