Campus ID News
Card, mobile credential, payment and security
FEATURED
PARTNERS
QCard 1

Local merchants struggle with campus card

Andrew Hudson   ||   Nov 12, 2014  ||   

At Quinnipiac University, students use their campus card and QCash to pay for groceries, laundry and takeout orders, but a slow transaction process and higher fees have some local merchants turning their backs on the student ID card.

Per the QCard website, students can use their QCash account to make purchases at a number of off-campus locations ranging from Exxon gas stations to Chili’s restaurants.

As reported by The Quinnipiac Chronicle, however, employees at a local grocery store and pizzeria – locations where QCash is currently accepted – claim that the QCash system is in need of an upgrade.

At the grocery store, there is a separate QCard scanner, and employees have reported that the transaction process is slower than standard, non-QCash purchases. The check-out process requires the student to move over to the side and sign for purchases, which can back up the line.

Moreover, some partnering merchants report losing more money when a student uses QCash than when they present a debit card.

At local pizzeria Tonino’s, the current processing fee for QCash is 11%, while other merchants have reported QCash processing fees of 13%. At least at Quinnipiac, the higher processing fees have led to a general merchant preference for standard debit cards over QCard purchases.

According to Quinnipiac’s office of auxiliary services, the processing fees are established by the university’s card system vendor, who also handles all relationships, contracts and payments with partnering merchants. Despite the higher fees, the unrest remains puzzling as all merchants that join the QCard program do so willingly and are made aware of the fees prior to signing up.

It’s also understandable that the fees are higher than a standard debit card, as the QCard has an incredibly smaller issuance and user base.

The problem, then, may not be the fees themselves so much as the frequency of which local merchants have to process them. The same local pizzeria reports that roughly 50% of its total revenue comes from Quinnipiac students – the largest segment of its business.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

RECENT POSTS

May 26, 23 / ,

Penn State adds mobile ordering to campus app

Penn State has added a mobile ordering feature to its comprehensive campus mobile app, Penn State Go. The Penn State Eats Mobile function is available for use by students on the flagship University Park campus, as well as across the university's Commonwealth Campuses.
May 26, 23 / ,

NAU leverages delivery robots to support late-night dining

Northern Arizona is leveraging Starship delivery robots and the mobile ordering app in a clever way to prop up late night dining, and putting a twist on the ghost kitchen concept. The university has launched its Hole in the Wall dining window that now serves either pickup or robot delivery for students by offering a number of dining concepts all from a single, concession-style window.
May 25, 23 / ,

HID's Technology Partner Program helps companies develop mobile solutions

Trusted identity solutions provider, HID Global, has announced its HID Origo Technology Partner Program, the company’s first program dedicated to partners with a focus on mobile technologies. The Origo Technology Partner Program is designed to help technology partners by providing the ideal platform for organizations to design, test, and market products that integrate with HID Origo via APIs and SDKs.
CIDN logo reversed
The only publication dedicated to the use of campus cards, mobile credentials, identity and security technology in the education market. CampusIDNews – formerly CR80News – has served more than 6,500 subscribers for more than two decades.
Twitter

Join us, @NACCUorg, and @TouchNet to explore how campus card programs can successfully navigate the sales and procurement process. Join the webinar on June 6, 2 pm EDT. https://go.touchnet.com/l/652093/2022-05-18/lsndq

Webinar: Learn how the University of Arizona uses campus cards, mobile ordering, kiosks, lockers, and robots to revolutionize campus dining. April 7, 2-2:30 EDT. Register Now at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7821245544009488910?source=campus-id

Load More...
Contact
CampusIDNews is published by AVISIAN Publishing
315 E. Georgia St.
Tallahassee, FL 32301
www.AVISIAN.com[email protected]
Use our contact form to submit tips, corrections, or questions to our team.
©2023 CampusIDNews. All rights reserved.