“Touchless!” Or so promised the sign at my neighborhood gas station — their one-word stab at convincing customers they can fill up without risking COVID-19. But after I had parked at the pump, I learned that only the payment experience was touchless. I still had to grab the potentially lethal handle of the gas pump and stick the nozzle into my tank. And there were no gloves, no Purell.

Duped.

That same touchless promise is now being made across the access control industry. Everyone and his brother is proclaiming they have “touchless access control,” but is it really?

Well, yes, but the simple truth is that electronic access control systems have always been touchless. No access card user has ever had to touch the reader with their hands. No mobile app requires the user to touch anything but their phones. And there are multiple biometric solutions such as retinal and facial recognition that also require no physical contact.

But none of that matters. It’s the doors themselves that are not touchless. They are the dirty gas pump handles of ingress and egress. Touched by thousands, cleaned by few, a menace to all.

Duped again.

I called out “touchless” as a passing fad two weeks ago while reviewing the Security Industry Association’s 2021 Security Megatrends at Securing New Ground. This position agrees with most of the cross-industry analyst outlooks on the related phenomenon of health scanning, for example, which is expected to be a short-term phenomenon that will fade away with the advent of vaccines.

What I learned while doing more research is that due to COVID-19, the manufacturers of automated door openers are experiencing peak demand and can’t keep up with orders. Automated door openers are the real hero of touchless building entry. They are the first responders in this crisis. But they nearly double the per-door cost of access control, so many property owners, managers, and employers will likely forego this expense and just wait it out until there is a healthcare solution.

Meanwhile, back at the gas station, they also offer what has to be one of the oldest “touchless” products in the world: the touchless car wash. But alas, the touchless car wash is only touchless for your car. You the driver still need to enter your magic code on the contaminated keypad.

Duped. But for the last time.