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Who Needs Pocket Change When You’ve Got Plastic?
NY Times ^ | 6/17/07 | ELIZABETH OLSON

Posted on 06/18/2007 9:46:06 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim

Every morning on his way to the Concord, Calif., high school where he teaches physical education and health, John Nunan buys his breakfast. After he swipes his card through the reader, his bank debits the purchase from his account. He often repeats the process for lunch and dinner.

The amounts are small. For example, his usual breakfast of coffee and a Western omelet bagel from a coffee shop comes to $5.35. He said he debits his bank account “pretty much for every meal that I eat out.”

Mr. Nunan, 25, is part of a group that some major credit card companies and banks are calling Gen P, or Generation Plastic. It refers to spenders 18 to 25 years old who are increasingly using debit or credit cards, collectively known as payment cards, for nearly every on-the-go purchase.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: debit; debitcards; plastic
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To: Just another Joe
You're not paranoid if they ARE out to get you, and eventually, in one way or another, they will be.

True..., and regardless of the steps you may take, extensive data on you has been accumulated and is readily available!

61 posted on 06/18/2007 11:31:49 AM PDT by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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Comment #62 Removed by Moderator

To: wbill
can't imagine putting a Burger and Fries (total cost $2+change) on my credit card and paying interest on it.

I still write checks to pay my bills and pay off my Credit Card balance religiously every month.



If you are paying your CC bill in full every month, then you are not paying any interest.
63 posted on 06/18/2007 11:34:55 AM PDT by armydoc
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To: kiriath_jearim

I absolutely refuse to have anybody- Government- Credit cards- Banks tracking EVERY move I make.

Guy in Kalifornia a few years back got into trouble.
He was in a medium problem accident. He said he did drink somewhat, but not to excess, and wasn’t drinking that night. He didn’t get a blood test at scene because of trip to ER. No test done there, either, I think.
At the TRIAL for his accident, the other driver’s lawyer dragged out his GROCERY STORE CARD purchases for the past 3+ years. Showed lots of cigarettes and liquor. He tried to tell them that he purchased items for his home-bound Mother, and proved that he didn’t smoke at all.
Jury convicted him on the basis of his alcohol purchases, as he couldn’t PROVE he didn’t drink what he purchased.

I had always been told that grocery stores were NOT tracking what YOU bought and keeping records of same. They were only tracking inventory.

This trial proved that was a lie. I will pay cash whenever I can. Nobody’s business how we live and what we buy or eat.


64 posted on 06/18/2007 11:35:38 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: jiggyboy

The biggest problem for me is that debit cards don’t require ANY ID, and if you have one stolen, it can cost you alot of money before you get it stopped.

No ID leaves too much room for problems, IMO.


65 posted on 06/18/2007 11:37:40 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: Sols
My closest bank came up on generator power less than 48 hours after hurricane Wilma hit us.

After the hurricanes in 2004 & 2005, Florida has mandated that most gas stations must have emergency power. Telephone and cellular sites have always had back-up power but..., if the power outage is extended..., that power is depleted since it is from battery banks and propane powered generators. Having run on generator power for 17 days during 2004 & 2005, I hope I don't see such a situation in the future but, preparation is the key...

66 posted on 06/18/2007 11:38:10 AM PDT by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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To: jiggyboy; kiriath_jearim

I hate the people who have to use credit for everything. It makes the line go so much slower.

Handing over cash, makes you think twice if what you are purchasing, you really want.


67 posted on 06/18/2007 11:39:16 AM PDT by Barney Gumble (A liberal is someone too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel - Robert Frost)
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To: Obadiah

I’m way outside of this age group, but it fits me. I use debit for almost all purchases. Never seem to have cash on me and I hate writing checks.

Me too. I am 38 and have not used a credit card in years and a check...what’s that. lol.


68 posted on 06/18/2007 11:41:23 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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Comment #69 Removed by Moderator

To: Obadiah

Another thing I do is when I go on vacation, I get a bank gift card. It works just like a visa and if it gets lost than you only lost that amount of money and you still get it back, but the thief does not have your bank card which could end up making many many purchases.


70 posted on 06/18/2007 11:43:33 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: Obadiah
I’m way outside of this age group, but it fits me. I use debit for almost all purchases. Never seem to have cash on me and I hate writing checks.

I wrote a check the other day to a merchant, and after he ran it through his cash register, he handed it back to me and said it was my receipt. I was trying to save him some money by not using a debit/credit card. I was also hoping I could get a float, but that's beside the point. I'll use my debit card from now on, saves buying more checks. I'm really outside this age group, but before I retired, I always used direct deposit, so this is just an extension of that.

71 posted on 06/18/2007 11:43:56 AM PDT by FLCowboy, (Ironically, Gore notes that he has run for president twice and says: "I know what it takes to win.?)
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To: Clam Digger

I hate carrying around cash, and change just screws up my washing machine.”

Some of us were taught by oour mommies to clean out all our pockets before putting clothes into the needs to be washed pile......


72 posted on 06/18/2007 11:44:48 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: ExSES
and regardless of the steps you may take, extensive data on you has been accumulated and is readily available!

No reason to give them any more then.

73 posted on 06/18/2007 11:46:59 AM PDT by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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Comment #74 Removed by Moderator

To: discostu
"It’s no more social engineering than any other bandwagon advertising. The underlying message of all that kind of advertising, which is a high percentage of all advertising, is “be one of the cool kids, use our stuff”."

True. And I actually work in advertising. Underlying almost all of it is the premise that people need to be persuaded of even things that are good for them. So maybe it is all a form a social engineering. There is just something about trying to usher in a cashless world that makes me a tad bit paranoid.
75 posted on 06/18/2007 12:31:49 PM PDT by newheart (The Truth? You can't handle the Truth. But He can handle you.)
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To: newheart

Businesses hate cash, from the position of a retail outlet cash is just a nightmare. Between misfeasance and malfeasance it’s a pain in the butt: people miscount it, it winds up being counted multiple times which costs man power, employees steal it, it atracts thieves, plus there’s the disease factor (absorbant paper that spends most of its time in warm moist pockets and occasionally gets sneezed on... really cash is kind of gross). Pretty much everybody in the retail world that doesn’t get tips dreams of the day physical money winds up on the ashheap of history.


76 posted on 06/18/2007 12:40:31 PM PDT by discostu (only things a western savage understands are whiskey and rifles and an unarmed man)
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To: JRochelle
Only idiots stand in line to purchase lottery tickets.

Yep, a tax on the stupid.

77 posted on 06/18/2007 12:55:43 PM PDT by Mark was here (Hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance?)
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To: M. Dodge Thomas

I’ve driven to California and back from Knoxvile, TN twice in the last four years, each time paying for almost the entire trip with a credit card. The statements were remarkable—they precisely tracked everywhere I’d been and everything I’d done during the entire trip.


78 posted on 06/18/2007 1:09:21 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: Mark was here
Only idiots stand in line to purchase lottery tickets.

Yep, a tax on the stupid.

More politely..., a tax on the "mathematically challenged". Be thankful that their numbers are great!

79 posted on 06/18/2007 1:15:15 PM PDT by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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To: armydoc
If you are paying your CC bill in full every month, then you are not paying any interest.

Correct, but there are plenty of fools (I work with a bunch of them) that *do* carry a balance, and aren't afraid to charge a burger and fries from McD's. I just can't wrap my head around that one. I mean, if you can't afford two or three bucks to spend on lunch, bring a sandwich to work.

I'm just old-fashioned, I guess. I don't spend money that I don't have.

80 posted on 06/18/2007 1:34:14 PM PDT by wbill
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