Leap card distribution expanded (hahaaaa) to An Post / Point Point Outlets

Madd Finn · 01-07-2023 2:19pm

**** ridiculous!!!

L1011 · 02-07-2023 4:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795635#Comment_120795635

No, there are more postpoints than post offices. There are just far, far less than there are payzone outlets.

markpb · 02-07-2023 10:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795710#Comment_120795710

They have to be activated and topped up before first use. You could theoretically stock cards that are ready to use but they’d be incredible theft risks for the shops.

Mrs OBumble · 02-07-2023 10:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797276#Comment_120797276

Shops regularly manage far greater theft risks.

Dravokivich · 03-07-2023 10:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797290#Comment_120797290

They are incredibily difficult to manage without a deposit.

Dravokivich · 03-07-2023 10:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797405#Comment_120797405

Except this is money. They don't tend to leave money laying around in shops. Even scratch cards have to be activated and tend to be put up in limited numbers to mitigate risk and that's for a far lower amount than can be gotten by yanking a handful of leap cards with just a deposit and a minimal amount of credit to make use of 1 trip.

Lots of newsagents and petrol stations don't even have their staff handling money anymore, the tills are practically safes now.

Mrs OBumble · 03-07-2023 10:48am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798426#Comment_120798426

How do you think they manage gift cards that they sell?

markpb · 03-07-2023 10:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798449#Comment_120798449

Gift cards are treated identical to Leap cards - they have to be activated and topped-up prior to first use.

Dravokivich · 03-07-2023 11:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798449#Comment_120798449

Do you ever think of the question you are asking?

bk · 03-07-2023 2:02pm

The obvious solution is for the NTA to hurry up and just introduce the next gen ticket, which will allow you to pay by tap to pay credit/debit cards and Apple/Google Pay by phone, etc.

Also while I’m whining, it is ridiculous that you have to enter your credit card details every time you top up by the app! They should just support Apple/Google Pay for ease of use, until they get the next gen ticketing done. It would be so easy to implement.

Dravokivich · 03-07-2023 2:14pm

Used to be able to store payment details on the app. Did they remove that feature?

LXFlyer · 03-07-2023 2:19pm

Yes you can store the card details.

p_haugh · 03-07-2023 2:28pm

They changed the implementation slightly however, so even though your card is protected with a four digit PIN you are still required to enter your 3 digit CVV as well.

Mrs OBumble · 03-07-2023 2:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798504#Comment_120798504

I guess I could really spell it it, and say "Well shops like Tesco are pretty damn good at managing other things they sell which are cash-equivalents, like gift cards and stamps, so I guess they would be able to manage Leap cards the same way".

But I'd like to think that the average Boards user is smart enough to make the link without it being spelled out for them. Maybe I'm over optimisitic.

apache · 03-07-2023 2:34pm

A little extra security. Nothing wrong with that.

bk · 03-07-2023 2:38pm

Ah ok, I must have misremembered, I use auto-topup, I was seeing a friends struggle to topup and enter their card details.

Though still silly you have to remember a 4 digit pin and even then it doesn’t have the CVV!

Like on an iPhone why can’t it use Face ID or Touch ID rather than a PIN, same on some Android phones. Like FaceID is good enough for AIB and Revolut, but not for topping up iPhone! And BTW a 4 digit PIN is much less secure then Face ID.

And anyway, if it supported Apple/Google Pa, it wouldn’t even need to store your card details and no PIN needed and no need to enter your card details the first time. So much easier to use Apple Pay. I’m always delighted to see websites and services support Apple Pay, sites that doesn’t and make you enter your details even the first time seem so backwards and old fashioned to me.

markpb · 03-07-2023 3:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120799575#Comment_120799575

That link wasn’t obvious to me at all.

NTA issue a tender for the Leap Operate contract which is the back-office functionality of the Leap card. Companies tender for that contract and, as part of that, they partner with a retail network, typically An Post or Payzone. They could partner with Tesco but for whatever reason, they either don’t ask Tesco or Tesco don’t want to. NTA award the operate contract as a whole and get whatever retail network comes along with the winner - they don’t pick it directly. They could choose to tender the retail network separately and tell the operations company to work with them but they don’t.

Tesco could ask the retail network if they could sell Leap cards. First they’d need to join the AP or Payzone networks but they haven’t. I’d imagine they only do IT integrations that can be used internationally. All those gift cards are handled by international operators who aggregate multiple card brands so Tesco can do a single integration and get all of them. Leap is not part of that and probably too small for them to bother to do separately. The requirement for dedicated external hardware for Leap would be an extra nail in the coffin for that idea.

Leap card distribution expanded (hahaaaa) to An Post / Point Point Outlets

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