I have noticed at the Southwest Airline terminals to board their planes faster if all you have is carry-on luggage, passegers can use "any" plastic credit card with a magnetic strip, this simple scans for the passengers address and name.PERIOD After that in then matches the persons info and prints out their boarding pass, Away they go, i have done this several times with out any concerns after talking to one of their employess.

I suspect the business is scanning for your personal info and then swiping it again on the pay terminal to get their $$$, Then they have a handy profile on everyone,and even what they ate! Kinda like "cookies" are on the internet.

This is just a comment , I would ask them what information each swipe gathers and demand to watch the screen as they do it, of course some folks get a little uneasy when your staring over their shoulder,next time pay ca$h.