Cash less society has it arrived?

[firestarter]

I mean - How you can you delegate to someone else the picking out of the stuff you put in your mouth?

You've never been to a restaurant in your entire life?

What a shame, you're missing out on one of life's great pleasures.

 

[maflynn]

Sorry, it's not accurate at all. It's a gross generalization, and it's wrong (not in the sense that plastic can never be faster, obviously, swipe NFC stuff at the gas station is faster than cash), but it's wrong in that "every" transaction is faster with plastic.

No need to feel sorry, as I stated, I don't care if you believe me or not. I have wrote that I have continually experienced the fact that credit cards can and are faster. You wish to think that is a gross generalization, more power to you, I personally will not continue beat a dead horse.

 

[anjinha]

Living in London does warp your sense of time. I hate slow people in queues, especially if they haven't decided what they want by the time they get to the front! If I arrive at a tube station and it says anything more than 5mins to wait I tut- "5 minutes?! What is this, the middle ages?!"

I just moved to London and it's pretty amazing. I feel like I never have to wait for the tube.

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No need to feel sorry, as I stated, I don't care if you believe me or not. I have wrote that I have continually experienced the fact that credit cards can and are faster. You wish to think that is a gross generalization, more power to you, I personally will not continue beat a dead horse.

It's accurate to say that "Every", as in "all of them, all the time, no exceptions whatsoever" are quicker with plastic than cash.

2$ pack of gum at the convenience store. It's slower to drop 2 1$ bills on the counter and leave than going through all the crap to enter pins/sign/wait ?

Really ?

Sorry, it's not accurate at all. It's a gross generalization, and it's wrong (not in the sense that plastic can never be faster, obviously, swipe NFC stuff at the gas station is faster than cash), but it's wrong in that "every" transaction is faster with plastic.

You are both generalizing.

For example, there's a CVS near where my boyfriend lives where the credit card machine is very finicky and it usually means sliding the card, waiting, sliding the card again, waiting. etc.

Cash being faster also means knowing how much your total is going to be and having the amount on hand. Sometimes your total might be more than you expected and you have to dig back in your wallet looking for more cash. Or if you hand a slow cashier a non exact amount you might have to wait a while for change.

 

[KnightWRX]

You are both generalizing.

I haven't generalized as I have conceided there are scenarios where plastic is faster. But that is besides the point since the whole sub-thread started when I said that I usually pay cash for 2$ purchases at the coffe shop because it would be embarassing to hold up the line to make the purchase over credit since it would take longer there (having to swipe, wait, pin number, wait, rip paper, rip paper again, etc..).

Maflynn then went on to say sometimes plastic is faster and then went further to say it's always faster, everytime, no matter what.

He won't beat a dead horse, fine, but I still find his position quite bizarre and dubious. That or he never buys gum or a 0.50$ coffee from a coffee machine.

 

[yg17]

2$ pack of gum at the convenience store. It's slower to drop 2 1$ bills on the counter and leave than going through all the crap to enter pins/sign/wait ?

In the US, that $2 pack of gum isn't $2. Because of sales tax, it's going to be something like $2.13, which means you have to give the cashier 3 $1 bills and they have to count out all that change, or you have to dig through your pockets for 13 cents. Or, you dig through your pockets, find you don't have 13 cents in exact change, but you have 2 dimes, so you give the cashier $2.20 and they still have to make change.

Also, over here, the days of long waits for card authorization are long gone. It's nearly instant at many places. Maybe some smaller businesses still use the old dial up systems to authorize card payments, but at most businesses, it goes over the internet (or some other faster private network, I don't know how that works) and takes 2 or 3 seconds to authorize. And since POS systems have credit card capabilities built in, they don't have to go over to a separate machine and enter the amount by hand. Card gets swiped, POS gets an authorization instantly, and spits out a receipt.

 

[anjinha]

I haven't generalized as I have conceided there are scenarios where plastic is faster. But that is besides the point since the whole sub-thread started when I said that I usually pay cash for 2$ purchases at the coffe shop because it would be embarassing to hold up the line to make the purchase over credit since it would take longer there (having to swipe, wait, pin number, wait, rip paper, rip paper again, etc..).

In a lot of places you don't need to sign or put in a pin for small purchases. So it would basically be slide card, get receipt. For things like that a lot of people even say they don't need a receipt, so even in your scenario the whole thing can be much faster than you're making it out to be.

 

[firestarter]

In the US, that $2 pack of gum isn't $2. Because of sales tax, it's going to be something like $2.13, which means you have to give the cashier 3 $1 bills and they have to count out all that change, or you have to dig through your pockets for 13 cents. Or, you dig through your pockets, find you don't have 13 cents in exact change, but you have 2 dimes, so you give the cashier $2.20 and they still have to make change.

Ah.... I think you've hit on something there.

In the UK, sales tax is built into the ticket price. So if you pick up two items in a sandwich shop, you can add them together in your head and have the right money in your hand when you come to pay. If we had to work out 6.5% tax, that would be much less likely.

As the tax is built in, the retailer usually prices items on a round number (nearest 5 or 10p), or at a round number-1 (99p). The '-1p' figure is both to make the item look cheaper, and also to cut crime by forcing the cashier to ring up the sale and give you 1p change.

So people are probably more likely to have the right money, and change is often a predictable amount (2p for two items). This must contribute a bit to cashier speed.

 

[yg17]

Ah.... I think you've hit on something there.

In the UK, sales tax is built into the ticket price. So if you pick up two items in a sandwich shop, you can add them together in your head and have the right money in your hand when you come to pay. If we had to work out 6.5% tax, that would be much less likely.

As the tax is built in, the retailer usually prices items on a round number (nearest 5 or 10p), or at a round number-1 (99p). The '-1p' figure is both to make the item look cheaper, and also to cut crime by forcing the cashier to ring up the sale and give you 1p change.

So people are probably more likely to have the right money, and change is often a predictable amount (2p for two items). This must contribute a bit to cashier speed.

That's what I loved about the UK when I was there. I knew how much everything was when I went to check out. Granted, living in the US my entire life, I've gotten pretty good at guesstimating how much sales tax is, and unless I'm buying something expensive, it's negligible anyways. But it's nice knowing that if something is 10 pounds, then it's 10 pounds (figuring out the exchange rate on my credit card's a different story though )

Including tax in the price would never happen here because every state, county, and city has their own tax rate, which means there are literally thousands of different sales tax rates across the country. Two neighboring shops could have different sales tax rates if they're on different sides of a municipality border, so it would be impossible from an advertising standpoint since products wouldn't be able to accurately advertise the price. So instead, prices are advertised without sales tax, and everyone knows that it's going to cost them more money - although I bet it's sticker shock at first for people visiting from countries where tax is in the price.

 

[firestarter]

Including tax in the price would never happen here because every state, county, and city has their own tax rate, which means there are literally thousands of different sales tax rates across the country, so it would be impossible from an advertising standpoint since products wouldn't be able to accurately advertise the price. So instead, prices are advertised without sales tax, and everyone knows that it's going to cost them more money - although I bet it's sticker shock at first for people visiting from countries where tax is in the price.

There's also the (good) argument that it makes the cost of government more visible as you're reminded of the tax every time you buy something. Something we tend to forget. (Although if people are now just used to swiping a card and walking away without a receipt, that reason will no longer be as relevant).

 

[iStudentUK]

The '-1p' figure is both to make the item look cheaper, and also to cut crime by forcing the cashier to ring up the sale and give you 1p change.

That crime thing makes a lot of sense! I knew the idea that it makes things seems cheaper, but I never really bought that people fell for it.

 

[KnightWRX]

In a lot of places you don't need to sign or put in a pin for small purchases. So it would basically be slide card, get receipt. For things like that a lot of people even say they don't need a receipt, so even in your scenario the whole thing can be much faster than you're making it out to be.

We have no such places around here. My card always requires a PIN now that it has a SIM on it. Again, I wouldn't want it any other way, 2 factor authentication is much safer than 1 factor. Especially if the only factor is "something you have".

 

[acidfast7]

In the US, that $2 pack of gum isn't $2. Because of sales tax, it's going to be something like $2.13, which means you have to give the cashier 3 $1 bills and they have to count out all that change, or you have to dig through your pockets for 13 cents. Or, you dig through your pockets, find you don't have 13 cents in exact change, but you have 2 dimes, so you give the cashier $2.20 and they still have to make change.

This really pisses me off; I'm happy to pay twice the cost (EU price) when I don't end up with pockets full of change.

 

[snberk103]

You've never been to a restaurant in your entire life?

What a shame, you're missing out on one of life's great pleasures.

I had to look up this "restaurant" word... wow, what a great concept! People do that?

Seriously...

There is a difference between a business that is in the business of creating the best flavours possible, and one that is buys produce, and moves it out the door at a profit.

We don't actually eat out much.... we like cooking at home. But when we do, we are lucky enough to be eating in the part of the word that invented the 100 mile diet, and where locally grown ingredients are just taken for granted.