On my first trip to the United States I went into a department store to purchase an item. The young miss ringing up the cash register asked me “ and how will you be paying sir?” to which I replied “cash!” and produced a $100 note, arm outstretched to pay. Her eyes widened in amazement and I noticed that there was no reciprocating alacrity to take the note. She finally spluttered “don’t you have anything smaller?”
It took me a few visits to other stores with similar encounters to realize that I was the prime candidate in the movie LOST IN TRANSLATION. Seemingly in the USA where there is a proliferation of cards when the question is asked “how will you be paying for this?” it really means “WHICH CARD WILL YOU BE USING TODAY? Debit or Credit? Cash is so far removed from their minds that most places refuse to take over $50 and post signs to that effect.
There have been many grim stories of persons who have not efficiently managed their credit cards (although keeping more than 2 is flirting with financial difficulties). Especially in the USA where store discount cards and easy credit abound. Some individuals however do prefer debit cards as they are forced to exercise financial discipline. One can only spend to the limit of the amount available in the account. But the undeniable beauty of these cards is convenience.
Your card greatly reduces the security risk when carrying out daily transactions. One wonders how the world existed without credit cards. Herein Jamaica the issue of credit exploded with the proliferation of banks in the 1990’s and merchants became more at ease with facilitating purchases as they also saw the inherent convenience.
Last week the Jamaica Gasoline Retailers Association made an announcement that they would be considering to no longer accept credit card transactions as a valid form of payment, due to thin margins on fuel sales and cost of transaction fees on the credit cards charged be banks. The response of one financial house didn’t auger well for hope of negotiating an amicable settlement.
Hopefully this will spur other institutions to develop a convenience credit card, which will be to the benefit of both the consumer as well as the station owners. Otherwise in the foreseeable future gas stations would become similar to any gated community due to security risks.
Imagine these situations: An ideally located station filling up in on hour, 10 of Jamaica’s popular diesel SUV’s? The next vehicle coming in a hurry could possibly be a heavily tinted white Toyota Corolla with three men aboard.
The other, a small event management company with 5 mid sized trucks, the company doesn’t have a corporate account with any gas station. Given the lack of enthusiasm in personal/company cheque acceptance, the alternative is for the drivers of these trucks to begin walking around with wads of cash to pay for fuel. Naturally the owner of the business will now have to keep a few hundred thousand dollars on hand at his office for this weekly bill.
In any perceived financial “crisis” there are always opportunities created for others to take an advantage. Perhaps institution operating “fleet management” cards could begin to examine ways of opening up their client base to include individuals, or other financial houses could view this as prime time to develop their own brand of credit card.
Thankfully we live in a tropical climate so there should be no increased demand for ski masks.
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This post guest-blogged by David Weir…
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