Starting April 9, Postal Service employees who use government-issued Citibank GSA SmartPay 3 travel cards will automatically receive a contactless version when their current ones expire.
Contactless payment cards allow purchasers to pay for items by tapping — rather than swiping or inserting — cards on a merchant’s contactless-enabled card reader.
The contactless feature helps secure cards by making them less vulnerable to devices such as skimmers, which criminals install on point-of-sale or self-service card readers to capture a cardholder’s personal information.
Each Citibank GSA SmartPay 3 card has a contactless symbol — which resembles a Wi-Fi icon pointing right — indicating it’s enabled for contactless payments.
When paying for an item, the purchaser taps the GSA SmartPay 3 card on the merchant’s contactless-enabled card reader to complete the transaction.
The cards can also be used normally in stores without contactless payment.
The GSA SmartPay 3 website has a video and FAQs with additional information.