What happened to the gas station air suppplies that a I liked.

[angelicapaganelli]

I bet quite a few places still have those under the cash register in case their computer connection is down.

On average, yes. The devil's in the details, though. I write a check for my property taxes because the township charges a fee for either credit cards or EFT. Some contractors are easier to pay with checks. Other than that, I mainly use credit cards for anything over $10 and cash for anything under $10. My arbitrary limit. I just feel like a fool whipping out the plastic for a loaf of bread.

I do get a little vexed with old ladies using checks at the grocery store.

Same reason we don't use SI. People are suspicious of change.

Cindy Hamilton

[angelicapaganelli]

There's your first mistake. ;)

Cindy Hamilton

[trader_4]

No, I've never seen plastic currency. Last time I was in Europe, maybe

7 years ago, Euros were still all paper too. Must be a bitch to fold.

[Rod Speed]

[e-mail] wrote

I'm the reverse, particularly with tech stuff like apple/google pay etc.

I am almost twice that.

Very likely. Although I have also always been into classical music as well.

In fact way past that, much prefer to do away with the card completely and wave the phone at the terminal instead, for the vastly better security, almost never having to provide a PIN anymore, using Touch ID etc and a system that ensures that even if the phone is stolen or mislaid, no one can pinch any of my money and I wont have to fart around getting the bank to reverse the illegal transaction. And don’t have to worry about how dodgy the operation I am buying the gas from is even when its obviously an illegal taking my money.

And I would much rather be able to get a full electronic transaction record so its completely effortless to use the Aldi full refund for any of their special buys when you get it home and decide that you don’t like the way it does things.

I in fact use the computer instead of a TV, watch nothing live anymore, even the TV news. Record everything so I can watch it when I choose to, not when they broadcast it and can skip the stupid ads etc.

I've never bought that line either.

[Rod Speed]

Yeah, can't remember the last time the machine couldn’t do contactless.

I still have to insert the card to get cash out of the supermarket checkout and that’s only for the cash I use at garage/yard sales now. And the need to insert the card is because contactless transactions are credit transactions by default even with a debit card due to a very poor implementation.

Although I can get cash out of one bank's ATMs just by waving my phone at the ATM, but you do have to supply the PIN which is stupid given that the phone does touch ID or facial recognition which is vastly more secure than a stupid 4 digit PIN.

They do here, Australia.

Ours do.

Ours do for all cards.

You shouldn’t have to learn any PINs anymore now with touch ID and facial recognition. We don’t even have to supply the PIN for contactless transactions over $100 when done by waving the phone at the terminal anymore, because touch ID and facial recognition are vastly more secure than a stupid 4 digit PIN.

And we havent used signatures with cards for a long time now.

[Rod Speed]

Very few can do anything with no power anymore, no way to even use cash with the checkout not being powered.

Because north america has stupid card fees, much higher than the rest of the world, even with visa and mastercard cards.

Not here, I can pay any cellphone number. Same in the wilds of africa too, the vast bulk of those transaction are done between cellphones.

I use the phone for everything except garage/yard sale purchases now. I can pay to any cellphone number but its not worth the hassle convincing the seller that that’s a valid transaction with people queuing to pay for what they have bought and not so convenient for the seller.

That’s mad. Makes no sense to fart around ensuring you have enough cash in the wallet to pay for the bread.

In fact some of our operations that flog coffee etc don’t accept any cash at all, its card or phone or watch or go without.

Ours stopped accepting checks decades ago now.

And yet they didn’t do that with cellphones, computers, TV or even politics.

[Rod Speed]

Not with ours, they fold fine.

[Steven Jones]

Nope, folds fine.

[Rod Speed]

In fact the fold fine.

And why would you want to fold it anyway ?

[rbowman]

We do the same. Often it's political. Some new broom decides the XYZ dispatch system is better and forces the switch, not paying maintenance during the transition. The actual dispatchers may hate the new software being forced down their throats and we'll still give them support.

It's word of mouth to some degree. We'd rather have people going to conferences and so forth and saying 'We had an ABC system and we loved it. We switched to XYZ and it really sucks. Let us tell you how.'

[Clare Snyder]

Nope -and they still have their "pennies" too - and paper dollars.

Here in Canada all bills are "plastic" and only 05, .10, .25, 1.00 and 2.00 coins. No penies and no bills under $5.00

[Clare Snyder]

You sayin' if you want a cab ride to the bronx you're likely to end up somewhere in Jersey???

[rbowman]

That's for sure. I worked for the state education department summers when I was in college and part of the job description was providing grunt labor at the professional exams in NYC. I was at the testing site in Manhattan and had to run some material out to another site in the Bronx. The cabbie could find the Bronx but that was about it. He turned the meter off and stopped to get directions. Considering the address was on the Grand Concourse I don't think he'd ever been to the Bronx in his life.

Life must be a lot easier for cabbies these days. Punch it into the GPS and go.

[Rod Speed]

Same in Australia except we have a 20c and 50c coin instead of a 25c coin.

[Rod Speed]

So do the plastic ones.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Not every store is like that. At Market Basket you have to wait until the order is checked out to put your card in.. Just seems so ancient and inefficient.

[Clare Snyder]

Ain't that the sad truth!!!

[trader_4]

Talking about being occupied with the CC thing, years ago I used one of those DIY checkouts at a local supermarket. It was the kind that had a belt that takes the stuff away to further away from you, by the bags While I was working scanning and then paying, someone took one of the items I had just paid for! I don't remember what it was, it wasn't super expensive, but not just a buck or two either. The supermarket replaced it for me. I have to think whoever did it knew what they were doing too, that it wasn't an accident.

[rbowman]

Nah, the cabbie got to the Bronx but he might as well have been in Patterson for all he knew. I believe there used to an exam to show basic competence with the local streets but in NYC I don't know if that went beyond the borough in question.

[angelicapaganelli]

Mine is the same way, except that if I have coupons, I don't stick the card in until the coupons have been processed. It's a hassle to have that corrected after the total is sent to the bank.

However, if I just stop in for one thing that I unexpectedly ran out of (or don't have when I've decided to try some unusual recipe), I usually pay cash.

Cindy Hamilton