It is smaller than the palm of your hand. It looks like a gadget from a "Men in Black" movie, and it is used to record a fingerprint.
It is the Customer Verification System now used at Ultra Image in the Village.
A CVS is a biometric sensor that captures fingerprints and changes them into a mathematical code. The fingerprint, usually the right index finger, is captured during the registration process.
Customers record their fingerprint the first time they go to Ultra Image by touching the small screen four times. When the customers come back to use their tanning package, they sign in and the touch the screen once to verify their identity.
Ultra Image started using the CVS in June.
"We have really strived to protect our client's accounts," said Becky Reece, owner of Ultra Image. "It's really our job as a responsible business to protect their accounts."
The previous system was an honor system where customers would sign in and would use the tanning package paid for under that name.
Reece said they decided to implement CVS because customers would question the number of tans they had left.
"There is a certain percentage of fraud," she said.
Humans also make mistakes, she said.
Reece had considered using an ID card, but she rejected the idea because "tanning is sometimes spur of the moment" and customers may not have the card with them.
Reece had also considered giving customers PIN numbers. Then she considered all the numbers people are required to remember and decided not to use that system either.
"This (the CVS) has been available through our software company for two to three years, so we had been thinking about it," Reece said.
The only problem Reece has experienced is that some of her adult clients have questioned if the information can be distributed to other people or the government.
The information stays private and the actual fingerprint is not recorded. The CVS reverts the unique features of the fingerprint to a mathematical code that is saved with the client's information.
"Overall, probably 99 percent of our clientele have been approving of it," Reece said.
"I think the younger generation is more accepting of technology," Reece said.
"Education is the key. Once your clients understand what you are doing for them, they really don't have a problem with it."
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