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 ...
True..., and regardless of the steps you may take, extensive data on you has been accumulated and is readily available!
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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......
No reason to give them any more then.
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.
Yep, a tax on the stupid.
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.
Yep, a tax on the stupid.
More politely..., a tax on the "mathematically challenged". Be thankful that their numbers are great!
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.
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