Am in the midst of back to school shopping, and despite the (legit) claims abt rampant enshittification, I still find it amazing every time I tap my phone to pay w my credit card that in just my lifetime we’ve gone from the “SHUNK-CHUNK” machine to tap-and-pay.
It’s really a huge, legit tech shift.
It’s really a huge, legit tech shift.
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I pointed it out to a younger colleague, and they didn't have the faintest clue what I was going on about.
They made us take people's credit cards from them!!
and even 10 years ago they were the only place i encountered an imprint machine.
it's the online validation. I've used cancellation books,
and my stolen Sears card got used for probably 2-3 months after being cancelled, though fortunately that was on them, not me.
The amazing thing is the cancellation book was apparently pretty comprehensive. I cannot image how many credit cards are voided every month now. The book would be huge.
by the time i left, we'd mostly moved to an ipad with one of those card-reader dongles, but if we didn't have reception wherever the hotel had stuck us, or the wifi went out…
CLUNK CHUNK
Being able to deposit checks through my phone, without having to go to a branch. Just, like, wow. (It's still nice on the rare occasions I get one).
but the idea of paying by cheque in a _retail_ setting is utterly bewildering to me. and i'm in my mid-30s.
(don't think my parents ever did, to my recollection)
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle#:~:text=It%27s%20a%20three%20stage%20process,all%20the%20value%20for%20themselves.
I looked at some old cards I have in my desk drawer and there's some raised numbers on cards with expiry dates about six years ago. So I overstated things a bit.
How did they even know the signature was yours?
And at the end of the month the bank would return all your cheques to you for filing.
And then scolded again because I left my account statement (aka the backup paper copy) in the envelope unopened with the rest of the year.
And then watching the keynote for phone payments I remember asking “wait, why wouldn’t you just pull out your wallet” right before they announced Starbucks was the flagship business
It was a sudden “oh, right, you’d be in line and already have your phone out” moment.