These locations are throughout New Hampshire, New Jersey, California, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, North Dakota, Ohio, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Iowa, Minnesota and New York.

The move to expand cashless deployment in vending machines was driven by positive feedback from consumers, vending operators and soft drink bottlers, as well as increased sales at machines that accept contactless payments.

"MasterCard PayPass contactless payments provide consumers with the fast and convenient experience they seek when making purchases at vending machines," said Gerritt Kerkstra, Senior Vice President, Acquirer Relations, MasterCard Worldwide. "When not limited to the cash they have on hand, consumers are able to purchase what they want, resulting in higher sales."

Among those who have decided to add or further expand ePort cashless technology to their fleets of vending machines are Ace Vending, Canteen Vending Services, Continental Vending, Continental Services, Custom Foods, Evergreen Vending, Fantasy Entertainment, McLiff Vending, Mid-Atlantic Vending, Peachtree Vending, Proformance Vending, Sanese Vending and Coca-Cola Enterprises, who have equipped an additional 2,450 vending machines to accept credit and debit cards through the ePort services.

"The ability to offer credit and debit card payment options to vending has had a big impact on business performance with vending machines equipped with the ePort. This includes 20%, 30% and in some cases 50% increase in year-over-year sales revenue growth," said George Jensen, Chairman and CEO, USA Technologies Inc. "Surveys of our customers are showing that on average, consumers' card purchases are 30% higher than cash purchases in our deployments that accept MasterCard PayPass."

"We are pleased to see our customers benefit from offering consumers the ease and convenience of using their credit and debit cards to make payments at vending machines," said Mr. Jensen, "It is apparent from latest performance results that cashless payments are helping vending operators and bottlers provide a higher level of service and satisfaction, which in turn is driving greater revenue and improved profitability for them. These positive results have laid the foundation for increased adoption of credit/debit in vending, and a corresponding increase in sales and demand for the ePort products and services."

To make a transaction at MasterCard PayPass ePort activated vending machines, consumers tap their PayPass-enabled payment card or device on the ePort terminal. The terminal flashes a light and displays a message to signal the completion of the transaction in seconds. Traditional magnetic stripe cards are also accepted.

The latest deployment of 4000 more cashless terminals reinforces that there exists a trend in the vending industry to convert to cashless transactions.