I find credit cards to be immensely slower than cash, as they have to sign things and check IDs.
However, the people who scramble for 30 seconds to find the five cents that they don’t need to hand over can be frustrating. Especially when I’m the guilty one.
That applies to debit cards also, now? I thought it was just credit cards.
I hate the ad, but I use the damn thing. If anything’s inconvenient about cash, it’s going to the bank or the ATM to get it. It’s much faster than swiping and clicking boxes on the credit card machine, which used to be the damn cashier’s job.
I don’t see that ad as being particularly more manipulative than any other. It’s extolling the virtues of its product.
I do think it’s pretty well done and visually and artistically fun. So I give it a thumb up, at least as ads go.
The coverage is not exactly the same, but it is similar. According to the Federal Trade Commission, credit card protection is mandated by he Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA); debit card protection by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). The primary difference seems to be the time frame required to limit loss:
So, although the potential exists for one’s account to be wiped out, the risk is reduced to the point of being the same as credit cards by being vigilant in checking statements for unauthorized activity. Note that many banks have implemented their own policies regarding debit card liability that supersede the federal law.
Raymond Scott’s music has been popping up in a lot of new commercials lately; “The Melonball bounce,” originally made for a sprite commercial in the sixties, turned up in two Tic-Tacs ads recently.
As others have mentioned, in my experience paying for a cafeteria lunch in cash would be FASTER than using a debit card (why do I keep hearing the Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” in the back of my mind?), unless the clerk is completely innumerate. So the ad scenario just does not work for me to extol the efficiency of the debit card, but rather communicates mockery of users of cash currency as some sort of luddite. The ads about trying to pay with a check (e.g. the rabbits at the pet store, or the Kevin Bacon ones) were good ones because processing a debit card IS more efficient than processing a check.
If it were about full carts of groceries for whole families, maybe the ad would make sense. Or as in the case of UncleRojelio, if it’s a purchase for what in that particular place of business may be considered a large or unusual amount (is it me, or were people more prone to take your banknote on faith BEFORE Treasury started introducing all those security measures?). But come on, a trayful of lunch? I whip out a twenty, you punch in “20” under amount tendered, the register tells you how much change to give me, you count, done in less than 20 seconds. Maybe twice that if the total due is $10.23 and I need to see if I have the appropriate loose change on me. Really.
Maybe this ad is for that new debit card that doesn’t require entering a PIN - you just swipe it and go. There’s another ad where a runner keeps leaving a race to buy stuff. All he does is swipe the card.
[del]I am bias[/del] —> I am biased.
[del]Grant it, while you may not…[/del] —> Granted, while you may not…
Sorry, I’ll behave now.
-FrL-
I am a hypocrite.
I prefer to use cash because if I have a debit card to use, I will exhaust my bank account before I know it. But if I have physical cash on-hand, then I can clearly see how much or how little of this precious resource I am actually in posession of, and I am not going to spend more money than I should.
I have found there are “two kinds of people” in this regard. My dad, for example, will spend cash if he has cash, and so must never allow himself to carry cash around.
It’s like, for me, the actual physical cash is more real, while for him, the number at the bottom of the bank statement is more real. This is really strange, since in most matters, I am notoriously abstract and he notoriously concrete.
Anyway, I said I’m a hypocrite. This is because I prefer to use cash, but I do get annoyed when I have to wait longer because someone is using cash instead of swiping a card.
Not that I actually care or say or do anything about it. But the feeling does pass through me.
-FrL-
Somebody used my debit card number back in July to purchase $422 worth of stuff from the iTunes Music Store. Cleaned out my checking account. I reported it to my bank, filled out the requisite forms, canceled the card, and had all my money back the next day. Granted, it was a “provisional” credit to my account, pending the bank’s investigation, but it’s still good to know I was protected.
Count me as one more who hates this commercial. If there really was a place like this, my wife and I have decided we would frequent it and pay with cash all the time just to screw with the arrogant credit-card-use-required bastards.
I gave up my checking account debit card after I overdrew my account a second time. It was too hard to remember to which receipts were for debits and to enter them in the check register in a timely manner. There was a time I had to use (what I thought was) almost all my cash for a check payment. I had missed two debit receipts and overdrew the account for a couple of checks. Costly! My fault but I dropped the card to protect myself from dumb moves. Cash works great for me.
Yeah, this commercial is ridiculous. I almost always pay with cash, and I’m not going to stop doing it anytime soon. Cash is beautiful, IMO. 
I am like your dad in that regard.
As to the commercial, I don’t think that there is usually any real difference in the amount of time that it takes. There are likely specific instances where one is slightly faster than the other, but I think that the key factors in checkout speed are cashier skill and customer preperation. For instance, some people refuse to take out their checkbook before they hear there total. WTF? They should already have everything but the amount filled in already!!
You mean you people still use debit cards? How very 90’s. At Jewel (the midwest version of Albertsons) you can sign up to use your thumbprint as your payment method. Just thumb the pad, approve and go.
I want that!!
Credit card, check card, debit card, cash. I don’t really care which one you use when your in line in front of me.
But for god’s sake, leave your freaking checkbook at home!!
Of all the checkout lane time wasters checkbooks are the worst.
If someone in line in front of me pulls out their checkbook I will immediately grab up my stuff and head to another lane and be checked out before their done.
Write checks to pay bills through the mail. Don’t bring them to the store.
I too hate this commerical. That “How dare you not pay with plastic?” attititude totally blows.
More than that, I think that the use of plastic, both credit and debit, is one of the reasons that personal debt has become such a growing problem in this society. When the money doesn’t actually pass through your hands, when it just zips from one place to another by magic, somewhere in the ether, completely out of sight, I think that creates the disconnect that prevents people from realizing just how much money they’re spending. I personally find it a lot easier to meet–or at least keep close to–spending goals when I pay with cash. That said, I will pay with my card if it’s a choice between an $8.95 payment at the store and pulling another $20 out of the ATM; one means spending just the $8.95, the other means (eventually) spending the full $20. But overall, I think using cash is still the smartest thing to do, and in the grand scale it’s better for the financial health of the society.
Of course, more people in more debt is better for the financial health of the banks and card companies, thus we get commercials like this.
My husband and I were accosted by one of their minions trying to talk us into this while buying dog food - I told them if they wanted our fingerprints, they had better get a warrant just like anyone else. 
I found out something interesting about check cards yesterday. A couple came in buying a hard drive camcorder and stuff for Christmas. The sale was about $1000. They tried to use their bank card and it was denied. I was confused so I called my manager and he said often, banks have a limit on bank card purchases, usually around $300. The couple had to write a check instead. I’ve used my debit card for an online purchase of $600 before, but never more than that and only that one time. I guess its to prevent someone stealing your check card and going out and draining it all on one purchase or preventing a huge overdraft. Annoying though, for the people that have plenty of money in their account and don’t want to use an actual credit card and pay interest or anything.
I only prefer that people pay me at my job with cards because they never give me enough change to tender cash purchases - I either figure out they’re paying cash and take them to a register up front with plenty of change or have to run with a $20 and get change from the front.