On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:13:13 -0700
Robert Neville wrote:
wrote:

He must be one of those bloody annoying people who insist on paying for
a 2.50 sandwich with a credit card and causing a huge queue of ****ed off
hungry customers behind him.

That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit card
transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even require a
signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Hand cash over - walk out. If you can do that faster with a credit
card then I'd be interesting in hearing your technique.

B2003

On 24-Feb-12 09:01, d wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:13:13 -0700
Robert Neville wrote:
d wrote:
He must be one of those bloody annoying people who insist on paying
for a 2.50 sandwich with a credit card and causing a huge queue of
****ed off hungry customers behind him.

That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit
card transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even
require a signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Hand cash over - walk out. If you can do that faster with a credit
card then I'd be interesting in hearing your technique.

In the US (and Canada, IIRC), sales tax is not included in the posted
price, so a customer doesn't know how much cash to hand over until the
total is computed by the cash register. Then, either the customer has
to count out the correct payment or the cashier has to count out the
correct change for a large bill.

Swiping a card is faster--much faster if the transaction total is under
the merchant's "floor", i.e. doesn't require a signature/PIN.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

Robert Neville wrote:
That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit card
transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even require a
signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Depends on the terminal.

I remember the first time I used an always-online terminal in a fast
food place. I couldn't believe it when I swiped the card and the
screen immediately said, "Thank you, your transaction is complete."

But the CVS pharmacy self-checkout machines are very slow to process a
credit card, usually about 15 seconds. And half the time something
goes wrong, and it makes you swipe again.

Getting back to rail, a certain manufacturer's ticket machines which
have been appearing around the U.S. (and UK, from what I hear) are
terrible at reading magstripes. With some machines, you're lucky if
it reads the stripe in the 3 chances it gives you before it cancels
the whole transaction.

Jimmy

Stephen Sprunk wrote:
On 24-Feb-12 09:01, d wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:13:13 -0700 Robert Neville wrote:
wrote:

He must be one of those bloody annoying people who insist on paying
for a 2.50 sandwich with a credit card and causing a huge queue of
****ed off hungry customers behind him.

That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit
card transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even
require a signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Hand cash over - walk out. If you can do that faster with a credit
card then I'd be interesting in hearing your technique.

In the US (and Canada, IIRC), sales tax is not included in the posted
price, so a customer doesn't know how much cash to hand over until the
total is computed by the cash register. Then, either the customer has
to count out the correct payment or the cashier has to count out the
correct change for a large bill.

Swiping a card is faster--much faster if the transaction total is under
the merchant's "floor", i.e. doesn't require a signature/PIN.

What credit card transaction requires a PIN? Those are strictly for
debit card transactions.

On 2/23/2012 8:17 PM, Roger Traviss wrote:
Not to mention that using cash makes spending money somewhat more
visceral, which I kinda like... keeps spending down a bit maybe.

I find the U.S. credit/debit-card obsession just sort of weird...

Other than a few toonies and loonies (Google if you don't know what they
are) in the glove compartment for parking meters and they are not really
required as most meters take credit cards, I never carry cash.

My newest debit card, arrived yesterday, lets me use it like a credit card
for on-line purchases and like a credit card when travelling outside Canada,
although it still debits my bank account.



And then there are certain places where you can't use cash. The gasoline
pumps at Costco come to mind. They don't take Visa or Mastercard either,
but do take American Express, and debit cards.

Still, I prefer to carry and use come cash, particularly for purchases
of say less than $10 or so.

And there's always things like yard sales and black market transactions
that one needs to be prepared for!

Regards,

DAve

Adam H. Kerman wrote on 24 February 2012 21:20:08 ...
Stephen wrote:
On 24-Feb-12 09:01, d wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:13:13 -0700 Robert wrote:
d wrote:

He must be one of those bloody annoying people who insist on paying
for a 2.50 sandwich with a credit card and causing a huge queue of
****ed off hungry customers behind him.

That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit
card transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even
require a signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Hand cash over - walk out. If you can do that faster with a credit
card then I'd be interesting in hearing your technique.

In the US (and Canada, IIRC), sales tax is not included in the posted
price, so a customer doesn't know how much cash to hand over until the
total is computed by the cash register. Then, either the customer has
to count out the correct payment or the cashier has to count out the
correct change for a large bill.

Swiping a card is faster--much faster if the transaction total is under
the merchant's "floor", i.e. doesn't require a signature/PIN.

What credit card transaction requires a PIN? Those are strictly for
debit card transactions.

If you're continuing the cross-posting to uk.transport.london, you might
at least attempt to define which country you're claiming to talk about,
because it certainly isn't the UK.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

Richard J. wrote:
Adam H. Kerman wrote on 24 February 2012 21:20:08 ...
Stephen wrote:
On 24-Feb-12 09:01, d wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:13:13 -0700 Robert wrote:
wrote:

He must be one of those bloody annoying people who insist on paying
for a 2.50 sandwich with a credit card and causing a huge queue of
****ed off hungry customers behind him.

That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit
card transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even
require a signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Hand cash over - walk out. If you can do that faster with a credit
card then I'd be interesting in hearing your technique.

In the US (and Canada, IIRC), sales tax is not included in the posted
price, so a customer doesn't know how much cash to hand over until the
total is computed by the cash register. Then, either the customer has
to count out the correct payment or the cashier has to count out the
correct change for a large bill.

Swiping a card is faster--much faster if the transaction total is under
the merchant's "floor", i.e. doesn't require a signature/PIN.

What credit card transaction requires a PIN? Those are strictly for
debit card transactions.

If you're continuing the cross-posting to uk.transport.london, you might
at least attempt to define which country you're claiming to talk about,
because it certainly isn't the UK.

It was a followup to Stephen Sprunk's article, in which he described
the United States. You might read my remarks in context.

See the quote above.

On 24/02/2012 21:20, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

What credit card transaction requires a PIN? Those are strictly for
debit card transactions.

All UK transactions.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

On 24/02/2012 21:20, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Stephen wrote:
On 24-Feb-12 09:01, d wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:13:13 -0700 Robert wrote:
d wrote:

He must be one of those bloody annoying people who insist on paying
for a 2.50 sandwich with a credit card and causing a huge queue of
****ed off hungry customers behind him.

That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit
card transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even
require a signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Hand cash over - walk out. If you can do that faster with a credit
card then I'd be interesting in hearing your technique.

In the US (and Canada, IIRC), sales tax is not included in the posted
price, so a customer doesn't know how much cash to hand over until the
total is computed by the cash register. Then, either the customer has
to count out the correct payment or the cashier has to count out the
correct change for a large bill.

Swiping a card is faster--much faster if the transaction total is under
the merchant's "floor", i.e. doesn't require a signature/PIN.

What credit card transaction requires a PIN? Those are strictly for
debit card transactions.

I regularly used my PIN on credit card transactions here in London.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:42:40 +0000, Graeme Wall
wrote:

On 24/02/2012 21:20, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

What credit card transaction requires a PIN? Those are strictly for
debit card transactions.

All UK transactions.

.... other than on-line (or contactless?).