The Current Technology of Magnetic Card Scanners

The Current Technology of Magnetic Card Scanners

Credit cards, debit cards, and other types of magnetic cards have taken over the United States buying industry. Today, people rarely pull out cash for purchases. Instead, they utilize a card with a magnetic card scanner across the back of it. Magnetic card readers are then used to scan that barcode and send it to the appropriate system. As the use of cards increases, the technology of credit card readers must also keep up.

The contents of a magnetic strip
You might be surprised at the amount of information that a small magnetic strip can hold. Not only do these magnetic strips hold your card number, but they also can store your name, account number, card balance, and other important card details. The magnetic strip on a credit card or ID card can hold details such as account number and name. The strip can store up to 60 characters magnetically. The specific information that is stored is often decided by either the business or the specific magnetic card scanner that is used.

Magnetic strips and their effect on the environment
One of the benefits of magnetic strips is that is takes the place of paper documents that could otherwise pollute the world. We are constantly hearing about the importance of recycling and reusing to protect the resources of our earth. Most people do not realize how much of an environmental affect magnetic card scanners have had on the world. It has been estimated that each individual office worker in the U.S. uses about 10,000 sheets of paper per year. Using a document scanner can help your office reduce paper waste.

The document scanner works in a similar method to the magnetic card scanner. In fact, they utilize the same technology for environmental effects. Most documents no longer need to be in physical form. Taking an entire office?s supply of paper documents and scanning them into internet storage form can be extremely beneficial, especially when many businesses do it. Instead of providing customers with large packets of documents, scan the information onto a card dispenser and provide them with that card. They will be able to keep better track of their information and you are no longer wasting paper.

Improvement for security
There has been a lot of concern over how secure magnetic card scanners really are. When they were first designed, there were ways for security breaches to occur. However, the longer that magnetic card scanners are around, the more improved the security benefits will be. The biggest concern involved the ability of outside scanners to scan mobile cards for information. The solution to this problem is in RFID properties. These are blocked wallets and cards that prevent outside scanners from reaching the cards information. They can be used on license scanners, credit cards, and even on kiosk scanners.

Many businesses that rely on magnetic card scanners to do business have already moved to RFID security methods. Many credit card companies have moved to chip technology, which also makes it more difficult for information to be stored and then stolen. Other security methods are in the works and are constantly being implemented. Equipping field service workers with proper technology undoubtedly boosts efficiency. Some of the most important technologies they use include barcode scanning (34% use this), mobile payment options (23% use), and RFID (17% use). Eventually, the majority of magnetic cards will contain all of these features.

The majority of businesses now accept magnetic cards for payment. Additionally, the majority of customers carry at least one payment form that contains a magnetic card scanner. The technologies and securities of these cards are constantly improving to better the experience. Current card improvements are geared towards improving confidentiality and security of card information. Other technological improvements will come soon after. One day, magnetic cards will be the norm of payment and cash may be pushed out of the system entirely.