PayPass

Remember PayPass? This was Mastercard's promotion for it's credit and debit cards. The idea was that you could just wave your card in front of a reader and pay for your items. No swiping, no showing idea, no signature, no punching in your zipcode. Well a number of other credit companies and banks followed suit. Well, it's a great idea. I try it every single time I can. Here is the problem. It works less than 50 percent of the time. Grocery stores, fast food places, convenience stores. I whip out my card and wave it in front of the scanner. I look cool, i am on the cutting edge of technology with my fancy credit/debit card. But the sale doesn't go through. Then I try it again. The little lights flash. but no dice. Then the person and the counter says, "oh that thing doesn't work. You can swipe it or you can give me your card."
Great! I thought the purpose of these new cards was that I would be able to get in and out quicker. Instead i am taking longer and looking like an idiot in front of the rest of the people in line. The people behind me have places to go and I am slowing them down because I think I can play George Jetson with my futuristic credit card!
The strange thing is the companies aren;t trying to fix the card readers that don't work. Oh no, they are working on the next step of making it easier to pay for your stuff. Within the next 3 years (if not sooner) most smartphones will come with NFC chips (Near Field Communication). The idea is that you won't even need a card anymore. Instead you will be able to wave your phone in front of another reader (that probably won't work) and pay for your stuff. Hopefully it will work this time, because if not I am going to have to juggle my wallet, cards and phones while i get the stink eye from all the people in the line forming behind me.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V6X0bCvCPE