"Pay 110 Types of Utility Bills Including Unpaid Highway Tolls at CU"

(From left) Kwangho Lee, Head of Sales Division at Korea Expressway Corporation, and Jitaek Song, Head of Innovation Division at BGF Retail, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement for CU's highway unpaid toll collection service. Photo by CU.

MOUs with Korea Expressway Corporation... Payment of Unpaid Highway Tolls Available at Over 15,000 CU Stores Nationwide
Number of CU Public Utility Bill Payments Up 14.5% as People Avoid Bank and Government Office Visits Due to COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] Starting from the 12th, unpaid highway toll payments will be possible at CU stores nationwide.

BGF Retail, which operates the convenience store CU, announced on the 8th that it has signed a business agreement with Korea Expressway Corporation and established a system allowing inquiry and payment of unpaid highway tolls at over 15,000 CU stores nationwide to improve public life services.

Accordingly, from the 12th, customers will be able to inquire and pay unpaid tolls at any CU store nationwide by going through an identity verification process by entering their vehicle number and date of birth, without needing to bring the bill. Both card and cash payment methods are available.

Since CU first introduced public utility bill payment services in the industry in 2007, it has expanded the service items from about 21, including water bills and local taxes, to over 110 items such as Hi-Pass recharging, TV license fees, and mobile phone bill payments. To facilitate service operation at franchise stores, CU has installed 2D barcode readers at all stores nationwide, enabling easy service provision through QR code scanning.

As the variety of public utility bills payable at CU has increased and customer awareness of the service has grown, the number of transactions using the public utility bill payment service has steadily increased. The number of uses of CU's public utility bill payment service increased by 6.4% in 2018 and 7.2% in 2019 compared to the previous year. Last year, due to COVID-19, bank operating hours were shortened from 4 PM to 3:30 PM, reducing available usage time, and as more people avoided visiting banks and government offices frequented by unspecified large numbers of people, the number of uses increased by 14.5%.

Song Jitaek, Head of Innovation Division at BGF Retail, said, "CU is building a lifestyle infrastructure centered on nationwide stores so that customers can continue their convenient daily lives even during COVID-19," adding, "Going forward, BGF Retail will continue to expand the 'Pyeonse-gwon'?a convenient living zone?by cooperating with public institutions so that customers can comfortably receive various lifestyle services at nearby CU stores."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.