Credit Card Fraud

[cwguy.com]

Bottom line is people like not paying for stuff! My cleanup guy was 82k in dept going out to eat. Cash is also not a requirement anymore..... Unless you purchase stuff from Randy. LOL

My 80 father in law is known as the relative that caries around a lot of money. But I carry maybe $10..... Why should you? It's old school.... I wonder if Mike writes checks at Target?

 

[JMMUSTANG]

There is only so much discretionary income customers have to spend.
It seems to me that due to this our car washes should be able to offer all modes of monetary acceptance possible to our customers if you can afford it.

 

[mjwalsh]

"we should not be in favor of anything that diminishes the use of higher denomination coins & the use of more $5 & $10 paper notes."

I completely disagree. CC users buy on avg 40% more and I don't have to deal with the security, handling and deposit costs. It would save me hours of grief every week!

BigLeo48 & others,

Respectfully... I see where you & some others with larger operations where you are comfortable with "vaporware" type of hi tech "more in the dark" costly transitions & potential ID manipulations like the 40 million Target situation etc ... are coming from. As far as the 40% more spending happening ... some people who actually are qualified in the field of psychology have shown that certain types of payment systems have proven themselves to encourage greater personal debt.

If we get to the point in the future where & when it is no longer practical to have or use cash in the USA ... unless you can guarantee that white collar shenanagans are still within the range of healthy market place law enforcement ... I really think this a more reckless path to go than maintaining a healthy portion of cash transactions. Especially for smaller transactions such as in laundromats & other similar self service vending etc. I would gladly live with a bit of precautions (NRA is still alive) carrying the lighter weight higher denomination coins & less bulky 5 & 10 dollar paper notes. As far as handling & deposit costs ... most banks in our area of the USA do not charge extra for handling cash in general ... unless the specific overall account status is a problem. I say in general because there have been some very unusual unexplained (satisfactorily that is) "singling out" of our higher denomination "goldie" dollar coin.

When agendas are involved I believe ... it is always better be on the side of the "better agenda"

Mike Walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[cwguy.com]

Mike did you go through the great depression? Do you know what "vaporware" means? It doesn't even matter which technology you are thinking is "vaporware" they are all implemented and working.

I'm going to switch to travelers checks that's it!

 

[MEP001]

When agendas are involved I believe ... it is always better be on the side of the "better agenda"

What makes your dollar coin agenda better than any other?

 

[cwguy.com]

What makes your dollar coin agenda better than any other?

Wait a second..... mep1..... is this a loaded question?

I don't really think you should rely on a gun to keep all your money under your mattress at your house? Or in your pockets? I like banks....

Maybe just carry a gun to carry a gun? Then use credit cards and who cares if there stolen? Plus I don't think the average person could hit a house with a gun if they wanted to? I was talking to a police detective and he was in a shootout across the street from my car wash a couple times and he never hit anything.... or got hit.

 

[Earl Weiss]

BigLeo48 & others,

Respectfully... I see where you & some others with larger operations where you are comfortable with "vaporware" type of hi tech "more in the dark" costly transitions Mike Walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

If I weere running the Zoo all costs associated with higher cost transactions would have appropriate user fees imposed i.e. a flat 3% surcharge on CC transactions so if the price is $3.00 the merchant gets $3.00 and the CC user pays all transaction costs. Of course card issuers could lower costs to CC users for whatever their interest payments and fees offset.

 

[cwguy.com]

If I were running the Zoo

Car washes are just like a zoo! I believe this year the card companies lost in court and in most states you can charge a surcharge for credit card fees.

I always believe customers should know where taxes and fees are going. If I owned a gas station I would post what the taxes are on every gallon! And tobacco products.

 

[bigleo48]

Mike,

I don't get your mindset....or understand if you are arguing for or against the CC market.

Having working in tech for 3 decades, I like to tell people "Communications and the internet didn't change the world, databases did" For better or worse, you cannot avoid the databases and criminals will focus on it as a potential avenue for profit.

I have seen your info on the topic and I am very confident that your fight (for good or better) has zero chance of success. The world has changed and we can't go back. Cash is dead and will likely disappear in my kids lifetime. Bitcoin is an early example of what's to come. It will have its challenges, but that's always the case with new technologies and ideas.

Big

 

[Kevin James]

I got 2 new credit cards last Friday. The accompanying letter stated that my credit card information had been compromised and I needed to destroy my old cards. I’ve never been to a Target store.

I still think we’ll be seeing big changes in how credit cards are accepted and processed. If they go with a smart card and a 4 digit pin number new equipment will be required.

 

[bigleo48]

The North American banks have been really slow to adapt and the mess they are in at this point is of their own making. Just about everyone I know, including myself have had their CC cards compromised at one point. That is their fault for such poor theft prevention and not keeping up with the times/technology and they are paying for it bigtime. That window is closing quick and the amounts of $ being stolen are huge. This is like the old $20 bills in Canada about 8 years back. The bank of Canada did not keep up with anti-counterfeit technology and counterfeit was rampant (5 in 1000 showing up in banks were counterfeit). Now we have one of the safest currencies in the world with Mylar bills. That will happen to credit and it has happened with Canadian & Euro credit cards (10 years ago in the EU). I don't know anyone yet who has had their chip/Pin cards compromised (not that it doesn't happen, its just far less).

So yest the equipment will need to change...that's just part of it.

 

[rph9168]

What bothers me is that when you make a purchase of less than $25 dollars around where I live they don't even ask you to sign the receipt. When I lived in Arizona my credit cards had my picture on them. I realize that wouldn't stop someone from making a fake one with their picture but it would prevent them from using my card if I lost it unless they were swiping it where there is no clerk.

 

[cwguy.com]

If you can use your credit card online and at sit down restaurants.... Your in trouble. Anyone can steal the number.

Plus I wouldn't worry for one second about any business (like Target) having my card number. Or ordering crap online. It's the hourly people that touch your card you should worry about. I have gotten my number stolen from those hourly brain surgeons a lot more then "stupid companies". Companies have their crap together in their data centers. Except every once in a while.

Plus.... Where's Canada? I thought that place used our dollar?

 

[mjwalsh]

I got 2 new credit cards last Friday. The accompanying letter stated that my credit card information had been compromised and I needed to destroy my old cards. I’ve never been to a Target store.

I still think we’ll be seeing big changes in how credit cards are accepted and processed. If they go with a smart card and a 4 digit pin number new equipment will be required.

Kevin & others,

To me if they do that ... I will have to probably replace three Paypal Here cell phone card swipers & like I mentioned before a credit card receptacle on my ATM. I am sure glad I did not laugh too much at certain specific laundromat owners when about 5 years ago the practicality of ATMs began to be shared. We now can have a healthier laugh together as we make up for the slight (mostly perceived & hyped) inconvenience in other ways with many other attributes such as rest rooms etc.

Rather than being faced with 75+ updates for our facility to whatever latest fad payment method that we could have gotten in too deep with ... I am sure that it will be exponentially less costly to make sure our MicroCoin, IDX, & Parker coin mechs accept whatever coin(only if necessary) & 15+ Mars & Coinco bill acceptors to accept $2 bills(preferably 5s & 10s) considering 5 fold inflation since 1973.

In our part of the country where the business is driven far more by weather than any other factor ... it is very unlikely that our self service bays & vacuums would be magically blessed with enough more dollars to keep up with the potential whims of the more proprietary payment method requirements year after year. Now ... in Rob Ford's Toronto area that could be a completely 100% different situation!

My main thrust is not to get rid of the ability of CC or other electronic means but to finally (way overdue) have a more practical coin & currency update for the USA. Credible studies have shown that cash use is not going down ... it is just not growing as fast as some of the other payment methods are temporarily growing. The other payment methods should not have too much lobbying power in Washington DC to accelerate less use of the "goldie" dollar coins. There have been many examples of this happening in the last 13+ years since it was introduced. The mining companies are not fighting the potential removal of the penny that I am aware of ... which is relevant (in my opinion).

Mike Walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[Earl Weiss]

What bothers me is that when you make a purchase of less than $25 dollars around where I live they don't even ask you to sign the receipt. .

That is true of every gasoline dispenser and for a lot more than $25.00. Been that way for a long time.

 

[rph9168]

Around here at gas stations you have to also put in your zip code.

 

[cwguy.com]

Honestly.... Why would not signing or using some code bother anyone? The company/store is taking all the burden on the charge back? (Believe me I know charge backs can be stupid high.) I also know everyone pays the price of card business.... Even cash customers. But the charge backs must not be that big of an issue.... Or no one would do it. Maybe companies only allow no signing to certain people? Plus gas stations have cameras?

I personally never goto cash only gas stations.... Or must go inside to pay. If I owned a gas station I would bring back full service.... People seem to be lazy and have to much money.

 

[Washmee]

I've been processing my CC transactions that are below $50 with no signature for over 7 years. In that time I have had zero chargebacks from customers. I would estimate that is over 200k transactions.

 

[bigleo48]

"To me if they do that ... I will have to probably replace three Paypal Here cell phone card swipers & like I mentioned before a credit card receptacle on my ATM. I am sure glad I did not laugh too much at certain specific laundromat owners when about 5 years ago the practicality of ATMs began to be shared. We now can have a healthier laugh together as we make up for the slight (mostly perceived & hyped) inconvenience in other ways with many other attributes such as rest rooms etc."

I have read this three times and I don't have a clue what you're talking about!?

 

[Randy]

I think he's talking about having n ATM machine at his Laundromat