EFTPOS

acronym Also written Eftpos, eft/pos, or EFT-Pos (Business World) (Science and Technology) Short for electronic funds transfer at point of sale, a method of paying for goods and services by transferring the cost electronically from the card-holder's account to the retailer's using a card such as a credit or debit card and a special terminal at the cash-desk. Etymology: The initial letters of Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale; the formation is modelled on the earlier acronyms EPOS and POS, point of sale. History and Usage: EFTPOS was heralded in the late seventies as the facility which would ensure a cashless society within a decade. In practice, it was not officially announced in the UK until 1982, and was only generally introduced in the second half of the eighties. The rather cumbersome abbreviation, which does not lend itself very readily to being pronounced as a word, is used mainly in business circles; popularly, EFTPOS facilities in the UK are usually known by the proper names Switch and Connect, while in the US EFTPOS is often referred to simply as EFT (an abbreviation which has a longer history than EFTPOS). While Publix was launching its p.o.s. debit card system last week, Abell and other EFT experts suggested that any debit card system be considered carefully before a supermarket company invests in joining bank-controlled switch networks. Supermarket News 2 July 1984, p. 20 A trial of some 2,000 EFT-Pos terminals is set to take place, some time in the autumn of 1988, in retailers in Southampton, Leeds and Edinburgh. Daily Telegraph 29 May 1987, p. 19 EFTPOS...will save you the hassle of writing a cheque or carrying cash around. You hand over a debit card like Switch and Connect cards, which deduct money straight from your bank account. Which? Feb. 1990, p. 69