We have recently installed the NFC reader at the Eastside on Lane #2 for folks who would like to pay with their phone. This unit will read Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and others.

This payment option is an experiment to see if customers use it, and if so, how well it works. If there is excitement and good function, likely we will purchase more. For feedback, we encourage you to connect with us customerservice@olympiafood.coop

Here are some basic questions and answers…

What is a NFC reader?
They work in conjunction with NFC phone apps, which replaces using a credit card by holding your phone to the reader for processing payment.

What is NFC?
It stands for “near field communication”, and basically is technology that allows two devices to talk with each other when close.

Is NFC secure?
They are dynamically encrypted, making them one of the most secure ways to pay.

So, how does it work?
Here is an excerpt from Square, a payment services company…

“As an example, let’s take Apple Pay, which uses a technology called tokenization to safeguard bank details. Here’s how it works: After you take a picture of your credit card and load it into your iPhone (you can read our detailed guide about how to set up Apple Pay here), Apple sends the details to your card’s issuing bank or network. The banks and networks then replace your bank details with a series of randomly generated numbers (the token). That random number is sent back to Apple, which then programs it into your phone. This means that the account details on your phone can’t be cloned into anything valuable to fraudsters.”