A cashless visitor area is easy to install and implement. Rather than visitors carrying $20 to $50 cash to use in the vending machines (and possibly passing the money on to inmates), visitors purchase an electronic cash card that holds a stored value. All vending machines in the Visitor's Area are equipped with card readers, enabling purchases to be made with cards. With a Heartland MicroPayments system, a major benefit is the ability to control card acceptance; therefore, cards purchased by visitors will only work in the Visitor's Area. So, if a Visitor’s Card is passed to an inmate, it cannot be used. No cash in the visitor's area prevents cash from going to the inmates.

BENEFITS OF THE VISITOR CARD SYSTEM

The Heartland MicroPayments Visitor's Area solution consists of a Vending Interface System that attaches directly to existing vending machines and a ReValue Station that allows for card purchases and funds deposits to cards.

• Saves labor in obtaining, distributing, and accounting for coins or tokens.
• Eliminates bill changers: saving time, effort and headaches relating to the emptying and refilling of the change machines on visiting days.
• Reduces expensive service calls by eliminating coin and bill jams in vending machines.
• Provides significant positive cash flow for the vendor by collecting the pre-deposited money upfront.
• Increases bottom-line profit. Typically, 10 to 20 percent of money added to visitor's cards is never spent.
• Eliminates shrinkage due to theft.