AUSTIN, Texas -- Much like financial institutions which promoted ATM usage in the early days by using employees to educate customers on how to use the newfangled machines, 7-Eleven is using in-store greeters to promote customer awareness and usage of its Vcom kiosks during its pilot in Texas and Florida.
Customers at 58 stores in the Texas cities of Austin and Temple/Killeen and Florida cities of Fort Myers and Naples can use the Web-enabled financial services kiosk to conduct standard ATM transactions, cash checks and obtain money orders and money transfers.
Money orders and money transfers are offered through Western Union and check cashing through Certegy Check Services, a division of Certegy Inc.
According to a 7-Eleven news release, future services may include telecommunications products and services, bill payment, event ticketing, travel directions and road maps.
In addition to in-store greeters, 7-Eleven's marketing effort includes offering free check-cashing membership enrollment and promoting the new service through advertising, in-store signs and special events aimed at consumers who use a check-cashing service. Also during the test period, a new customer's first two payroll checks will be cashed free.
After a "proof-of-concept" test of Vcom in early 1998 at 37 Austin-area stores, 7-Eleven worked with NCR, the manufacturer of the kiosks, to make improvements resulting in a smaller, Web-enabled kiosk that provides significantly faster transactions.
"Self-service check cashing on Vcom is another innovation in 7-Eleven's 75-year history of defining convenience,' said Otis Peaks, vice president of 7-Eleven stores' Central division, which includes Texas. "We know thousands of our customers cash checks somewhere else but shop at 7-Eleven for basic purchases. By offering check cashing on Vcom, we're saving them time and an additional stop. This is a good customer value and it just makes sense."
To use the Vcom check-cashing service, a customer applies for membership and is issued a Vcom card. Thereafter, the member accesses the automated check-cashing service by inserting the card and check into the Vcom kiosk, then entering a PIN and pertinent information about the check via a touch screen. After the check is verified and authorized and if it is approved, the customer receives the cash, minus a transaction fee.
The typical Vcom self-service transaction takes less than two minutes, according to a 7-Eleven news release.
Membership requirements and transactions fees are comparable to other check-cashing establishments.
