Contact-free payment ice cream trucks have arrived

Research reveals just how popular ice-cream vans are with Brits as 65 per cent say they make a purchase over the summer, with almost a third (32 per cent) buying from an ice-cream van at least once a month. Yet with an average wait-time of 7 minutes and 42 seconds per visit, ice-cream fans could potentially be wasting almost an hour and a half (82 minutes) in queues over the summer season. Oh my. In yet another example of how businesses are responding to our culture of immediacy, it’s not surprising that ‘ice-cream vans’ are in line to become contactless-enabled via ‘touch and go’ technology.
Almost half of ice-cream lovers (40 per cent) report becoming frustrated by long wait times at ice-cream vans and over a quarter (26 per cent) have given the queue the cold shoulder altogether, opting to forego their frozen fancy – meaning merchants who serve the popular treats could be missing out on lucrative sales during their busiest time of the year.