Pinless Debit: The Next Zipless F@@k?

Today was the usual whirlwind, but it was controlled and ended up being a damn productive day.  I learned a few new terms today when I had a meeting with some credit card processing people.  It’s clever…the attractive blond sales gal was very savvy, got us interested. But when it came down to hammer time, they brought in this slick, faster-talking dude who did know his stuff but made me keep wondering…’how come this sounds so good?’

He was referring to pinless debits, which apparently are the holy grail of today’s big credit card processing companies.  He pointed out in a chart just how much my frequent debit-card users are costing me. By God a latte paid by plastic squeezes 57 cents out of us.  It seems that the pad you type that pin into is the real culprit. Banks levy especially hard fees on those, so removing the obligation to type in a pin or even sign the check bring the costs way down. Who knew!?  After regaling us with our savings, I kept wondering about the catch. Well, that would be that we have to buy all new gift cards for a hefty chunk. Ok, Ok, I’ll spend to save, all right already!

But let’s move on to the good stuff. An application came through email and the name intrigued me. I had a gauzy distant memory of a woman with this same name.  I thought it was this woman, my age, who was interested in coming to work at the cafe. But it turns out to be her wonderful daughter, Jane. We hired her.  I like people who have that high energy and look as if they are eager to start working right away. She’s coming in tomorrow.