FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                     CONTACT:
August 14, 2007                                                                                                         Jackie Clark
                                                                                                                        301-987-7113

NAMA PERSUADES FEDERAL RESERVE
TO AMEND REGULATION
Debit Card Option Now Feasible for Vending Industry

Chicago, IL—July 27 – Effective Aug. 6, 2007, vending machine debit-card sales under $15 will not require a paper receipt, announced National Automatic Merchandising Association  (NAMA) Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel Thomas  E. McMahon, NCE.

NAMA, with support from the American Beverage Association, succeeded in persuading the Federal Reserve Board to amend a regulation that required retailers, including vending operators, to issue paper receipts to customers for all debit-card transactions, regardless of price, said McMahon.

“The cost to install a paper receipt printer in a vending machine, about $670, was prohibitive and effectively denied our industry the debit card option,” continued McMahon. “The amendment will make the debit card option feasible for operators, and should provide consumers, who are increasingly comfortable using debit cards for low-priced purchases, with the convenience of debit card use in the vending channel,” he added.

In its written comments filed with the Federal Reserve in January, NAMA argued that the interests of consumers would not be compromised by the $15 paper-receipt exemption. With computers, cell phones and automated banking systems, consumers could check their bank account balance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, NAMA stated. The Federal Reserve Board agreed.

Concluded McMahon, “This accomplishment is another example of NAMA’s effectiveness in representing the vending industry before government, whether local, state or national.”