I'm 30 now and the only times I get cash out are to go to sporting events so I can just get beer from the beer guys and not wait in a line, or I'm going out to the bars because I don't like opening tabs, and don't want to have them run my card each time I want a drink.
It's my limited understanding that NFC is more "secure" than most other electronic purchases. A chip enabled card also is more secure than the simple magnetic stripe -- which by the way is still used at AF. But then again, this country is so ass-backward on electronic purchase security that it's not funny. Two examples -- remember Home Depot? They used commercial security software (the type you or I could buy), but didn't even update it. At the end, hackers had so infiltrated their system that they were reading credit card swipes in real time. The other, relates back to 2014, my daughter was on a summer study abroad in Bulgaria, Greece and (the former Yugloslav Republic of) Macedonia. She tried to pay with a credit card in BULGARIA and was denied because in Bulgaria they used "chip and PIN" to authorize credit purchases. In 2014, credit cards with a chip were virtually non-existent in the US. To this day, I believe there are very few chip and PIN cards available in the US. I carry a Barclays card for trips to Europe because in Italy if you want to purchase a train ticket from a machine at the station or need to pay a toll on the autostrada, you better have a chip and PIN card or you will be shit out of luck.
As an IT professional I don't trust any electronic payment method. Between my years in IT and my time working at NSA I trust no one.
The Anthem is a totally cashless venue. I think pretty soon all new concert venues and stadiums will be cashless.
for retailers there is definite benefit for going cashless - the costs for using cash is significant; in many instances much higher than the costs for credit/debit card use. For some of the same reasons, governments would prefer to go cashless, also (although they are spitting mad over crypto-currencies which they cannot regulate/monitor/control).
Isn't the only cost for cash the time to go to the bank to deposit/withdraw? Whereas the cost of credit is a % on every purchase? Lots of folks don't want to take my American Express because it charges them a higher %, but I don't trust may of the credit devices enough to use any other card - I trust that Amex will refund fraud to me faster than my other bank cards. Credit-only implies to me you're a fly-by-night operator with a Square device and I'm less likely to trust your "business".
So sorry I started this big brother conversation. The real world isn't supposed intrude here. By the way, how long must we endure the goofy pre-game fireworks?
Hey... at least they quickly got rid of their Hype Man they had for that first game. What in the freaking world made someone in the front office think that was anything other than an atrocious idea?!!! Glad they fixed that immediately. I don't even blame the guy who did it. He was fine as a hype man. It was just a horrible idea.
Here's what I find interesting about the hype man - I do not hear him in the stadium, but I swear I still hear him sometimes on the broadcast - perhaps I'm just yelling too loud at the times he's still in the background stadium noise. Maybe he's just doing more mundane stadium announcement of GOAL and not technically hyping like in that first game, I just luckily cannot hear it from my seat.
I just think it's something burned into your memory that only years of expensive psychotherapy can remove. Consider it a parting gift from Tom Hunt. (BTW, I sometimes think I hear Hype Man too. When that happens, I just get another beer and try to go to my "happy place".)
With small amounts of cash costs are typically low. But for an operation like EagleBank Arena East they can be very high, in the neighborhood of 10-15% or more for poorly managed enterprises (think levy, levien, etc). Cash requires ALL sorts of security policy, procedures, equipment, etc (safes, cash registers, money bags for internal transportation between the POS and the counting room) then there are the physical security aspects: cameras, secure counting rooms, armed guards (which involves higher liability insurance), and then you gotta have an armored car service, etc. And then there is the tremendous time that goes into physically handling and accounting for the cash. Handling cash is WAY more expensive (and dangerous) than even the highest merchant fee rates that AMEX extorts (around 3.5% plus per transaction fee).
Why limit it to pre-game? all of the fireworks are amateurish. They are just larger than normal one-shot roman candles. Heck, I will be happy to bring over some of my stash from Phantom Fireworks and it will look way better. I miss the mortars that used to be set off after games in lot 8.
are you trying to suggest that those cost are higher than the fees the CC companies charge? Not sure I can buy that. I had to have my car fixed the other day. I got money off because I paid in cash not a card. $220 < $232.
not suggesting - stating. CC merchant processing fees from MC/Visa are in the 1.5-2.5% range, Amex up to 3.5%. Thats way less than the costs for cash handling of which much is hidden or not obvious. But no reason to take my word for it - there are lots of b-school and industry white papers/case studies available on this. But you are right, for small businesses, like your mechanic, they dont have as much of the cash handling overhead costs mentioned above because they simply dont handle that much and the labor (accounting) part is all just part of what the owner/manager does on a daily basis. So that savings is tangible although it appears he passed it right back to you in the discount (which doesnt make sense unless he was saving even more, i.e., he might be fudging the books and not paying tax on the sale). Think about a casino - most of their cash is not even in the form of actual cash but in chips - and look at the massive investment in security.
It seems like the mechanic was kind of foolish to give you such a discount. It seems like it was about 5% which suggests he/she isn't reporting the income.
Not necessarily. A few mechanics charge by actual time spent (labor) and parts. Most use "flat rate" which assigns a given time for completion of a certain job, i.e., oil change = 1 hour. If you do 3 actual oil changes an hour, you can bill 3 "hours" of labor for an actual hour of work. My guess is that @shawn12011's mechanic used flat rate, and then discounted back to him the difference between cost of a cash transaction v. credit. He still made money on the deal.
This is reasonable but obviously the difference between flat labor amount and actual labor used is there with credit customers and the discount given shawn12011 is more than the cost to the mechanic of taking shawn12011's credit card. I can only think of one reason why the mechanic is so kind to shawn12011.
His sign said what the percentage was but I forgot. All I know is I paid $220 when it totaled up to $232.
All I care is that a $12 food or drink order is the same price whether I pay in cash or by card. If the retailer is willing to swallow the company's charge then he gets stuffed, not me. Given that so few carry cash any more, he should be happy when someone hands over some green and he doesn't have to take a few points off the top.