So I was in the grocery store this morning buying three rolls of toilet paper and a bottle of seltzer with a credit card, as I am wont to do. (It was on my way back from the gym and I had brought a credit card just for this purpose. I didn’t have any cash, I don’t like to bring my wallet to the gym, and I don’t like to have to futz with lockers).
After I swiped my card, I watched as a blue bar status bar creeped across the cashier’s screen. After a good 30 seconds, it said something like “failed to create an ip connection.” They tried again, and at another register, with the same results. We all shrugged our shoulders and made fun of the internet.
The casher said of the credit card machine, “When it works, it’s great, but when it doesn’t…pfft.”
We’re being trained to forgo cash because credit and debit cards are supposed to be more convenient. But what do in a world where most people don’t carry any cash around whatsoever, and the systems break down? What if they failed on a massive scale, like a nuclear or electromagnetic attack? Your $20 bill is never going to give you a connection error.
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I have two stories for this. Once I went to the pharmacy to pick a script and their connection was down. The kid swiped my card, twice, it didn’t go through. (He helpfully said “we’re having problems today.”) Then he runs my check through a couple of times. Same deal (duh, the connection’s down) and he looks at me and asks if I have cash. Finally, the pharmacy manager came over and told him to just take checks. They were kind of backed up and I doubt I was the only person without enough cash.
When I was in college, I went on a long field trip for a class. For some reason the fleet cards didn’t work at the pay-at-the-pump and sometimes didn’t work being swiped inside either. Gas station attendant after another refused to believe he’d have to write up the ticket by hand until he had swiped the card a couple of times. (We also ran into one that didn’t believe that the vans with a university logo on the door had state government tags. He had to check himself.)
I wish they would just make law that a $20 minimum purchase is required to use a card anywhere. Its ridiculous when people use a card for a 25 cent pack of gum or 75 cent bottle of Coke. Most of the time the store would be better off just giving you the item as they pay more in fees than the item costs. Wake up people, they make cash for a reason. You can use it EVERYWHERE and there are NO FEES. I always keep $100 on me for little purchases or emergencies. Credit/debit should be used for purchases over $20
Is this really news?
This happened to me at a bar last week. The CC machines crashed right at last call. They had an ATM, but it too was broken. I just tipped with what little cash I had and left, not my problem.
@anyanka323: A minute? Is your grocery store in Soviet Russia? Everywhere I go takes 5-10 seconds, tops.
@skrom: 25 cent pack of gum? 75 cent bottle of coke? How old are you, and when was the last time you’ve actually purchased those items? Better put on the hearing aid and take your walker the next time you go into a Target!
Welcome to 2007, where 5 stick pack of gum costs 30 cents (most gum comes in packs of 12-15 and cost at least $1) and 20oz soda bottles cost at least $1.25.
As for the minimum purchase requirement, that’s against merchant agreements, not the law; the stores agree to not charge a minimum if they want to accept visa/mc. Cards are much faster than checks at least.
@SOhp101:
First off, at least where I live you can still get a 5 stick pack of Juicy Fruit for 25 cents, second I didnt say stores should make a mimimum purchase amount I said there should be a LAW that makes a $20 minimum purchase to use a card, thereby skirting the merchant agreement BS. Its just as bad being behind someone wasting time paying for a pack of gum with a card as it is for the little old lady writing a check for it, when you can just flip a quarter on the counter and walk out.
I went to McDonalds one morning and ordered breakfast, I arrived at the window, handed my card and she said “the machine is down, do you have any cash”? I said no, and she said “Your food is free then, have a nice day.” Pretty Cool I thought.
My GF went to a newly opened restaurant in town and tried to pay with her debit card. The server ran it 2-3 times and came back saying the card was denied. But my programmer GF saw an interesting term on the slip like “protocol error” or “no signal” or something, and urged them to check their system. Took a few insistences (people are strange about listening to technical suggestions from a female) but they ended up finding out that their CC communication line was unplugged.
Funny people suggest cash in the event of a nuclear attack. Me, I’m going with the barter system, screw your “cash”.
When their credit machine isn’t working, either do it the old fashioned way by taking an imprint of the card, or give it away for free!
I was at Checker’s/Rally’s once and they couldn’t get their credit card system to work, so they gave me my food for free.
One reason I love Rally’s. ha
@skrom: Paying via card in most major retail outlets takes the same amount of time as cash. slide your card, sign the screen, and then take your receipt. It’s only as slow as the person who doesn’t know how to use it, and there’s plenty of idiots who don’t know how to count change properly either.
Yes I know you said a LAW but my point was that these guidelines aren’t even mandated by the government–get mad at your retailer for agreeing to the terms of the agreement.
But you obviously seem like you know how life works so we better start passing laws to appease your gripes. Information regarding the 5 cent increase to 30 cents is in a October 2003 Wrigley press release.
Better go outside so you can yell at those kids to get off your lawn!
@Snakeophelia: I would have said, “Well, clearly if you’re too stupid to realize that it’s your crappy computers, I will not accept the opportunity to purchase from you”, and walked out of the store leaving the stuff overflowing the checkout so she had to put it away. When the manager yells at her for it, she can tell the story, then get yelled at some more for her crappy attitude for something not your fault.
@SOhp101:
While we are airing gripes another pet peeve of mine is the stupid old ladies that try to use the self checkout lanes and cant figure out how to use the damn things. You should have to have some kind of certification to use those showing that you can scan at least 30 items per minute so you dont hold up the line. They are supposed to be convenient not a family day out like the moms who let their 4 kids scan everything in the heaping cart taking 30 minutes to check out a cart I couldve doen in about 4 minutes. Or the stupid old people that cant figure out how to use a gas pump/atm/post office vending machine/anything with more than 2 buttons. Just because they dont have anything to do doesnt mean the rest of us do. That is why they have regular lanes for those kind of people.
Who expects an electronic device is never going to fail? Carry some cash.
If the nukes all come out one day forget about your cash and credit cards. Bottled water, canned food and weapons will be the items of value.
a $20 bill will give you a connection error if you are trying to buy an iphone
I’m surprised this store didn’t have a CC’d slide machine backup, they should still be required. The last two banks my work has used the backup was supplied with our machine, even with our small business.
For larger transactions (ones where it is easy for the card to be tracked to the person by the store) they can be stored on a local server then uploaded when service is back, this is what I’ve done for all the CC transactions I’ve ran.
One time this happened at Costco. Their debit/credit card machines were down so you could only pay with check or cash. There were so many angry customers–a long line around the manager’s office. I think they were trying to complete credit/debit transactions via 3rd party. My cashier was frazzled dealing with all the upset people. When it came to me, my total was a little under a 100 and I handed him 5 twenties. The cashier told me I was his favorite customer of the day. (I sometimes carry cash to Costco in order to prevent me from spending too much there).
I actually had to write a check the other day at CostCo. I wasn’t sure if the cashier actually knew what it was…
When this happened to us at Subway, they eventually gave us our food free – of course, it was already made and no one was going to buy it later, which doesn’t apply here. But seriously, I would be like, dudes, I need some TP. Gimme a 4-pack at least.
3 Rolls? That doesn’t seem very economical. Are your apartments THAT small in NYC?
@tadowguy: YES!
@jmschn:
No. Are you kidding? What is that supposed to mean?
I always carry a small amount of cash on me for things like this, or if you happen to run into a place that doesn’t take credit. Screw credit card marketing, don’t let them tell you how to conduct your own damned business. It only works if you let yourself be trained by it.
This is why I have gone back to paying with cash. On top of easier money management (I KNOW how much I can spend in a week) you don’t succumb to the pitfalls of non-working credit machines or demagnetized CCs.
@anatak: “Don’t be a slave to them. Carry cash. Seriously, TP and Canada Dry? Thats like $5?”
So, if you’re like me, and don’t carry cash, a $5 purchase w/ cash turns into a larger ordeal. You have to go to an ATM, pay the fee unless you are a member, get out a minimum of $20, then carry change around that would otherwise be in your checking/debit account.
So, a quick $5 purchase on a debit card has now cost $5 + $2 (atm fee) + what 20 minutes of your time is worth + whatever you blow the last $15 dollars on.
That’s right, I don’t carry cash to save myself money on frivilous purchases. Plan works great. Can’t believe how much money I save.
@n1ckel5: No, I’m not like you. I use cash for most purchases. Cash comes out once at the beginning of the month and filtered into envelopes. Going to the gym and need to pick up TP and canada dry? Grab your cash from the appropriate envelope and go. Not real hard or inconvenient.
ATM fee? You seriously pay ATM fees? Thats just another part of the slavery – paying to use your own money.
Get ready for a lot more disappointment– The plan is to turn America into a “cashless society”.
Lots of banks now refund ATM fees, and you can take out more than $20 since you’re going to need more later.
That being said, I haven’t carried cash in so long, I haven’t even had an ATM or Debit card in 4 years. The subway I referenced earlier – first time it was ever a problem, and because I didn’t carry cash, I got free food. Win-win!
I don’t carry any cash at all, however I always carry a spare roll of TP.
>>So I was in the grocery store this morning buying three rolls of toilet paper and a bottle of seltzer with a credit card, as I am wont to do.
As I am wont to do?
Uh… wut?
Can someone translate this into non-Engrish for me, please?
@CantSayNo: please see @Antediluvian
PS “wont” is not Engrish!