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Target Corp. is testing the sale of co-branded prepaid cards with American Express Co. in more than 100 stores, the companies confirmed on Friday.
April 30 -
American Express Co. is hitting the streets in Eugene, Ore., to promote Serve, its digital wallet for those consumers who are turned off by the elite branding of its main product line.
April 25 -
Banks have long sold postage stamps through ATMs. The U.S. Postal Service may be returning the favor by selling payment cards at post offices.
January 18
American Express Co. will sell gift cards in more than 1,800 post offices starting in June under a pilot with the U.S. Postal Service.
The Amex-branded cards will be sold in fixed amounts of $25 and $50 as well as variable amounts ranging from $25 to $100. They will cost $3.95 to $5.95 to activate but will have no other fees, the New York card issuer said in a press release on Monday night.
The U.S. Postal Service announced plans in January to pilot the sale of gift cards in its branches to generate additional revenue, with plans to retain a percentage of the card sales. The agency said at the time that it might expand the cards' availability to an additional 3,000 locations this year.
There is "a nexus between the use of gift cards for gifting purposes and the use of the mails for sending that gift," the agency said in a notice filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the Postal Service, at the time.
For Amex, the pilot is the latest effort to expand beyond the traditional credit and charge products it has historically focused on.
Earlier this month, the company said it had begun selling co-branded prepaid cards at Target Corp. retail stores in February under a test with the Minneapolis retailer. In April, Amex announced a so-called digital wallet service called Serve, which allows customers to pay for online and point of sale purchases using an account funded with other payment cards.
""As the company looks to move beyond traditional charge and credit products, expanding our distribution network to new and innovative locations like Post Offices is key to accelerating the company's growth in new payments and digital platforms," Alpesh Chokshi, the president of global payment options, said in the press release.
