Amazon News: E-Commerce Giant Launches Paycode Service In The US

Amazon (AMZN) announced Wednesday it is bringing its Paycode service, which allows customers to pay for purchases with cash at Western Union locations, to the United States.

"We're constantly innovating to improve the shopping experience on behalf of our customers, and are proud to expand Amazon Paycode to the U.S.," Ben Volk, the director of payment acceptance and experience at Amazon said. "Customers have told us they love the convenience of paying in cash. Together with Western Union, we're able to offer customers more shopping choices, enabling customers to pay for services in a way that is convenient for them."

Amazon Paycode allows customers to get a QR code from Amazon when they make a purchase. They can then bring that QR code to one of 1,500 Western Union locations, where they can pay in cash. Upon successful payment, the Amazon item will then be shipped to the customer.

The service may be attractive to those who would prefer to pay in cash rather than with a debit or credit card. Currently, it already is available in some developing countries, such as Colombia, Chile and Indonesia.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has said that as of November 2018, cash still remains the most frequently used payment instrument in the United States. Cash is used in 30% of all monetary transactions and 50% of all transactions under $10.

On the other hand, a Pew Research Center survey from December found about 34% of adult Americans under the age of 50 make no purchases during the week with cash.

Amazon is the biggest e-retailer in the United States. As of June, there were an estimated 105 million Americans subscribed to the Amazon Prime service, which includes free two-day delivery and a streaming platform, along with other benefits.