Using a phone sounds inconvenient to me. I usually just pull my card out of my wallet, wave it over the terminal until I hear a beep and that’s it. Worst case scenario, I have to insert it into the chip reader or God-forbid swipe it through the slot like some kind of Neanderthal.
I’m kidding, but seriously, that’s easier than screwing around with a phone, to me.
I don’t understand how retrieving a phone from a pocket is somehow less convenient than retrieving a wallet from a pocket, and then retrieving the card from the wallet. That’s 1 step versus 2 steps.
The convenience comes from leaving your wallet at home. Also, a lost card is a major problem. A lost phone is fine, nobody can do anything with it unless they know your PIN and you can locate it through cell network/bluetooth tracking.
There’s not that much fuss with my phone - double tap the side button, look at it to pass a face recognition check, then wave it over the chip reader.
A lost phone is a much bigger issue to me. A lost card is trivial - call my bank, they cancel the old one, issue a new one, it’s here in 2 days.
A lost phone? Shit, gotta go to the cell store, get a new sim, but only after I’ve gone home and grabbed an old phone, and spent a few hours setting it up. Including things like restoring 2FA stuff, which is a pain, at best.
Oh, you don’t have spares lying around like I do? Then you’re paying full price at the cell store, anywhere from $300+ (or getting a shitty low end phone, if your cell provider sells one).
And then I’d bet most people don’t have proper backup/sync of their data, so would lose things like photos, downloads, etc.
Losing a phone is clearly far more of a hassle than losing a credit card or two.
I have to carry my “wallet” (little more than a money clip), for things like my ID, access cards, etc, anyway.
Using a phone to pay is far less convenient, and it’s too many eggs in one basket, which is already an issue with phones.
I’ve also never had a credit card randomly reboot and get stuck in a bootloop. And in 30+ years of carrying them, I’ve had exactly one magnetic stripe failure - many years ago - and the stripe is rarely used any more.
Same here. I guess I should have pointed out that I’m not really much of a phone guy to begin with. I don’t install many apps, and I stay logged out of Google. To me, losing a phone really just means losing my pictures and videos. The most expensive phone I’ve ever had was $200.
I double click my power button and Apple Pay is there. Way more convenient for me than to pull my wallet out of my purse, pull my card out, wave or insert it, put it back in the wallet, and put the wallet back in my purse.
It’s not for everyone, but I definitely find it more convenient.
I guess “It’s not for everyone” is the real takeaway here. I’m not a phone guy in general, but I’ve been using cards since BK was still selling 99¢ Whoppers. I’m guessing both of us are ready to pay before the cashier has our order rung up.
To each their own. (I’m finally admitting that I’m fighting a losing battle on writing checks though.)
Samsung here. I pull my phone out of my pocket and without turning on the screen, slide my thumb along the bottom of the screen. Actually faster than pulling cash out of my wallet.
Using a phone sounds inconvenient to me. I usually just pull my card out of my wallet, wave it over the terminal until I hear a beep and that’s it. Worst case scenario, I have to insert it into the chip reader or God-forbid swipe it through the slot like some kind of Neanderthal.
I’m kidding, but seriously, that’s easier than screwing around with a phone, to me.
I don’t understand how retrieving a phone from a pocket is somehow less convenient than retrieving a wallet from a pocket, and then retrieving the card from the wallet. That’s 1 step versus 2 steps.
The convenience comes from leaving your wallet at home. Also, a lost card is a major problem. A lost phone is fine, nobody can do anything with it unless they know your PIN and you can locate it through cell network/bluetooth tracking.
There’s not that much fuss with my phone - double tap the side button, look at it to pass a face recognition check, then wave it over the chip reader.
A lost phone is a much bigger issue to me. A lost card is trivial - call my bank, they cancel the old one, issue a new one, it’s here in 2 days.
A lost phone? Shit, gotta go to the cell store, get a new sim, but only after I’ve gone home and grabbed an old phone, and spent a few hours setting it up. Including things like restoring 2FA stuff, which is a pain, at best.
Oh, you don’t have spares lying around like I do? Then you’re paying full price at the cell store, anywhere from $300+ (or getting a shitty low end phone, if your cell provider sells one).
And then I’d bet most people don’t have proper backup/sync of their data, so would lose things like photos, downloads, etc.
Losing a phone is clearly far more of a hassle than losing a credit card or two.
I have to carry my “wallet” (little more than a money clip), for things like my ID, access cards, etc, anyway.
Using a phone to pay is far less convenient, and it’s too many eggs in one basket, which is already an issue with phones.
I’ve also never had a credit card randomly reboot and get stuck in a bootloop. And in 30+ years of carrying them, I’ve had exactly one magnetic stripe failure - many years ago - and the stripe is rarely used any more.
Also, I’ve never lost my phone or a wallet.
Same here. I guess I should have pointed out that I’m not really much of a phone guy to begin with. I don’t install many apps, and I stay logged out of Google. To me, losing a phone really just means losing my pictures and videos. The most expensive phone I’ve ever had was $200.
I double click my power button and Apple Pay is there. Way more convenient for me than to pull my wallet out of my purse, pull my card out, wave or insert it, put it back in the wallet, and put the wallet back in my purse.
It’s not for everyone, but I definitely find it more convenient.
I guess “It’s not for everyone” is the real takeaway here. I’m not a phone guy in general, but I’ve been using cards since BK was still selling 99¢ Whoppers. I’m guessing both of us are ready to pay before the cashier has our order rung up.
To each their own. (I’m finally admitting that I’m fighting a losing battle on writing checks though.)
Shudders
Phone out of pocket -> swipe is one less step than wallet out of pocket -> card out of wallet -> swipe.
Samsung here. I pull my phone out of my pocket and without turning on the screen, slide my thumb along the bottom of the screen. Actually faster than pulling cash out of my wallet.