Article

Self-service registers on college campuses

Self-service gains popularity at the college level.

September 3, 2007

The scene at the University of Delaware banking center was a mess. Behind the counter, employees scrambled to process individual checks while students filed into the doors of the branch like they were at the Delaware-Lehigh football game.

 

After numerous complaints from bank employees and students, the bank began looking for a line-busting solution that would also improve customer experience at the branch. The answer for UD was a self-service payment system that was integrated into the bank's existing ATMs.

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The University of Delaware is one of many colleges and universities that are making a move to introduce more self-service machines on its campuses. The motive to add the kiosks is similar to that of any other business: they automate simple tasks and cut down on customer wait times.

 

The Wilmington Savings Fund Society operates the student branch of their bank at UD's Perkins Student Center, located on campus in Newark, Del. WSFS operates private student accounts that are linked to the university student account system that allow students to pay for tuition, books, food on campus, etc. These accounts are accessed by a student ID card with a magnetic strip on the back, essentially making it a multi-purpose ATM card.

 

UD's problem was that too many students were cashing checks and making simple transactions at the branch, such as adding or withdrawing money from their accounts. The result was slow processing time behind the counter and long lines in front of it. The bank also had to hire extra staff members to handle the traffic.

 

WSFS enrolled a self-service payment system that involved kiosks and a plan to drive more students to use those terminals.

 

Changes at the UD bank

 

When the kiosks were first deployed there were an equal number of transactions between the branch and the kiosks. WSFS started charging students a fee to cash checks or make deposits at the branch but not the kiosks. After that the ratio of transactions between the kiosks and the branch became 4:1.

 

A check-image receipt from the NCR kiosks.

Following a movement in the ATM industry, the WSFS kiosks began to offer no-envelope transactions, where students could directly insert their checks into the kiosks or ATM.

 

"The kiosks offered the check-image receipts, giving the students positive feedback that the check went through," said Bill Allen, marketing director of self-service for NCR, supplier of the kiosks and ATMs for WSFS. "After that the usage jumped to eight kiosk transactions to every one branch transaction."

 

 

Shipping it out

 

College campuses are now like mini-cities, in the sense that all the resources students need can be found on campus. At some schools, like Elmhurst College near Chicago, students don't even have to leave their dorm building to go to the neighborhood post office.

 

As the U.S. Postal Service began removing postage stamp machines from student activity area, Elmhurst deployed Pitney Bowes' Mailing Kiosks on its campus, giving students access to a one-stop location to mail packages. The kiosks were installed this summer.

 

"Students expressed the need to have a convenient way to process their mail and packages without having to go off-campus to the post office," said Greg Kendall of Elmhurst. "Through meetings with the college's services manager, dean of students and the VP of Financial Affairs the decision was made that the kiosk would be a good fit."

 

"In the university market, if you look at the top five facilities in the campus that students are unhappy with, generally mailing is one of them," said Brian Leary, the director of business and market development, Internet and retail solutions for Pitney Bowes.

 

Based upon what has occurred in earlier experiences at other universities, Kendall says the adoption and utilization rate is very high among university and college students. After placing a test unit at Emory University last year and through the early part of this year, the Mailing Kiosks immediately began to have 30-40 transactions per day, which was a significant up-tick right out of the box. Kendall and other found that students really appreciated the 24/7 convenience, the intuitive user interface and the location of the kiosk which was right in the heart of the Student Union area.

 

One Mailing Kiosk can handle up to 71 packages shipped in between pick-ups. The kiosks are designed for student and end user convenience, even providing a place for users to set their jackets, purses, etc.

 

"That's the No. 1 reason people use it – convenience," Leary said. "Second is control. People know of all their options, from tracking to delivery confirmation."