At most major festivals in the Netherlands, you still pay with coins, but this is slowly shifting towards debit cards. This is evident from a survey by NOS on 3. This year, three major festivals have switched to paying with your debit card. Although sixteen of the twenty major festivals still pay with coins, the festival world is slowly moving towards debit cards at the bar, experts say.
Contactless payment
Amsterdam Open Air (AOA), last weekend, is one of the festivals where you could only pay by card. This means that visitors did not have to queue for tokens upon arrival, but could order directly. Milkshake and Soenda are also going for card payments this year.
“What do people not like at a festival? Waiting in line at the token cash register”, says organiser Sjoerd Wynia of AOA. “A few years ago we did not dare to only accept card payments, because if the connection of your card system fails, you have a problem. But the technology is so much better now and the infrastructure is ready for it. With the arrival of contactless payment, we actually see no reason not to do it.”
Indispensable service
Timo Kragting of festival site Yellowtipi expects that more festivals will follow after these festivals. “I think it will become an indispensable service for festivals. As a festival organizer, you can hardly justify that you can pay by card at one festival, but not at another.”
Festival Soenda in Utrecht also tested the debit card this year. And that went well, says organizer Joris Coenen. “The target group is so used to debit cards. It is actually very strange that we still pay with coins in this day and age with all the technological developments.”
No more counting coins
But for now, many festivals still have a different view. At major festivals such as Zwarte Cross, Pinkpop, Lowlands and Mysterland, there will be no debit cards on the bars this year.
Because paying with coins has many advantages for festival organizations. It is faster than debit cards. With debit cards, the For the organization, there were many advantages. “It gives us a lot of peace of mind, you can keep an eye on all the drinks during the event, it is less susceptible to fraud and the administration is done in one go: you don’t have to count all the coins at the end.”
But for now, many festivals are still looking at it differently. At large festivals such as Zwarte Cross, Pinkpop, Lowlands and Mysterland, there will be no ATMs on the bars this year.
Because paying with coins has many advantages for festival organisations. It is faster than using a debit card. When using a debit card, the bar staff member has to enter an order before you can pay for your drink. That is an extra step and therefore takes time. That often means shorter queues at the bar.
Group payments, open to solutions
Another argument: coins are useful for groups. Everyone hands in a coin when they buy a round. “Holding out your hand when you buy a round is an essential part of festivals,” says Bente Bollmann of Mojo, which organizes Lowlands, among other things. “Especially at multi-day festivals where you are with different groups, paying a little extra is really not useful.”
Before Lowlands makes the switch, a solution must first be found for this group payment, says Bollmann.
Coins in your pocket
Another advantage of coins for festivals: as a visitor, you often have coins left over at the end of a festival. They are then worthless, but you have paid for them. Even though some festivals offer to exchange leftover coins for money, many visitors do not do this and are left with coins. And let’s do some math: if even half of a medium-sized festival (15,000 visitors) has one 2.75 euro coin left, that 20,000 euros is quickly earned.
The fairest way
Festival organizers don’t tell us that they take that into account, but the organization of Soenda does say: “Yes, we miss out on that income with pin payments, but ultimately this is the fairest way to deal with your visitors.”
But the biggest objection to pin payments is the vulnerability of pin payments. Bollmann: “Yes, pin payments are coming, but it will take a while, because we don’t think the systems are reliable enough yet. With Lowlands, we are in the middle of nowhere and there has to be a continuous connection. We can’t afford for systems to be down and people not being able to buy anything.”
Various companies supply pin systems for festivals, and they (logically) see few problems. “The time when there were very large internet outages that shut things down is behind us. If something goes down now, there is a backup and the outage often only lasts a few minutes,” says Pieter de Jong. His company Twelve provided the payment system at Amsterdam Open Air yesterday.
Moneycomb
Moneycomb arranged the payments at Soenda, and that went well, says Michael van Elswijk. “At Soenda, the Wi-Fi went down at a bar for a while, then all the ATMs automatically switched to 4G. The visitor didn’t notice anything.”
“For each area, it is easy to map out the coverage. Suppose Tele2 goes down, then you switch to KPN. If 4G goes down completely, you switch to Wi-Fi. You use a combination of the strongest networks and that way you always have the option to fix it. And paying by card doesn’t cost that much bandwidth: about the same as sending an app.”
But Michael also understands the organizations that stick to coins. “That remains super reliable: even if the bar is on fire, you can still pay. It is a proven system, people are used to it. Paying by card is new in the festival world, that feels more exciting to many organizers.”
HAPPIER VISITORS
Festival expert Timo van Yellowtipi visits a festival almost every weekend and is happy that tokens are (slowly) disappearing. “That saves hassle. With tokens, you always feel like you’re being ripped off. Tokens that you have left over, crazy amounts that you have to pay. Paying by card feels more like standard catering and that’s what it should be at a festival.”
Sjoerd Wynia van Amsterdam Open Air looks back with satisfaction on his token-free festival: “I really don’t see any disadvantages. If you instruct your bar staff well, things go almost as fast at the bar and visitors find it annoying to have tokens left over. We get happier visitors in return, which is good for everyone.”