# Paper or digital stamp cards: what changes for a café

What a stamp card in the phone’s wallet does that a paper one can’t, what stays the same at the till, and what it costs to switch.

A paper stamp card works until it doesn’t. It goes through the wash, stays in yesterday’s coat, or turns up with stamps nobody remembers giving. Each of those is a regular who didn’t get their free coffee, or one who got it twice.

## What a wallet card changes

A card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet lives on the phone, and the phone comes in with the customer every time. The card shows their stamps on the lock screen and updates on its own when staff add one, so nobody has to remember anything.

- **It can’t be lost or forgotten**, unless the phone is.
- **It can’t be faked**. A stamp is added by a person pressing a button at your till, not by a rubber stamp anyone can buy.
- **It tells you something**. You see how many cards are out and how many rewards were used, without learning who anyone is.

## What stays the same

The moment at the till. The customer shows their card, staff scan it and press once for each stamp. Two coffees is two presses. When the card fills, a reward appears on their phone and they use it in front of you, the same way they would hand over a full paper card.

## Setting the rules

You choose how many stamps fill a card (3 to 20), what the reward is, how long it lasts, and how many unused rewards one customer can save up. Ten stamps for a free drink is the familiar shape, and it works.

## What it costs

On The Tap Shop the loyalty card is free for your first 30 customers holding one, on the free plan. Nobody downloads an app: customers add the card from your page, and staff stamp it from any phone with the staff app. See [every loyalty card option](https://thetap.shop/docs/feature/loyalty).

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Source: https://thetap.shop/docs/guides/paper-or-digital-stamp-cards
Updated: 2026-10-24