XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu   
      
   Robert Bannister  writes:   
      
   > On 12/08/13 11:23 AM, Rod Speed wrote:   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> "Robert Bannister"  wrote in message   
   >> news:b6qu74F48beU5@mid.individual.net...   
   >>> On 11/08/13 11:13 AM, The Horny Goat wrote:   
   >>>> On Wed, 07 Aug 2013 22:33:50 -0600, Greg Goss  wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> In the very early days, you could get the ATM card combined with your   
   >>>>> credit card.  Thus you would use the credit card in ATMs and choose   
   >>>>> which of three accounts you're interacting with.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> With the rise of using your ATM card as a debit card for purchases,   
   >>>>> this feature was lost.  Unlike at an ATM, the electronic pathway for   
   >>>>> using a credit card is quite different from that a debit card uses.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> You can still get those in Canada but they're devastating for the   
   >>>> merchant since debit transactions cost 12-15 cents each while if a   
   >>>> credit card depending on the type of card it can cost 1.6 to 4.5% of   
   >>>> the purchase. That's a huge chunk of the merchant's profit margin   
   >>>> particularly on the affinity cards and 'high spender' or points cards.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Now a merchant who doesn't cover all his costs is out of business so   
   >>>> you know where those costs get passed along to.... in grocery stores   
   >>>> they used to work on a 1-2% margin because they were getting 'the   
   >>>> turns' but these days it's 7-8% mostly to cover card costs.   
   >>   
   >>> I don't know how much shop keepers get ripped off by the banks here,   
   >>   
   >> Its nothing like as high as that 7-8% here.   
   >>   
   >>> but I know that if they didn't accept transactions from saving   
   >>> accounts as well as from cheque accounts and credit, they would soon   
   >>> be out of business.   
   >>   
   >> Woolys and BigW don't in fact allow you to select   
   >> the Credit option with a debit card, and that hasn't   
   >> done them any harm business wise.   
   >   
   > I've never seen a debit card, but my MasterCard still comes up with   
   > the "Cheque, Savings or Credit" choice at Woolworths and BigW.   
      
   I *think* I may have once had a debit card that wouldn't also work as a   
   credit card.  My bank card for years and years now has been useable as   
   either.   
      
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