For years I have seen other countries
(such as Canada)
beat us to the easy-pay draw. That is,
they developed plastic cards or something that could pay for small items like
newspapers, parking meters and lunch, without the typical scanning, paper
receipts, signatures on one copy.
Lately the magazines have
been talking about the coming of a card (or something in a smart phone) with an embedded chip, that you could just pass over
a sensor at a store, and it would subtract the money from your bank account, or
charge it to your Visa card. No signing,
and no buttons to push. I thought that
day wouldn’t come, but, look around, suddenly merchants have been trying to
make the buying experience easier – without the use of special new cards.
Example One. Walgreens is now letting me buy $25 or less
with just swiping my card, and in the case of AMEX, giving them a zip code, and
I get a paid receipt, but don’t have to sign anything.
Example Two. Tonight I went through the checkout at
Wal-Mart and while the cashier was ringing my groceries I swiped my AMEX
card. I kept waiting for the little
screen that asks me to enter my zip code.
It never came. Then I waited for
the signing screen, it never came. I was
stunned when the cashier handed me my receipt and said “have a nice day”. I asked here why I got to pay without any of
the usual hassle, she didn’t know. I know Target does something similar now as well, but tonight was the first time I had seen that happen at Wal-Mart.
Example Three. McDonalds will now let you swipe your credit card in front of the register, and it will accept the payment and they just hand you the receipt. No more "making change". No signing receipts or zip-code entry there either.
Does this mean that some
stores have learned the quality of certain customers from prior shopping and have decided it is
worth the risk to just let them “go” and not hold them to signatures and zip
codes? Is AMEX taking the risk of fraud,
or the store? Or is fraud such a small part of their overall operation it is a
risk worth taking if it makes customers feel more like they are hitting the “one
touch” checkout at Amazon.com?
Pay Pal revolutionized my on
line shopping many years ago. I have rarely, since joining Pay Pal, given any
website my credit card information. I
consider Pay Pal a big boost. First, my credit card is in
their vault, not the merchant’s internet store-front. I am sort of blind, so it
would be hard for a dishonest merchant to make some later charge to my
card. Second, Pay Pal knows where I want all my things shipped, so
I don’t have to enter that information at checkout. Greatly speeding things along. Third, Pay Pal’s website is a
useful way to track my spending, and checkup on charges.
Has anyone else found some
new and faster checkout ?
After thought -- I
know some gas stations allow a “pass” card to be waived at the pump, and it
will then pump the gas and charge it to some corporate identity. I used to have
a car that would recognize me when I walked up and unlock the door and turn on
the interior lights – all powered by some chip that was embedded the key. The ignition was then, of course, key-less as
well. The chip guided the
operation. Even with a real key, there
is often a chip in the plastic part that tells the engine it is OK to
start. With a cheap metal key copy, it
will not start. The dealer is the only place to get an extra key, they program
the plastic grip.
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