I would just like to add, if my card says expiration date 3/06 that means 3/31/06 not 3/01/06. :smack:
Thank you
I moved to California from Virginia 8 months ago, and one thing I noticed that is different in CA is that I am always asked for my ID when I used my CC, whereas in VA, I was never asked for it. Yes, I had forgotten to sign my card, but I thought it was odd how 100% of the time in CA I am asked, and 0% of the time in VA I am asked. So I thought that maybe it was a CA law or something…
Hah.
It’s not a matter of difficulty. It’s a matter of time. 4 out of your 6 steps require calling if there’s a question. When a customer such as myself has “Ask for ID” on the back are you going to call? I’d be nice about it but you can bet some won’t.
How close does the signiture have to be and at what amount do we get more cautious? It seems to me checking ID is easily as quick if not quicker.
The major problem for merchants is knowing that employees are actually following the steps. I think that’s why the owners of my store decided “check ID on every CC purchase” was a good plan. If certain info is on the reciept then you know the employee is doing their job.
I do appreciate your input and the links. Just to gauge the time involved I’ll try it your way and compare the two.
I am wondering how much time you have to follow these procedures at your job. These steps are very unrealistic if I have a long line of costumers waiting. It will loose my store more money then going through all those security steps will save. Of course, I suspect the credit card companies know this but tell us to follow these time consuming steps betting that we won’t. It must be more profitable to ask merchants to do the security part in a way that CC companies themselves do not pay the cost of theft.
I know it is not too difficult for Visa or MasterCard to produce better security for their cards. So until they do, I think it is right for small businesses to protect their business from fraud or theft in a way that does not actually make them lose more money then they save with standard security checks.
Gee. Nobody’s linked to the credit card prank page yet?
That’s official policy for the U.S. Post Office. They refused to take my “See Photo ID” on the back, and I flipped over the card to show my photo and signature laminated right into the front of it (thank you, Citibank).
Few places check, and it ticks me off. As an experiment, I had my daughter use my card (my name is masculine and my picture, complete with beard, is on the card). She wasn’t questioned.
They wrote “See ID” on their card and then complained when you did what they were asking you to do? Amazing.
I was discussing zip code entry with the appropriate department of a well-known retailer recently and they told me that they would have to pay more to do zip code checking. It is an extra service that the authorizer charges a fee for. However, the idea is that the reduced number of charge-backs more than compensates for the fee.
Retail grocery – 2,500 - 3,500 transactions a day, of which approximately one third are credit cards. So, yes, I know what it’s like to process a large number of cards with long lines of customers. Honestly, it doesn’t take more than a couple seconds per card to check the date, hologram, and printing, and a couple more seconds to compare the signatures.
I think it is right for all businesses to honor the contracts they have signed.
I should clarify that the 800 - 1200 CC transactions a day is storewide, not per cashier.
How can anyone possibly claim that credit cards are slow? Have you ever shopped behind a crusty, old senior citizen? Those people still write checks for Christssake. And cash? Count out your pennies, idiot. Dig through your purse for those $0.27 cents to round it off jackass. The only possible problem with credit cards is when the magstripe doesn’t work.
Tip: while you’re waiting for your order to be rung up, you can swipe your card in the machine. You don’t have to wait for a total.
I am confused by this POV expressed succintly here but also in other posts. If the merchant follows the association’s procedures, they will not be held liable for losses due to fraud. What are the merchants worried about? If you have a signature and a card-present transaction you’re pretty much home free. I’ll bet chargebacks from disgruntled customers using a legit card are a bigger problem for the merchants than card fraud. (I used to manage payments systems for a large ecommerce company; that’s a horse of a different color since the transactions are card-not-present. We had lots of fraud. However, we provided an online service so we could just yank the service.)
If you follow all the steps that Bambi Hassenpfeffer lists, then you’re going to get paid. Those steps look like a long list but for someone who has a couple of days’ experience in doing it, it doesn’t take long. Certainly no longer than waiting for the customer to fish out another piece of ID, and the clerk to check that.
Failing a zip code check does not cause the association to deny authorization, IIRC. It is just information fed back to the merchant as part of the auth code, and they can refuse the transaction at their discretion. (The merchant can also submit the street address to be checked; all numeric elements are extracted for comparison.)
However, that does not explain why the merchant should pay extra for it.
Comparing courteous, organized people: check writers vs. credit card users (there are slow, annoying people in both categories):
The check writer has the checkbook out and pen in hand when I start ringing up their transaction. As I’m scanning the books, they’re filling in the store name and date and signing the check. I give them the total, and by the time the receipt has finished printing and I’ve put their books in a bag, they’re handing me a check. If it’s a $25 transaction, my store gets $25.
The credit card user has the card ready for me when the I’m finished scanning everything. I swipe the card, and then bag the books while waiting for authorization. Typically, we’re standing there for a moment waiting for the credit card slip to print. Then the customer signs the slip, I check the signature, and I hand back the card and their copy of the slip. The transaction takes a bit longer than the check. If it’s a $25 transaction, my store gets $24 (roughly)–so your credit card cost me a buck.
I’ll take the checks any day–my store saves money and the transactions are faster.
Who peed in your Wheaties? How, exactly, is that little rant a GQ response? Cash is legal tender for all debts, public and private. It’s easy, it’s anonymous, and there are no transaction fees.
And talk about delays! I frequently have to swipe cards through the machine more than once before it reads them. Sometimes I have to put the card in a plastic bag and swipe it (increases the distance between the stripe and the read head, smoothing out spikes in the signal). Sometimes I have to punch in the credit card number by hand. These problems don’t happen with cash or checks.
I’m not trying to say credit cards don’t have their advantages, Balthisar. Of course they do. But you need to recognize that different people have different priorities in life, and credit cards aren’t a panacea. If you have a problem with some discourteous people who take forever at the line because they don’t have their checkbook or wallet ready, blame the discourteous people, not the whole concept of checks and cash.
What does your bank charge per item on a business deposit? If you’re paying $1 per a $25 purchase then a check might be cheaper but I’ll bet they’re not free. I haven’t made a business deposit for a very long time but I remember being surprised when I found out the bank was going to charge me for deposits. Don’t know what’s typical today.
You’re right, but you missed my point – and missed the humor I tried to impart to illustrate my point. Take that into mind and read my post again! 
I will still argue – magstripe issues aside – that credit cards are immeasurably faster on average than checks in most locations (I don’t care if you lose money; that’s not my problem as the customer, unless you raise prices, but competition will limit that within my acceptance).
If your credit card authorization takes time, that’s because the store is cheap and doesn’t have a permanent connection. As a credit card user, it pisses me off, too, every time I hear that dialup modem, because it means it’s going to take a lot longer for the transaction. A commercial cable internet account is cheaper than the lost sales if you can process one-customer-per-hour faster.
Checks, cash, or credit card, you still have to give a receipt.
Don’t you run checks through a check checking service? That takes just as long as a credit card authorization.
On a credit card, all you have to do is verify the signatures match. On a check you have to verify identification, make sure the drivers license number is written on the check, that the address is correct, and so on.
I can swipe my credit card way faster than most people can write out, “one hundred twenty eight and 54/100 dollars” in longhand. Are you sincerely suggesting that checks are faster, or are you’re just sore over credit card commissions? There’s no problem being sore over credit card commissions, but it’s unfair to claim that they take longer just because you are.
And back to the cash thing… if your bill is $5.05 and you have the nickel in your hand, then fine. But don’t go digging through your 10 gallon purse looking for five pennies that may be on the bottom. Jeesh!
great link very funny thanks.
It is ridiculous. I suppose they felt it wasn’t necessary for a very small purchase. I write check ID on my cards and have been asked several times “Do you really want me to check?” by a cashier. Well ,Duh, yeah! I’d like to have a fake ID with my ass where the photo would normally go for those occasions. 
"So what’d’ya think? Is it me?
A charge will go through no problem with any ole signature or even none unless it is denied by the card holder. as in “I never bought that” Then the merchant has to produce a signed receipt and if they can’t they give the money back.
Some customers can play this game and purposely send in someone to use their card so they can deny it later. That will only work so many times unless you keep switching cards. We had an upper middle class customer who would try to divert the sales clerks attention with questions and such so he could leave with merchandise and without signing. If he was successful he would deny the charge and not have to pay. What a dick. Eventually the store figured out what he was doing although I’m not sure what they did about it. Huge corporations are so afraid of lawsuits they are reluctant to do anything. Seems to me you should be able to look someone in the eyes and say don’t ever shop here again if you have any valid reason.
Just curious, Does that include Debit with pin #. That’s pretty much all I use at the grocery store.
Debit and pin requires no signature. Is that number actual credit cards with signature?
I agree that merchants can follow the merchant agreement if they have good responsible employees like you. That isn’t always the case and merchants have to respond as they see fit. Hopefully security will get better. Either way I think customers can cooperate with stores to help prevent fraud, but I certainly understand the concerns about junk mail and other crap.
MAny thanks for your informative input in this thread.
Any suggestions on how merchants make sure their emplyees are following the steps? As we can see form input and links, that doesn’t happen much. In my store the get ID mandate was in response to employees hurrying too much and letting bad charges slip through.
I agree, no longer. Unless soemthing doesn’t match and you have to call. My point was that if customers simply cooperated and presented ID it isn’t the hassle some posters made it out to be. As I’ve said. Many do it already and thank me for asking.
OK, this gets my goat. I make sure that merchants know and abide by the agreement they’ve signed and refuse to produce an ID. The “CID” of “See ID” folks slow down transactions and without a signed card, should not be able to have their purchase processed. I completely disagree with the mailbag’s incorrect assessment as it doesn’t allow for signatures to be matched either. The end result is that most (if not all) credit card purchases have fraud protection for the consumer.
When you throw in the “most locations” (and change it to “most urban locations”), then I might agree that they’re a bit faster. Immeasurably? Only when the person with the checks is slow or discourteous.
You’re pretty much clueless. I have a fulltime Internet connection. Running my credit cards through it costs me a significant investment, including replacing my terminal, buying extra software, and paying an extra monthly fee. I average <10 credit card transactions a day during off-season, and 20 a day during peak season. You think I’m going to spend over $1000 to shave off a few seconds? Not a chance.
So?
No need. I’ve had a half-dozen bad checks in 4-1/2 years running this store, and I’ve recovered every one of them.
Only for out-of-state checks. I don’t do all that stuff for local checks.
Sure, you can swipe the card faster, but the check-writer is writing out that amount while the receipt prints. After I swipe your card, I still have to confirm the last four digits, print the receipt, and wait for you to sign it. By then, the guy with the check is done and out of there.
Yes. I’ve been running that register for 4-1/2 years, and courteous, organized people with checks are faster to process than equivalent credit-card users.
I’ll agree, but only if there’s somebody behind you in line. Otherwise, who cares? I’d just as soon get the exact change. I’m there all day anyway.