MasterCard Worldwide and USA Technologies Inc. have expanded ePort cashless payment terminals to 17,500 vending machines nationwide, adding more than 4,000 new locations that accept MasterCard PayPass contactless payments. The move to expand cashless payment 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.

"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 at 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."

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