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Cellar Scribblings
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: CellarDweller on March 02, 2019, 04:53:14 pm ---To my knowledge, the banks still take a commission. Sometimes you will go into a place and see a sign that charge cards are not accepted for purchases of under $5.00 or $10.00. That's because those business don't want to pay the commission on those small purchases, and will try to force customers to pay cash for them instead. Card companies have told business that they can't do that, but they still do it anyway.
--- End quote ---
A convenience store in the building where I work does that. Not only does it save the store the commission, but it forces you to make a bigger purchase if you don't have cash and really want the one thing.
CellarDweller:
Hiya BetterMost friends.
Sunday evening here!
Shopping is done and put away, laundry is done and put away, bills are done and mail is sent, and now I'm catching up online.
Looking out the window and seeing the snow falling. We were supposed to get a 'wintery mix' for tomorrow, and now they're saying we can have 5 - 8 inches overnight. I anticipate working from home tomorrow, but we'll see what it's like when I wake up.
I hope I do work from home, I would like to get some spring cleaning done, specifically going through my storage tables and drawers, and getting rid of all the junk I don't need.
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on March 02, 2019, 05:17:02 pm ---"Commission" is probably what I was thinking of when I said something about companies charging a business for accepting their cards. But I frequently see signs about not accepting cards for purchases less than $5.00 or $10.00, especially in "mom and pop" convenience stores. I also frequently see signs indicating that a business will accept Visa or Mastercard but not American Express.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, I see those signs too. As I said, the stores are not supposed to do that, but they will anyway.
--- Quote from: brian on March 02, 2019, 05:35:52 pm ---Yes, we have stores with those signs as well. However, as I said, I do not use my card for small purchases, use to be $20 but now down to about $15. However see friends and others using card for a cup of coffee ($4.50)
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I have used the card for small purchases when I have no cash on hand, but most times I do, so it doesn't happen often. I don't have any credit cards, but I have a debit card connected to my checking account, and that's what I use. I've seen people use credit cards (not debit cards) to purchase groceries. I can't imagine paying interest on your food.
--- Quote from: serious crayons on March 02, 2019, 06:22:55 pm ---A convenience store in the building where I work does that. Not only does it save the store the commission, but it forces you to make a bigger purchase if you don't have cash and really want the one thing.
--- End quote ---
You know, I hadn't thought of that. Using the sign would make people buy more items to go over that limit. How could I have missed that?
brianr:
--- Quote from: CellarDweller on March 03, 2019, 07:56:33 pm --- I don't have any credit cards, but I have a debit card connected to my checking account, and that's what I use. I've seen people use credit cards (not debit cards) to purchase groceries. I can't imagine paying interest on your food.
--- End quote ---
I almost never use my debit card except to withdraw cash from the ATM and when I buy theatre tickets as the card charge is less. Also my dentist gives 5% discount for cash or debit card.
I have been using a credit card for probably 30 years and always pay it off at the end of the month (actually around the 20th). In fact I often plan payments so as to still have about 50 days before needing to pay the account. I have never paid interest on my credit card. When I do use the debit card I have to think how much money is available in my bank cheque account. It does not earn any interest so I leave only a few hundred dollars there, sometimes less.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: CellarDweller on March 03, 2019, 07:56:33 pm ---I have used the card for small purchases when I have no cash on hand, but most times I do, so it doesn't happen often. I don't have any credit cards, but I have a debit card connected to my checking account, and that's what I use. I've seen people use credit cards (not debit cards) to purchase groceries. I can't imagine paying interest on your food.
--- End quote ---
If you pay off your balance every month, you don't pay interest on the account.
A couple of times a very long time ago--say, 30 years--I ran a balance on a credit card for a month, but the immediately following month I paid it off. Maybe I paid a little bit of interest, but it wasn't much.
But this is just the way I was raised. When I was a small boy, before credit cards were available to "ordinary people" (by which I mean working- to lower-middle-class people), my mother and father did have "charge-a-plates" at local department stores (and you had to be "approved" to get those, but I don't know what that involved). These were not revolving credit accounts; they were merely a convenient substitute for cash, and you paid off that balance every month. This is more or less how I use credit cards. I do so much shopping online now that I couldn't get along without credit cards, but I still pay off the balance every month. Put another way, I use credit cards the way my parents used charge-a-plates, as a convenient substitute for cash, not as a revolving account.
This is the thing about credit cards: Once they were made widely available, the companies that issued the cards suckered in a lot of people to buy stuff they really couldn't afford because they didn't really have to pay for it. All they had to do was pay the interest each month, and that's how the card companies made money--off the interest cardholders paid. It's been a while now, but formerly from time to time I would hear news reports about how many thousands of dollars of credit card debt Americans were carrying. I can't imagine living that way--really, it's living "beyond your means" (is that even a thing anymore?).
I make two jokes about myself: Credit card companies don't make any money off me because I pay the balance every month, and I'm the only person I know who still has the concept of "the grocery money"--I get cash out of the bank to use when I go food shopping. (Yes, I once--once!--used a debit card to pay for groceries because I forgot to put "the grocery money" in my wallet, but then as soon as I got home, I took that money off my checking account register, just as if I'd written a check.)
brianr:
Not sure if it is age but about 2 weeks ago, I took out my credit card at the supermarket check out. Then I helped the lady pack my bags. That supermarket only has one person on each till, the other one which I use most often has what they call "dedicated packers". One person rings up the items, the other packs them into our bags. We no longer have disposable bags in stores. The government has made them illegal from July and most stores have already done away with them.
Anyway, when it came time to pay I could not find my credit card, searched my wallet and all my pockets. Finally I used my debit card then found the credit card in one of my bags where I must have dropped it. Relieved it was not lost but annoyed as, of course, the money went out of my bank account immediately.
My NZ credit card has a $5000 limit on it but I usually only have about $1500 each month, high this month as I paid my house insurance on it, just over $1000. My Australian card has an $8000 limit but I only use it when travelling overseas (or very occasional overseas purchase on the net), even so, it would rarely go over $3000 in one month - hotel bills etc.
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