One of the challenges with being an idiot is you spend your life doing stupid things.
Such was the case a few weeks ago when I took the kids to the pool. On our return to the car park, I placed my wallet and iPhone on the roof of the car while buckling in my 4 year old. I then proceeded to drive off with the wallet and phone still on the roof, where they later tumbled into the street to be found by an unknown person of questionable ethics.
Within 30 minutes the offender had managed to contact St George Bank and convince them to change the PIN on my personal and business debit cards, plus my credit card. They then proceeded to withdraw vast amount of cash from ATMs in the local area, until the bank security systems kicked in and blocked any further transactions.
But they didn’t stop there. The next day they successfully applied for a $10,000 credit facility via a finance company, which they spent on Apple products. They also successfully applied for a postpaid account via Vodafone. Eventually I managed to get a credit block put in place and the shenanigans stopped.
Thus began a slow and torturous process of rebuilding my wallet. The bank organised new cards, and I ordered a replacement Medicare card, health insurance card and driver’s licence. But what of my loyalty program cards? My wallet had been bulging with them, so many I could hardly fold the thing closed?
Amazingly, that was the easy part. When I bought a replacement iPhone, one of the first Apps I downloaded was Stocard. I’d scanned all my plastic cards into the App before my wallet & phone were lost, and when I opened Stocard, there they all were. A digital miracle!
You’re probably wondering why I was still carrying around those plastic cards if I didn’t need them anymore. For clarity, read the first line of this article.
Stocard has come from nowhere to claim over 15 million users worldwide. David Handlos, Founder & CEO of Stocard, has ambitious plans to evolve it with payments capability. “Our main goal with Stocard is to provide consumers with an essential shopping tool and help them find great offers that match their interests,” David told Loyalty & Reward Co recently.
“This allows us to also help retailers bring more shoppers to their stores and also measure the success of marketing campaigns. We do this by analysing how many users see the offer and then visit the store and buy something.”
“We will be introducing a payment solution in Europe in a few months and are looking to roll it out in Australia as soon as possible. We will be working together with Apple Pay and think it will offer a great choice for consumers.”
If David Handlos realises his vision, we soon won’t need a physical wallet at all; a true blessing for idiots everywhere.
Philip Shelper is a specialist loyalty consultant based in Sydney, Australia who obsesses about everything to do with loyalty and rewards. His company Loyalty & Reward Co are a leading loyalty consulting firm.
Let’s connect! https://au.linkedin.com/in/philipshelper
