951–960 of 981 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Prices in the US are not tax-inclusive, so the effect of sales tax ruins that plan.
So you're telling me that when I buy stuff for 12.34 that is not the amount I have to pay, but some bigger amount that I have no way to calculate precisely unless I know exactly which sales tax rules are applicable for my purchase? It's baffling how backasswards the US is.
I'd say screw it, get rid of nickles and dimes as well. Quarters can stay, for now. It's a complete waste of money and time continuing to mint such low-value currency. It can't be used for just about anything. Unfortunately, I do see the problem with part of this. For a handful of items where it does matter, it will force people to use cards more if they want to avoid rounding. And the card providers already have a c…
Counterpoint: Get rid of nickels and quarters. In the digital age, it's far more practical to round to the nearest $0.1 than $0.05.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know you're referencing more than pennies, but to speak to pennies, I find the current rounding noise in the US to be weird. Likely, it's just more of the media, talking heads, and youtube personalities trying to turn a nothing into something, story. Back when we did it in Canada, I don't recall a single person I knew concerned about penny rounding. Everyone was sick of pennies. No one cared. Everyone was happy. An…
As the article points out, there are laws that say people who pay via SNAP debit cards "cannot be charged more than others". If cash payments are rounded down, but debit card payments aren't, they are in violation of state law. The article also points out that rollback of pennies in Canada and other places were planned, addressing these kinds of issues. USA is doing it with no such planning.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The 500-euro bill is being phased out for similar reasons. Though it's worth noting a 100-dollar bill was worth more than twice what it is today when Pablo Escobar died.
And many stores do not accept 200 Euro bills due to the same reason.
I'd say screw it, get rid of nickles and dimes as well. Quarters can stay, for now. It's a complete waste of money and time continuing to mint such low-value currency. It can't be used for just about anything. Unfortunately, I do see the problem with part of this. For a handful of items where it does matter, it will force people to use cards more if they want to avoid rounding. And the card providers already have a c…
I know you're referencing more than pennies, but to speak to pennies, I find the current rounding noise in the US to be weird. Likely, it's just more of the media, talking heads, and youtube personalities trying to turn a nothing into something, story. Back when we did it in Canada, I don't recall a single person I knew concerned about penny rounding. Everyone was sick of pennies. No one cared. Everyone was happy. An…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, that sounds like a yes, they could round up or down SNAP purchases just like cash purchases.
No, because they'd still be paying less/more than people paying with credit cards, debit cards, or checks.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/subtitle-B/chapter-II/s...
"Coupons shall be accepted for eligible foods at the same prices and on the same terms and conditions applicable to cash purchases of the same foods at the same store except that tax shall not be charged on eligible foods purchased with coupons."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I say we eliminate both pennies and (significantly more importantly) executive orders
> (significantly more importantly) executive orders How would that work? The president is the executive of the federal government and needs to issue directives to employees telling them how to do their jobs. This is like saying we should get rid of CEOs sending emails.
We eliminated pennies in Canada in 2012 and the transition was a non-issue. The vast majority of retailers would round cash transactions to the nearest $0.05, but a few would round down to the nearest $0.05 in favor of the customer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_of_low-denomination... Canadian cash is better than American cash in several ways: No penny, durable polymer banknotes (instead of dirty wrinkly c…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think your threat model is incomplete. You’re far more likely to have your card cloned and pin stolen through a fake terminal. I’ve actually had that happen to me vs 0 times have I had fraudulent transactions due to a stolen card. Tap/dip payment is non cloneable even by a fake terminal. Outside the US tap+pin/dip+pin is even common but banks for some reason really are averse to requiring Americans to add a pin to…
> fake terminal ... at the self-checkout of a major grocery store? > Outside the US tap+pin/dip+pin is even common As far as I can tell "dip + pin" is exactly what I do with a debit card. This is literally the first time I've ever heard the term "EMV", so I looked it up: > EMV cards are smart cards, also called chip cards, integrated circuit cards (ICC), or IC cards, which store their data on integrated circuit chips…
The fake terminal concern that vlovich mentions above is real. Look up "credit card skimmers" (the same threat applies to debit cards and ATMs -- anything with a magstripe and keypad).
This is a big deal. It's happened to me three times in the last few years, twice within a week of each other (and likely from the same location).
There are some EMV skimmers in the wild too. They're called "shimmers" because the mechanism is very thin and inserted into the EMV dip slot. These need a separate mechanism to capture PIN input via keypad, so they remain a better choice (but keep reading).
NFC is the safest, and fastest. The cryptography between the card and reader is intact and not replayable etc. Apple Pay is equally good from a safety perspective, and better from many others. I don't know about Google Pay.
Other problems with using your debit card: credit card contracts offer better protections against fraud; and of course there is no immediate debit to your account, so you are never stuck fighting to recover already-stolen funds.
The entire point of EMV and NFC is increased card security. It's nice that they're also quicker, but that's quite secondary.
So, do as thou wilt, obviously. But your mudstickery may be putting you at additional risk. I don't estimate the time difference as meaningful for you or other customers.