Electronic payments exceeded paper checks for the first time in the US in 2003, with e-payments totalling $44.5 billion as compared to $36.7 billion payments made using checks. The bulk of electronic payments were made using credit cards (19 billion transactions), followed by debit cards (15.6 billion). According to the Federal Reserve, by 2007 transactions made with the use of credit and debit cards will outstrip checks transactions.

By 2009, nearly 50% of all vending machines in the US will be equipped with devices for credit card processing. Cashless micropayments at vending machines and kiosks remain an opportunity for the technology firms. According to the Kiplinger report, the use wireless, cashless payment in vending machines can achieve twice the volume of the current period and double sales to $ 70 billion by 2010. NAMA, the national organ for the vending industry, predicts the rise in the use of credit card at vending machines to reach 2 million transactions with a total value of $570 million by 2007.

Recently Pepsi Cola awarded a multi-year processing contract to Paymentech to handle the use of credit and debit card at Pepsi’s vending machines. The contract involves payments at several hundred vending machines installed in malls, casinos and hotels and is expected to assist in the development of the cashless payments market.