Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square • Hacker News Board

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#161

Post by jim_kaiser » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 4:38 PM UTC

seabee wrote: post #112

stonemetal wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife actually thinks it is rude to pay with cash or check when people are waiting behind you in line. Cards are the fastest way to pay, you don't even have to sign for purchases under a certain amount.

You don't enter a PIN? That process easily makes it take longer than cash.

We don't need to enter the PIN for most of the credit cards or debit cards in India, but we do have to sign it. Although it's just a formality. Usually when we split the bill, one of us signs all the receipts. :)

Now that being said, we get an SMS on every transaction, and for online transfers, we have two factor authentication using the mobile phone. We can call the bank any time to report a stolen card and would be covered for a fair amount of money depending on the account, as long as you report it within 24 hours as I remember.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#162

Post by dclowd9901 » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 4:41 PM UTC

faramarz wrote: post #14

This announcement makes me happy, for Square and Jack Dorsey as a young business leader. I love everything about the business idea, execution, design and tone of the overall strategy. Noteworthy points from the press release The partnership terms include: - Customers will be able to use Pay with Square, Square’s payer application, from participating company operated U.S. Starbucks stores later this fall, and find nea…

It occurs to me that, with Square as a partner, Starbucks stands to gain a lot from the partnership. If you think that most of their transactions are in small amounts (under $7 generally), and most of those transactions are done by credit card (I'm making a presumption about affluent individuals' purchase patterns), is it possible they're trying to turn the price they'd normally pay for transactions into investment capital? They were pushing those Starbucks refill cards like crazy a while back..

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#163

Post by ry0ohki » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 4:45 PM UTC

bonzoesc wrote: post #142

ry0ohki wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Pittsburgh, 90% of the businesses that take Square are coffee shops for whatever reason

Using Square is easy and has low fixed costs. iPad for under $400, iPad stand for $100, and you don't have to fuck with complicated 1990s credit card processors.

No doubt, it's just odd it's all coffee shops and not other small businesses like Pizza, books stores, etc...

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#164

Post by mcdavis » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 4:47 PM UTC

stonemetal wrote: post #155

seabee wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't enter a PIN? That process easily makes it take longer than cash.

Debit cards require a pin, but credit card transactions less than some amount(I think it is $10) don't require anything other than the swipe.

Many debit cards can be processed as credit cards and then don't require a pin. My bank actually encourages using the debit card as a credit card by offering more points per purchase when you do it.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#165

Post by anewguy » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 4:53 PM UTC

kitsune_ wrote: post #124

kayoone wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Europe (Germany) i have never seen anyone buying a coffee with a credit card. Maybe debit card, but that also is rare, its mostly cash for these small transactions. Most coffee shops dont even take any cards at all, even here in germany!

Switzerland... Usually cash. Sometimes Debit Card / Maestro (for larger purchases or if you don't have money on hand). People usually withdraw money from the ATM to pay for their purchases. The idea probably is: It's easier and simpler to withdraw 200 bucks once and pay in cash at the different stores instead of having to enter the card and PIN every time you purchase something.

That's not true. As a former cashier, I can say that cards are about the same speed as cash for small purchases, and much faster for large ones.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#166

Post by wtvanhest » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 4:57 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #105

zalew wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if by 'Here in Europe' you mean 'here in Germany' then yeah, in Germany cards are unpopular among small business, but here in Poland they are quite common. There is often a minimum ammount in private grocery stores, but you can pay in every corporate store or cafe like Coffeeheaven and Starbucks.

Cards are likewise unpopular in Greece. You can usually use them pretty much everywhere, but almost nobody does.

In the US, cards dominate

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#167

Post by jeffgreco » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 5:09 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #151

pja wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We'll lose money on every transaction, but make it up on volume!" I'm going to optimistically assume that Square have run the numbers and this deal is worth the price though. As a marketing exercise alone it could be worth a fortune if it ends up putting Square's branding in every Starbucks.

> As a marketing exercise alone it could be worth a fortune if it ends up putting Square's branding in every Starbucks. Very much so. People who see a Square dongle at the farmers' market will now go "oh, I saw that at Starbucks", not "that guy might steal my credit card with that".

Starbucks won't be using any Square dongles. I'd imagine there will be a small sticker at their normal POS. src: http://www.splatf.com/2012/08/starbucks-square-payments/

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#168

Post by jeffgreco » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 5:10 PM UTC

ben1040 wrote: post #9

joering2 wrote: post #4

Can someone explain me what it means for customers? As far as NYC goes, each Starbucks accepts Visa, Master Card, Discovery and American Express (the card that plenty businesses hate). So what is the benefit for the customers?

One cool feature about the Square mobile app is you can set up geofenced "tabs" that automatically get opened if you get close enough to an establishment. So you keep your phone in your pocket, walk into Starbucks and order a drink as you do every morning. You tell them "put it on John's tab." You get a receipt in your email immediately thereafter, and never have to pull out your phone or wallet.

Starbucks isn't supporting the geofencing: http://www.splatf.com/2012/08/starbucks-square-payments/

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#169

Post by cschep » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 5:17 PM UTC

stock_toaster wrote: post #73

gootik wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'm happy for Square, I'm saddened that Starbucks gets special treatment. Why is Starbucks (a well known brand) getting a personal post written by Jack, when Square's "goal" is to promote and help small businesses? Maybe a more subtle way of informing the world about this partnership was better.

> Why is Starbucks (a well known brand) getting a personal post written by Jack, when Square's "goal" is to promote and help small businesses? Maybe the 25 million Starbucks invested in Square?

Meant to up vote on mobile and hit down instead, sorry. Someone balance it for me?

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#170

Post by frisco » Wed, Aug 08, 2012, 5:21 PM UTC

mattmaroon wrote: post #157

timjahn wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" - Starbucks will invest $25 million in Square as part of the company’s Series D financing round;" Wait, what? Is this Starbucks buying a slice of the decision making process to ensure things are generally in their favor?

Sure. Companies often invest in other companies. Google Ventures is an example of this. Microsoft invested in Facebook then promptly integrated connect into Bing, Xbox Live and Outlook.com (with probably more to come). Starbucks can benefit from the Square deal, invest in them, and help promote them all at the same time. Actually pretty brilliant.

Quick clarification on Google Ventures: Microsoft in Facebook or Starbuck in Square are those companies acting as "strategic" investors. Google Ventures is different in that it's a venture investor: it tries to be completely separate from Google proper and doesn't necessarily come with any close business relationship between the investments and Google. People can argue over whether it can actually achieve this separation, but it's run in a completely different way from ordinary corporate VC (which is usually managed by business development inside the parent company).