How The Keepers scaled reusable packaging returns via instant payouts

It’s a Saturday afternoon in a busy Carrefour store in France. Shoppers bustle through the aisles with errands to run and time to save. In the corner, a sleek kiosk sits quietly. A customer drops in a glass bottle. Three seconds later, their card is credited.

No voucher. No app confirmation. No scanning QR codes. Just an instant refund right back on their card.

For most people, the moment barely registers. But for The Keepers, those seconds decide everything.

In a business where customer behaviour is fragile and inconvenience kills participation, refunds had to be instant.

Making returns effortless from the first moment

The Keepers set out to solve a stubborn problem of getting everyday people to return reusable packaging instead of throwing it away.

Lots of customers want to do the right thing. Very few want to deal with coupons, printed receipts, complicated apps, or checkout lines. The only motivator that consistently worked was getting their deposit back immediately.

“We learned fast that if the refund didn’t land instantly, people just walked away. Reusable returns only work when the experience is effortless,” François Jaubert-Soury, CEO of The Keepers, says.

That insight shaped every part of the product. In a system where behaviour depends on speed, payments can’t be an afterthought. They have to be part of the solution itself.

Scaling kiosk deployments across high-traffic retail locations

By 2023, kiosk rollout across France was underway – in supermarkets, train stations, stadiums, and other high‑footfall locations. Each site came with its own set of constraints, different point‑of‑sale systems, varied staff availability, and distinct operational rhythms.

Relying on a store’s checkout infrastructure or manual staff involvement for refunds would have slowed everything down. And every delay meant fewer returns.

At the same time, the market was moving fast. Carrefour, Coca‑Cola, and other major players were publicly committing to reusable packaging infrastructure. Carrefour alone announced plans for 4,000 collection points by 2030.

François remembers the pressure clearly. Retailers weren’t asking them if they could scale. They were asking how fast.

To keep pace, The Keepers needed a payment solution that could deploy quickly and work consistently across unpredictable environments.

Payments that live inside the product

The turning point came when The Keepers embedded myPOS Android payment terminals directly into their Collector kiosks.

Not placed beside the machine. Not handled by store staff, but built in.

“Payments cannot sit next to the kiosk as an extra step. They have to be part of the product. By embedding myPOS terminals directly inside our Collector units, refunds became automatic and consistent,” François explains.

Each kiosk became a fully autonomous unit. Packaging is scanned and verified. Refunds are processed instantly. Money goes straight back to the customer’s card with no staff involvement and no external systems.

One system across many partners

Today, The Keepers works with five of France’s largest retail groups – Carrefour, E.Leclerc, Intermarché, Coopérative U, and Auchan – each with different operational setups and commercial terms.

Through it all, the payments infrastructure stays the same.

With myPOS embedded in every kiosk:

• New locations go live without custom integrations
• Each machine processes refunds independently
• Accounts and transaction flows are managed centrally
• Local support is handled by myPOS when needed

“Our retail partners want returns to run smoothly without adding work for their teams. With myPOS inside each kiosk, every unit processes refunds on its own, and payments stopped being something we had to think about,” François shares.

Built for today and ready for tomorrow

Currently, The Keepers operates 100 kiosks across France. But the infrastructure was built for much more.

The company’s target is to have 2030 Collector units deployed by 2030.

Each new location brings more transactions, but no added complexity, as every kiosk is fully autonomous and processes refunds on its own.

Customers don’t think about the technology behind the kiosk, but they feel the difference.

“If you want people to return something, make it easier than throwing it away,” François remarks.

The Keepers made returns effortless by making refunds automatic. myPOS made refunds automatic by embedding payments where they belong.

The result is a returns network that runs smoothly, scales confidently, and keeps growing without the friction.