Product Review
When I first heard about the POSB Smart Buddy Programme, I have to admit that I was VERY IMPRESSED. This is the world’s first in-school wearable Tech Savings & Payment Programme and students in 19 schools got to try it out. My Joey’s school is not one of the 19 schools, but I certainly hope that they will get to come onboard this programme as soon as possible!
In simple terms, the POSB Smart Buddy Programme allows kids to pay for their food, drinks and all bookshop purchases in school CASHLESS via a special watch that looks like this:
Every watch is fitted with a chip that is linked to their POSB bank account, and all payments are deducted from there. I know at this point, you probably have many question marks in your mind, but let me bring you through step by step. As a mom, I believe I share many of your concerns as well pertaining to cashless payments, but I assure you that careful planning and thoughts have been put into the whole programme to make it work.
After trying it out for a week, there are some features that I absolutely love about the programme. Here’s sharing 6 awesome features of the POSB Smart Buddy Programme:
1. No Worries About Cash Lost
I’ve been through episodes of ‘lost-my-wallet-and-got-scolded-by-mom’ as a kid, and now I have those with my own girls. I’ve lost count of the number of times they’ve misplaced their wallets, water bottles and books etc. With the POSB Smart Buddy Programme, they do not need to handle physical cash at all. All they need to do is to tell the stall-owners what they would like to eat, and then pay simply by tapping their watch on the kiosk at every stall. It works the same way for the bookshop as well. Absolutely no concerns about cash being lost or getting the wrong change back. Makes the whole process way faster as well, and the kids get their food quicker.
2. Seamlessly Linked To App In My Phone
Perhaps one of the most ingenious features about the programme is that I get to monitor everything via the POSB Smart Buddy app on my phone. There are many great functions I can do on this app -
a) Set daily allowance limits
I know what you are thinking – By allowing my kid to pay for all expenses just by tapping the watch that is linked to the bank account, wouldn’t he/she use up all my money without my knowledge? Don’t worry! That would not happen because you can set the daily limit for your kid! So if your kid’s daily allowance is $2, that is the maximum he/she can spend on any given day. This is very useful for me because my girls need to stay back late in school on certain days, and on those days, I need to give them more money to buy lunch as well. There were days when I forgot to give them extra money, and they’ve had not enough money to buy lunch and had to borrow from their teachers first. This system makes sure that I set the correct limit on different days, and they get the right allowance every single week without me thinking twice.
b) Increase the limit anytime, anywhere
This is a super useful feature for me personally. There had been instances when my kids called me from school to tell me that they needed to buy a new exercise book urgently for a lesson that day. It used to be that I couldn’t do anything about that because I was at work. But now with the Smart Buddy Programme, all I needed to do was to increase the daily spending limit for that day and they would be able to make the purchase immediately. How convenient is that?!
c) Monitor every expense by my kids
One of the safeguards of the programme is that I get to see everything that my kids purchase everyday. I know which stall they bought from and what they ate for recess and lunch, or whether they spent all their allowance on erasers and rulers from the bookshop. =P Need I say more about how awesome this feature is? I love being in control and all-knowing! =D
3. Monitor Your Kids’ Fitness Level
The POSB Smart Buddy Watch not only pays for things, it tells the time and also monitors my kids’ fitness levels by tracking the number of steps they walk every day! On days when I see a spike in the number of steps they take, I know they probably played catching during recess time. =P My kids have no issues with fitness at the moment, but I reckon for parents who have kids that are overweight, this is a good way to monitor if they have been exercising enough on a daily basis.
4. Secured
Incase you are worrying about your kid losing the watch and putting your bank account in danger, fret not! Parents can feel secured knowing that the watch can be remotely disabled immediately via the app.
5. Save More!
All daily allowances that are not spent or used will automatically be put into Savings on the app. Accumulated savings can be automatically transferred into your kids’ POSBkids account. How convenient! In fact, whenever I show my kids the savings, they get motivated not to spend unnecessarily on items they don’t need from the bookshop anymore. They want to save in order to buy big-ticket items they want in the future! I like it that this programme encourages saving!
6. Can Be Used Outside of School Too!
More and more merchants are now accepting payment via the Smart Buddy Watch including Popular Bookshop, KFC, Pizza Hut etc. Soon enough, all merchants that accept Nets payment will be able to accept this mode of payment as well. Joey paid for her first purchase at Popular Bookshop last weekend and was super duper excited! I think this is a good way of empowering them as well.
The programme is constantly being reviewed and improved. Upcoming features may soon feature an in-school locator, which allows parents to track their child’s location within the school compound (canteen, library, classroom, etc.), and a school bus locator where parents can track the real-time location of the bus and be notified when their child boards or alights from the school bus. Both features are currently in the testing phase. Plans are also underway to introduce a biometric payment solution, to provide an even simpler payment journey. I can’t wait for this update to come!
