Starbucks Launches New Auto-payment System

Starbucks Korea has launched automatic payment drive-through locations, using DT Pass technology.

To use the service, customers need to have a Starbucks online account with a rechargeable membership card, and register their car licence plate. A DT Pass device at the drive-through entrance will identify the customers via their registered car licence plate and deduct the payment automatically.

The company says the time for a barista to receive the order information and for customers to make a payment is reduced by 13 to 15 seconds, which accounts for 10 per cent of the time spent at a drive-through.

Starbucks Korea launched the service after a survey of account members. It is available at 11 branches in Seoul and will expand to 140 branches nationwide by August.

Korea was also the first country to adopt Siren Order four years ago, which let customers order in advance so everything would be ready when they arrived.