XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: robban@clubtelco.com   
      
   On 13/08/13 11:59 AM, Your Name wrote:   
   > In article , Robert Bannister   
   >  wrote:   
   >> 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.   
   >   
   > That's the machine / software rather than your card - it does it for all   
   > card types. If you try to use one of the other options the transaction   
   > will fail (unless of course you've already set up that card to be able to   
   > use a cheque or savings account). I'm pretty sure it happens on all the   
   > machines I usewith my credit card, even though that has never been set-up   
   > to use any other account type.   
   >   
   > You'd think that in these days of trying to idiot-proof everything, they   
   > would take away unusable options. Presumably tap-n-go / wave cards use   
   > some sort of default account type if they've been set-up to use different   
   > ones.   
   >   
      
   They are not unusable at all. Well, the cheque account one is because I   
   don't have one, but I can still choose "Savings" or "Credit". They won't   
   let me withdraw cash on credit, though - just pay my bill.   
      
   --   
   Robert Bannister   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)