Stopping the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the most important thing we can currently do to help everyone.
Payment Terminals are shown to be devices where viruses spread easily. We are taking steps to make sure they are clean – but in the process, can these devices be easily damaged? Yes.
There are guidelines provided by manufacturers (leading manufacturers VeriFone and Ingenico) and from independent resources which we’ve linked here for easy access.
The Governor of GA even released an advisory yesterday on what merchants and the public are encouraged to do in order to best safeguard payment transactions relative to the spread of this coronavirus.
How are you cleaning your devices?
A co-worker told me about an experience he had recently at a grocery store local to him, Wegmans. There was a Wegmans associate standing and ready to clean and wipe down the payment terminal & area right around after each transaction. This is great, right? (Any of us who shop Wegmans expects this sort of customer care.)
It got me thinking, though, about how they might be doing this.
I spoke a day later with one of our partners who works to support retailers with us through depot & repair services. He shared that some of the heavy cleaning was already producing increased device failures.
Truly – how are you cleaning your devices?
If left to associates at the store level, I expect the answer is “in a varied manner.” How could it not be? Someone who is not necessarily trained to do this, is going to repeatedly come into close contact with, and clean, an environment which could possibly contain traces of a virus that is killing people.
Is it difficult to imagine an associate spraying all over the device, wanting to be as clean as can be?
No. Every source we looked at stated that spraying directly on the payment device could be damaging.
Can we picture the wrong types of cleaning solutions being used given how short in supply many cleaning solutions are?
(Hydrogen Peroxide is on the list of items to never use from VeriFone referenced above…but if you look at the list the CDC references/EPA provides for protection against this virus you will see Hydrogen Peroxide is the active ingredient in dozens of them. The CDC’s homemade list includes Bleach, also a ‘never’ item to use when cleaning these devices.)
Yes, very easy to picture.
Are devices being cleaned now more than ever, increasing risk of damage?
Yes. Could we guess they may have been cleaned 1-2 times per day, previously? In the example listed above with Wegmans, where they were taking the ultimate care to protect their shoppers by cleaning after every use – how many would that amount to in a day? 100? 250? More?
Should making the devices clean be the top priority?
Yes, for sure. But we can likely do a better job of educating the personnel and try and protect against rampant device failure, the downtime, and the costs associated with damage to payment devices at the same time as being certain to protect against the communication of any viruses.
If you have questions on any of the following items we are happy to help in any way that we can. Reach out to us and ask, we will get right back to you.
1) Proper device cleaning
2) Safe for the users & the device
3) Devices which may hold up better to more frequent cleaning
4) Cost effective / Time Sensitive replacement of damaged devices
There are many other technology innovations and solutions available to Retailers to protect their employees and their customers from COVID-19 that we would love to discuss as well.
Contact: Brett Busconi bbusconi@worldlinkintegration.com 949-861-2830 x227
We plan on sharing more information soon about Contactless Payment Options. Stay safe!