More likely, a reasonable method for avoiding credit card fees is taking us back to the mid-twentieth century.

(goes and RTFA...) nope, I got that one completely wrong.

Meh South Koreans have been paying for stuff with their cell phones for over 10 years now.

Twitter founder has smartphone 'talk' to cashier while in your pocket

Random guy has his computer 'talk' to your phone while you're walking down the street. Thanks for the money.

Smartphones are taking me to Cheers?

tricycleracer: Smartphones are taking me to Cheers?

It's only a matter of time before someone makes a Carla voiceover for Siri, complete with snarky responses.

Remember? The Florist and Hardware store in my town still do that. The Hardware store doesn't even send you anything in the mail unless it's been 90 days since they've seen you.

I wonder just how secure this software is. Based on my experiences with software, my guess is "Not secure enough."

Remember when...

No. How old are you?

This might work for an indie coffee shop or similar. Then you have a facebook "Wall of deadbeats" when people don't pay their tabs. For frequent visits you could reduce the tab to a monthly figure and save the shop the individual transaction fees on debit or credit.

Okay, having just read the article I think my idea is actually the old shop ledger system and this article describes yet another way of making quick transactions. I'm personally in favor of slowing things down if you can save transaction costs. At 2.75% they might be competitive for small shops, but a large shop or small chain can get lower rates. Hell, you might be able to get lower rates if you shop around.

/Briefly involved with the credit card processing biz.
//Pays cash 90% of the time.

Anyone remember back in the 2000's when everyone put everything on their account and didn't have the money when the bill came due?

A duck walks into a drugstore and says: "Give me some Chapstick and put it on my bill".

not2bright: A duck walks into a drugstore and says: "Give me some Chapstick and put it on my bill".

The clerk rolls his eyes and says, "must you be so mallardramatic about it?"

Anyone remember when you couldn't screw that skank ho from the other side of the tracks because everyone in town knew what everyone in town was doing every minute of the day?

Well, technology is taking us back there too.

Pro Zack: Anyone remember when you couldn't screw that skank ho from the other side of the tracks because everyone in town knew what everyone in town was doing every minute of the day?

Well, technology is taking us back there too.

Skank checked you in at Stall in dive bar bathroom.

5 people like this.

UNC_Samurai: not2bright: A duck walks into a drugstore and says: "Give me some Chapstick and put it on my bill".

The clerk rolls his eyes and says, "must you be so mallardramatic about it?"

Eider of our one-liners might produce teals of laughter.

Remember when you could go to a store and they would know who you were and put it on your account?

I suspect I'm older than anyone else in this thread. I even remember cigarette commercials on TV.

And no, there has never been a time when my local store would put anything on "my account." Ever.

I have to have some basic level of trust in a company to maintain credit info on thier hands. And my phone and johns shiat shop are far from it.

Mr_Fabulous: Remember when you could go to a store and they would know who you were and put it on your account?

I suspect I'm older than anyone else in this thread. I even remember cigarette commercials on TV.

And no, there has never been a time when my local store would put anything on "my account." Ever.


I grew up in a small town and the local hardware store had and still has accounts, it was great when my dad was working on a project and forgot something he would send me to the store and have me put it on his account.

If I ever start my own business that involves point of sale transactions, Square or whatever else is similar at that point is probably the way I'd go for Credit and Debit card acceptance.

Unobtanium: Square or whatever else is similar at that point is probably the way I'd go for Credit and Debit card acceptance.

Dwolla looks interesting because it avoids the whole debit card/credit card part of things and just ties right to bank accounts. If they take off, I could enjoy not keeping a debit card any more.

Mr_Fabulous: Remember when you could go to a store and they would know who you were and put it on your account?

I suspect I'm older than anyone else in this thread. I even remember cigarette commercials on TV.

And no, there has never been a time when my local store would put anything on "my account." Ever.

There's a bookstore near my work that lets customers open accounts. Perhaps it's a regional thing.

stevetherobot: I wonder just how secure this software is. Based on my experiences with software, my guess is "Not secure enough."

The banking system is pretty damn secure. Secure to the level that there are dedicated fibre lines running between the big sites and if a link goes down for a second it doesn't come back until people have checked the whole run for tampering. Besides even if you could vampire your way on to the backend without detection it's all heavily encrypted any way.

Things like this and Chip & Pin aren't about security. It's about pushing the responsibility for security from the banks to the stores and from the stores to you. So the onus is now on YOU to make sure the chip & pin machine isn't tampered with... except you wouldn't know if it had been because you can't pull them apart in the store to check for odd little bits of electronics that seem out of place.

Ultimatley the plan is for the banks to reap all the rewards for having your money but to suffer none of the risks of having it go walkies without you.

I put things on account all the time.

On account of I ain't got any money

not2bright: UNC_Samurai: not2bright: A duck walks into a drugstore and says: "Give me some Chapstick and put it on my bill".

The clerk rolls his eyes and says, "must you be so mallardramatic about it?"

Eider of our one-liners might produce teals of laughter.

That's why I'm down with Fark. This place always quacks me up.

Tom_Slick: I grew up in a small town and the local hardware store had and still has accounts, it was great when my dad was working on a project and forgot something he would send me to the store and have me put it on his account.

I think that's more relevant than time period.

Genju: Meh South Koreans have been paying for stuff with their cell phones for over 10 years now.

The South Korean cell phone system and products are least two to three years ahead of America's. In Finland they they have been using cell phones to pay for things since the mid to late 90's.

sonorangal: Genju: Meh South Koreans have been paying for stuff with their cell phones for over 10 years now.

The South Korean cell phone system and products are least two to three years ahead of America's. In Finland they they have been using cell phones to pay for things since the mid to late 90's.

South Koreans have been paying for things on their cell phones since at least 1999, when they were charging MMORPG time directly to their phones (NCSoft games at least, possibly others). It was where I first heard of it.

We were all jealous of it because they could "pay as they go" which is much more casual player friendly.

I'm waiting for near field communications to become the norm, so when a stripper wants a tip all I have to do is tap that ass.

Genju: sonorangal: Genju: Meh South Koreans have been paying for stuff with their cell phones for over 10 years now.

The South Korean cell phone system and products are least two to three years ahead of America's. In Finland they they have been using cell phones to pay for things since the mid to late 90's.

South Koreans have been paying for things on their cell phones since at least 1999, when they were charging MMORPG time directly to their phones (NCSoft games at least, possibly others). It was where I first heard of it.

We were all jealous of it because they could "pay as they go" which is much more casual player friendly.

This is interesting - I take it there is a PIN required to prevent use after a theft?

Big_Fat_Liar: Genju: sonorangal: Genju: Meh South Koreans have been paying for stuff with their cell phones for over 10 years now.

The South Korean cell phone system and products are least two to three years ahead of America's. In Finland they they have been using cell phones to pay for things since the mid to late 90's.

South Koreans have been paying for things on their cell phones since at least 1999, when they were charging MMORPG time directly to their phones (NCSoft games at least, possibly others). It was where I first heard of it.

We were all jealous of it because they could "pay as they go" which is much more casual player friendly.

This is interesting - I take it there is a PIN required to prevent use after a theft?

Not that I can recall. The charges would show up on the phone bill and could be disputed at that point, so it acts more like a credit card than a debit card.