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"How often have you gone to the coffee shop down the road because you have a\u00A0loyalty\u00A0card there? How many times have you forgotten or lost that\u00A0loyalty\u00A0card? Yup, me too.\r\n\r\nPunchd is a new service that is putting a stop to losing/forgetting our reward cards.\u00A0It's a smart phone app that works as a digital punch card or as they like to call it, &amp;quot;a buy-ten-get-one-free card&amp;quot;. It is founded\u00A0by Reed Morse and Grantland Chew, two Computer Scientist, who took their senior\u00A0project\u00A0and turned it into a business.\r\n\r\nHow does it work? After downloading the app onto your mobile, you hit the &amp;quot;Nearby Venues&amp;quot; button. That populates a list of venues located near you that accept Punchd. When you arrive at the venue you  locate the QR Code. Then open the app and hit the &amp;quot;Get Punched&amp;quot; button. The app will read the code automatically and punch your digital card or alert you of a reward that's due. The app is super simple and easy to use. The Nearby Venues button works as an interesting discovery tool.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe incentives for customers to use this app is obvious. However why should\u00A0businesses\u00A0use it? Not only is it greener but it's a cheaper long-term alternative to physical cards. Businesses will also receive more information from Punchd then traditional cards. With current loyalty cards, it is difficult to track how many have been distributed, have many punches are being given out or how many rewards are being collected. They will now have access to data telling them exactly how many people downloaded the application, how many people made transactions and where the transactions went.\r\n\r\nMany stores are using Punchd such as Jamba Juice and Peet's Coffee &amp;amp;amp; Tea. Sadly most stores that\u00A0operate\u00A0it are \u00A0based in California. To find a definitive list of all the venues that are currently using Punchd visit\u00A0here.\r\n\r\nThe app is free\u00A0and available on the iPhone and the Android."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/02/10/get-punchd-a-digital-reward-card-app/>