United Kingdom – In anticipation of a government ban on cash transactions for scrap metal traders, leading recycler Sims Metal Management (SimsMM) has set up pilot schemes at four of its facilities in the UK to trial payment under an electronic bank transfer initiative known as ‘Swipe and Sign’.
Traders and members of the public visiting its sites at Burton on Trent, Newport, Long Marston and Taunton will be offered the opportunity to swipe their Visa Debit card into a machine and then signing in order to authorise the transaction. ‘The signature will also bring an added layer of security,’ SimsMM points out. For the period of the trial, SimsMM will take cash only if requested and payments will be made subject to the provision of photographic proof of identity.
SimsMM worked with Barclaycard to develop the system in which funds are credited into the customer’s bank account electronically and are accessible within two to three days. In the meantime, the company is continuing to explore other methods of making cashless payments so as to improve the service.
SimsMM’s Sales and Marketing Manager Derek Campbell says: ‘As the world’s largest metals recycler, we are keen to see how cashless trading in the UK is going to work in practice, well in advance of the legislation becoming law. That way we can iron out any teething troubles before the ban takes effect.’
Once suppliers have registered on the new system as a supplier to Sims and have completed the necessary proof of identity checks, ‘they will no longer have to go through the inconvenience of proving their identity each and every time they bring material into one of our sites’.
And he adds: ‘It may be that, in the long term, customers find the card system easier and more convenient than cash payments.’ Devendra Kumar, Director of Product and Strategy at Barclaycard, comments: ‘By reducing cash on the premises, this payment option will reduce the risk of fraud, theft and the cost of handling cash.’
For more information, visit: www.simsmm.com
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