One-Fingered Discount At The Grocery Store

Arik Hesseldahl reports for Forbes.com on Pay By Touch's new president and COO John Morris and its current deployment of its fingerprint-based payment system with Piggly Wiggly.

Grocers, he says, sweat over seconds and track the average time it takes to get a customer through the check-out line. The faster the better. A transaction using a paper check takes on average about 64 seconds; credit card transactions take 40 to 45 seconds; debit cards about 35; and cash about 29, which includes the "fumble factor"--allowing the clerk to count out change. Once a consumer is enrolled with the Pay By Touch system, they can pay in as little as 14 seconds by holding their finger up to a scanner and entering a number--usually their home phone number, to add a little extra layer of authentication.