Granted, and if I could take away their migraine without giving up my choices or privacy, I would gladly do so. I don’t have anything against retail clerks per se.
Remember when valley Circle-K’s had a sign on the register asking customers to call corporate in Phoenix and rat the clerks out if they DIDN’T try to upsell you? That was idiotic for three reasons:
o Why would I report someone for NOT trying to manipulate me?
o While the clerk is hardly my bosom buddy, I know him better than I know anyone at corporate, so why would I rat him out for THEIR sake?
o Essentially they’re trying to turn the customers into secret shoppers, which is a known occupation companies pay money for. Why should I do it for them for free when other companies have to pay people to do it?
In order for cash to completely go away somebody is going to have to figure out how to make it so phonecards (the most common form of “stored on plastic” value) can transfer balances without a third party. Once that happens cashcards (which seem to be running about 10 years behind phonecards) will be able to do it. At that point you’ll be able pay with plastic without the tracking (nobody actually knows who owns a phonecard), and the doomsday clock on physical money will be striking midnight.
What the heck do Circle-Ks even have to upsell? The soda (most common upsell thing in fastfood) is selfserve, by the time you get to the clerk the decision is pretty unchangable. Yeah that was a pretty silly plan all around.