I was reading another thread and had a question. In an average year, I make a fair number of trips out of town for adjusting work that can last anywhere from a week to three months. I typically have two personal credit cards with me as well as a third for an unrelated business that I do not use on these trips.
I have thought about having a backup plan if my wallet is stolen or I somehow lose use of the CCs. What apps are universally accepted for paying for gas, food and lodging?
Next time you are in line to buy something, watch someone who is under 30 pay. Physical Credit cards have gone the way of CDs. Checks are like vinyl, cool for their retro quality.
I pay for everything with my phone. It works almost anywhere now. If on Iphone you can load multiple cards into your Apple wallet and set a default. I also load concert/sports tickets, my health club ID etc. If Michigan would offer a digital driver’s license, I would be done carrying a wallet.
When we went to see David Byrne at The Met, I used my phone to get on SEPTA. I’d never done that before (we don’t ride SEPTA much; not recently, anyway)
We’re Canadian. My kid is going to Disneyland with school in March. What do we send him with to pay for stuff? Too long to take a lot of cash, his debit card will rack up ALL THE FEES and I don’t really want to give him my credit card.
Ooohh - I will look that up. I have never been so I don’t have all the details. The school went last year too, so I should really just follow up with them. We can’t be the only ones wondering about it.
The two standards/most common are Apple Pay (wallet) or Google Pay (wallet), depending on which platform your phone is.
The US is still catching up on the behavior/culture using phones to pay at point of sale, lots of folks do it, but it is much more common to still use actual card.
My experience in other countries is the opposite. In Europe and Asia, it seems the norm to use phones to pay. Rarely do people whip out their cards.
Another plus of loading your favorite card(s) into Apple Wallet is that if your physical cards are lost/stolen, the apple wallet thingy still works.
You should still call the CC company to cancel the card so whoever has it can’t use it. But the digital version will automatically update and still be usable. No downtime lost.
People in Europe are horrified at the idea and practice in the America of giving your credit card to a server or sales person and they would walk away with it to the central payment terminal. They are boggled at why there isn’t widespread RFID credit card ID/info theft from this.
To be fair this practice doesn’t happen much anymore, as almost all servers bring a handheld POS terminal to the table these days, but it still happens often enough to take your cc to swipe it and come back for you to sign it.
If they don’t have an app, if you kid has an Iphone you could put a Disney Gift card on their with x amount. Probably even a generic Visa Gift card, of course if your kid loses their phone you would have that problem. You could also go with a pre-paid visa or mastercard, and just load up however much you want them to have.
Replying to myself to add in another situation. It is common here in the US when at a bar to have them swipe or keep your card to keep the tab open. That is again, something not done in other countries. You either pay as you go, or the server/bartender just keeps track of your orders and you settle at the end. I guess they don’t have a lot of issues with people drinking and dashing, not sure.
I was just going to add this about Walmart not taking tap to pay. Only thing I can think of is with how many stores they have and how many transactions and terminals it might be an expense they don’t want to take on ???