On 22-Jan-12 03:11, Roland Perry wrote:
on Sat, 21 Jan 2012, Neil Williams remarked:
paywave credit cards. Although I always feel a bit awkward using a
credit card for such small purchases.

Why? I usually have a rule that if I can pay by card I do.

Because I know all the processing and billing costs have to be paid by
someone, and in the end it's the consumers.

Many US retailers push for card use because they believe the labor and
fraud costs of handling cash are higher. This is particularly true for
debit cards, which have a significantly lower merchant fee for PIN
transactions rather than signature transactions. Cards are also faster
than cash for small transactions that are below the merchant's "floor"
and therefore do not require a signature _or_ PIN.

(Why the US doesn't have PIN transactions for credit cards, with the
same lower merchant rate, is a mystery to me. My credit card _does_
have a PIN assigned, for getting a cash advance at ATMs, but it doesn't
work for POS transactions.)

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
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