When I'm in the states I'm always still surprised with the lack of tap, or even pin, POS systems.

No one's touched my credit card but me in years.

Which states?

Here in the Los Angeles area, many restaurants and bars have switched to POS systems, but some restaurants are still old school where they take your debit/credit card away, and then return with it later with the bill.

Almost all payments here are by contactless card payment in normal times. Either through the usual handheld point of sale devices that can also accept PINs, or at the places I go to, Square or Stripe are pretty ubiquitous. There’s generally no taking of cards by the waitstaff or signing receipts (unless someone is paying with an American card) in Europe anyway.

Most places are not accepting cash, except for some market stalls or the Arab grocers I sometimes go to (where the staff are largely Syrian refugees who could not be less concerned about this).

Exactly. And I don’t think I’ve withdrawn cash from an ATM since like November.

I still use cash, but mainly to buy lotto tickets every so often; at least in California, by law, you can only purchase lottery tickets with cash.

That makes no sense. I understand not allowing credit cards (they’ve just disallowed that for betting apps here), but why not a debit card?

I'd say 80% of the cash I see around friends/coworkers is for buying coke, or drinks at the bar without opening a tab.

Yeah this seems to be a distinctly American thing, though in some places it’s beginning to change. I can even tap my card at most independent convenience stores here, and it’s certainly available at any larger establishment. At the very least you handle the machine yourself and the store clerk doesn’t touch your card at all. The only exceptions really are a few bars I know that are cash only (which is a choice on their part. This has been the case everywhere I’ve travelled in Europe for some time and I even used my Canadian debit card to tap regularly when living in South Africa!

Honestly the main reason I ever get cash is because my favourite local is cash only, so I take out enough for that and to buy coffee during the work week. All of which aren’t happening now naturally.

Probably for the same reason as not being able to use credit cards---to discourage people with gambling problems. ATMs only dispense a maximum of $500 cash, I think (or is it 1000?), and it takes more effort to line up and see a bank teller to withdraw cash.

When the Instacart person leaves the grocery bags at my door, I can unpack them at my liesure, wipe them with an alcohol wipe if I choose and then wash my hands.

I could bring a bag of alcohol wipes to the store and wipe down my card after the clerk handles it, but that seems a little insulting and I would be ashamed to do it.

The major stores all have this capacity--I specified this as an issue at small independent food sellers and corner markets. They often don't keep up with technology because it costs them. It also would be an issue at restaurants if they were open. It's normal for the waiter to take your card, then bring it back to you with a receipt to be signed. I've never liked that. They could use a Square device--after all, that's a home town company--but they mostly don't (small merchants at farmers' markets and such do though).

Anyway, I have trouble with the tap thing--usually takes multiple tries. I don't really care for it to be honest.

I wipe my card BEFORE I hand it to them. The response has always been one of appreciation. I then wipe it after they hand it back and I've not noticed any negative reaction.

The only places I haven't been able to use tap are self serve islands for fuel. They don't use that technology in Quebec.

Home Depot have enabled it just for this crisis according to the cashier where I shopped yesterday. She said they would revert to pin entry after the crisis???

My favorite bagel shop in Montreal (Fairmount bagel) only takes cash. But I haven't been to Montreal in four weeks. I can get them at Costco, if I want to.

I almost always use Apple Pay if I can. Convenient and now handy when trying to minimize contact. Yes, having them handle your card defeats all those protections.

Tonight.

https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/busin...9f9b0b5e9.jpeg

https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/busin...c3103f046.jpeg

Subway ridership down 90%.

More inconsistencies today. Went to my usual PetSmart to hunt for something I couldn't find online, and of the four employees, two were wearing masks and two were not. I asked the checker why some were not, and she said the masks are too hot, that the company doesn't require them, and that the company doesn't provide them. The checker raised her mask up while talking, which was stupid. Of the dozen or so customers in the store at the time, none had on a mask but me, and the children I observed obviously had been given no guidance on distancing themselves from other customers.

My next stop was a neighborhood grocery store, and it was very crowded. All but one customer was masked, as were all employees. A problem was that there was no station by the carts to clean the handles, so customers had to use their own sanitizer for that, if available. No paper towels were provided to assist with cleaning the handles.

Good idea--I may do that if/when I return to a store but I haven't been in one now in 2 weeks and have no plans to go back to one as long as I don't run out of anything critical.

Lawsuits could take care of this problem. I read a story that the family of a store employee who died after contracting covid-19 is suing, claiming that the employee caught the disease in the store and that the store did not provide masks or other protective measures to keep the employees safe. When the stores start getting sued by employees and even customers, they will act to make stores more safe (many are already), especially if these turn into potentially costly class action suits. Many stores are now limiting the number of people that can enter a store, and scrubbing down surfaces. This is all good. I can also see hospitals getting sued if they did not provide enough protective masks and other protective equipment to employees. The potential of a pandemic was known as far back as January, or cetainly February. The increased protective measures could also increase prices for consumers, but it will make for safer stores and hospitals.

This is really bringing out Americans’ natural tendency to lecture others and claim moral superiority, isn’t it?

Not to mention that basically the whole country is hypochondriac, over-prescribed and over-treated medically, with paranoia about illness fed by things like WebMD.

It must be a really weird feeling back home.