Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

Re:Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal p... by likpok on Monday July 31, 2017 @01:30PM (#14894114)

NB that handling cash isn't free either. You have to pay someone to count it, secure it, and steal it (you are arguably not intentionally paying people to steal cash, but shrinkage is certainly a cost of doing business in cash).

I've seen estimates that the cost of handling cash is actually higher than the interchange fees that Visa charges. This generally counts things like armored truck services, time spent counting cash (probably multiple times), time spent delivering cash, dealing with registers, etc.

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Re:Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal p... by revelation on Monday July 31, 2017 @06:41PM (#14896509)

Well, there is a third even better option, don't charge insane fees to finance ridiculous gimmick programs that for the vast majority of people never have >=1 RoI.

Interchange fees for CC are capped at 0.3% and 0.2% for debit in the EU. No 20 cards in every wallet, black pink yellow variations, no "yes VISA but not MasterCard" sillyness. Honestly even the cap of 0.3% is still far too high.

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Re:Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal p... by djrogers on Monday July 31, 2017 @07:05PM (#14896638)

> no "yes VISA but not MasterCard" sillyness.

Is there anywhere that is actually a thing? Very rarely I see a place that won’t take Amex, but no visa or mc?

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Re:Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal p... by snark42 on Monday July 31, 2017 @07:27PM (#14896745)

> I see a place that won’t take Amex, but no visa or mc?

Lots of places won't take AmEx or Discover (some of the highest fees in the business.)

CostCo currently only takes Visa (no MC.) Sam's used to only take Discover. It's rare, but it happens. In this case it's also only for "credit" purchases, "debit" is ok for any card, but the fees are way less for "debit" than "credit".

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Re:Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal p... by snuxoll on Tuesday August 01, 2017 @01:08AM (#14898021)

I've only run into one place in 2 years of having a Discover card that wouldn't take it, seeing Amex not accepted is rather common.

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Re:Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal p... by losteverything on Monday July 31, 2017 @02:16PM (#14894567)

Cash recyclers are now common in most large stores.

I know one stopped receiving ten dollar bills.

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