Cashless society gets mixed reviews

CNN.Com / AP ^ | Saturday, February 8, 2003 Posted: 7:09 AM EST (1209 GMT) | CNN.Com

[Bobby777]

PARIS, France (AP) -- France is leaping toward a cashless future with a nationwide launch this year of computerized "smart cards," a concept that has so far failed to entice many American, British and German consumers.

The chief idea behind this new breed of microchip-embedded plastic is simple -- to dispense with pocket change and speed smaller transactions.

[Bobby777]

"Moneo" can be used for small purchases such as soft drinks, newspapers or subway tickets.

[MadIvan]

Moneo

Named after a character from "God Emperor of Dune"?

Regards, Ivan

[noutopia]

Oh my the French are so cutting edge,the frogs are stupid.

[lmr]

This same concept applies to pre-paid phone cards and "shopping cards" here in the U.S., this article says they aren't available in the states... Well, that isn't true. Most Americans, though are used to the conveinence of debit cards at POS terminals. These also accept credit cards as well. I have a Paypal debit card that works like a debit card, it is also a mastercard. The conveinences for me are infinite, as this stretches to the internet as well. Flexible Money, I guess you could say.

[CWOJackson]

First went their testicles now their coins. They won't have anything left jingling in their pockets.

[lmr]

I left out one important point though, none of what we have here in the U.S. in this area is mandated by the government unlike the Frog program mentioned here.

[lmr]

I guess it isn't government mandated.. forgive me... I was just saying that access to money in the U.S. via a "card" is just as easy or more so and even more secure.

[Travis McGee]

What's your pin number, 666?

This is just terrific, really peachy keen, until

/1/ All paper money is phased out. And

/2/ You piss off your local oligarchy and they freeze your electronic accounts.

Welcome to the Brave New World, unperson.

[lmr]

hehe... I always wondered if it wasn' the 'mark of the beast'??? </TINFOIL HAT>

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

I guess they can check their Moneo balance on their Minitel.

Except for McDonalds, toll booths (didn't bother to get an EZ-Pass) and snack machines, I can't think of any other plances where I use cash these days. So... what's the news?

[dalereed]

"In fact, it's already been automatically added to 25 million credit cards that were up for renewal -- with the owners not always being aware of it, Fersztand said."

This apparently happened to me, I bought a hard drive at Frys last month using my Mastercard and it showed up as a debit on my bank statement instead of my credit card bill. No notification, no pin numbers, just signed the reciept like any other CC purchase.

I'm pissed and will cancel the CC unless the provision is removed where a merchant on their own can decide whether to make it a CC purchase or a deduction from my bank account without my knowledge.

[Bobby777]

snack machines,

they had snack machines which would accept debit transactions from student "credit" cards back in 1990 at the university I attended ... the chips and sodas were added to the monthly bill by batch transactions d/l from the snack machines ...

[antaresequity]

Translation: Gold goes higher still.

[Bobby777]

I think it depends on how you use your card ... and what type of card ...

(not that I disagree with you)

we looked at several systems for the upgraded point-of-sale systems that are rolling into Hallmark stores now (I haven't been on that project since last year, though) ...

I don't remember it exactly, (so someone correct me here) ... if a true "debit card" is used as a "credit card" or a true "credit card" is used as a "debit" card, (whichever way) the merchant pays a substantially higher fee because of the altered use ... I can't remember the exact scenario ...

I agree I might or would cancel the card ... however, I think your argument may be with the merchant ... did you have to enter a PIN?

[Bobby777]

maybe so ... but it still hard to transact in gold ... for a burger, gasoline, etc. I mean ...

[dalereed]

No pin #, I don't even have one, it was a regular Mastercard and I had no idea that it would be used in such a way, all I did was sign the reciept like a normak CC transaction. I didn't know it had happened until my bank statement and CC bill came.

In this instance the bill was under $100 so it didn't make any real difference but I regurlarly charge up to $2000+ on that card in a single transaction and don't put the money in the checking account until the end of the month when I pay my bills and if this happened unknown to me on one of those transactions it would have caused real trouble. I don't even have a debit card.

[Bobby777]

yeah I understand ...

I still wonder if the merchant configured it as a debit rather than a charge ...

I'd be interested to hear how your card provider explained what happened ...

[SamAdams76]

Except for McDonalds, toll booths (didn't bother to get an EZ-Pass) and snack machines, I can't think of any other plances where I use cash these days. So... what's the news? Same here except I have EZ-pass and prefer the local sub shop over McDonalds. Every payday I take out $100 from the cash machine and usually have at least $20 of it left by the time next payday rolls around two weeks later. For everything else, I use a debit card, Speedpass, EZ-pass or a credit card (that I pay off each month). If not for my morning coffee at Dunkin' Donuts, my sub lunches at work and maybe a parking meter here and there, I don't use cash anymore at all.