t peasant life in Cambodia; talk about working hard to survive! I won't post a link, but I was made aware of how well off I am.

Having been in so many different places around the world taught me to accept what I got when I was born here. Regarding the so many good things my country has (opposed to the so so many bad), I learnt to feel not proud of it (makes no sense to me!) but happy! Conformist you say? Just realist.

 

You better be picking them up and putting them back where they came from or your cranium will soon be completely empty.

It's been empty for years.

One of the first thingsI tell people as they get to know me is I am dumb as a rock, an all around terrible person and lazy as heck to top it off that way when I do dumb stuff or never get around to doing something it's already covered. They've been warned.

Some still argue or point out those shortcomings like they have triumphantly discovered something negative about me.

I don't know why though. The warning disclaimer was purposely presented them up front pointing all that out in advance.

 

It's been empty for years.

One of the first thingsI tell people as they get to know me is I am dumb as a rock, an all around terrible person and lazy as heck to top it off that way when I do dumb stuff or never get around to doing something it's already covered. They've been warned.

Some still argue or point out those shortcomings like they have triumphantly discovered something negative about me.

I don't know why though. The warning disclaimer was purposely presented them up front pointing all that out in advance.

People love to look for negatives. It is a national past time. A whole industry of 24-hour news networks is based on it.

 

#12 When I was kid I collected flat wires shed by street sweeper brushes which can be handy when you lose keys (with a little practice)

HP told me you were a little miscreant as a child! Now my notion of the erstwhile you is taking form! Aleph Rhoda Penmark

 

Well there are no penny dishes here but we got piggy banks for certain issues. But as a former "cash register operator" I've sometimes rounded things and just throw my own pennies in...Was easier on me and them. Note I said pennies not dollars.

They weren't paying me enough to do that

Edit: It's called Króna here and 130 something of them is equal to a dollar. So before anyone thinks that we use pennies or cents...

 

As a pretty strong general rule I neither give nor receive from the penny tray. Back when I was using cash for everything I never used coins for anything, only dollar bills, even if I had coins in my pocket. Then every time I got home I would throw any coins in a jar. I started doing that right after I graduated high school and by Spring Break I had over $300 in change, which was enough to pay for my trip to Phoenix to spend with relatives for the week. In later years I found that this generally yielded about $1500 a year in spare change. An extremely painless way to save a significant amount of money over time. The last time I cashed in my coins (about six years ago, and I haven't been saving them since) I had over $5000 in coins, including over $200 in pennies. So if I had thrown all of my pennies into those trays I would have had $200 less when I cashed in my coins -- that makes pennies worth it, in my book.

As for the penny tray itself, my attitude is that it is not my money. I have the responsibility to pay for what I purchase and I don't have the right to take anything from that tray, whether it makes it more convenient for ME or not. If the cashier chooses to pull from the tray to make things convenient for THEM, that is THEIR call and I have no qualms with it.

I've been using credit cards for everything (as much as possible) for many years in order to get the rewards (which total out to something in the $500 range per year), but I am starting to move back to cash for most things (even though paying off the credit cards each month has been a self-imposed non-negotiable requirement for me for over two decades now) and am strongly leaning toward just foregoing the rewards in favor of keeping things much more simple and, more importantly, demonstrating debt-free living to my daughter in a clear and unambiguous way.

As for those pennies -- if I see one on the ground I almost always pick it up. It's money, it adds up, and it takes a bit of effort and calorie burn to do it, to boot.

 

I've been using credit cards for everything (as much as possible) for many years in order to get the rewards (which total out to something in the $500 range per year), but I am starting to move back to cash for most things (even though paying off the credit cards each month has been a self-imposed non-negotiable requirement for me for over two decades now).

Aren't debit cards that popular in the US?
This way no bill and no need to carry cash. (pay as you go) handy for the small everyday transactions.
Max.

 

Aren't debit cards that popular in the US?
This way no bill and no need to carry cash. (pay as you go) handy for the small everyday transactions.
Max.

Less and less popular as people get stuck with the bill on credit card fraud. The cards look the same but the credit card version seems to have much better protection for the card owner vs. a debit card. Card issuers strongly encourage stores to foot the transaction fees for a credit card but it seems to be on the buyer for debit card.

We are just in the final phases of adopting cards with chips in them. We'll see how that goes. Not all cards require a PIN number so I am not sure who is getting protected with the chip cards here.

 

HP told me you were a little miscreant as a child! Now my notion of the erstwhile you is taking form! Aleph Rhoda Penmark

JC I wasn't as bad as all that! FYI You'd better look out cuz Rhoda wasn't killed by lightning in the book only in the movie!

 

I can make a lock pick tensioner by grinding down an Allen wrench.

#12 if Allen wrench is same as hex key then I say it can work if you can make it thin enough without getting too brittle!

I bet a dental pick makes a nice stroker.

#12 I don't know about dental instruments but surgical picks are way too big like paperclip wire.

 

Less and less popular as people get stuck with the bill on credit card fraud. The cards look the same but the credit card version seems to have much better protection for the card owner vs. a debit card. Card issuers strongly encourage stores to foot the transaction fees for a credit card but it seems to be on the buyer for debit card.

We are just in the final phases of adopting cards with chips in them. We'll see how that goes. Not all cards require a PIN number so I am not sure who is getting protected with the chip cards here.

I say cash free economy would suck the big one cuz it's the end of privacy except for under table barter!

 

. Card issuers strongly encourage stores to foot the transaction fees for a credit card but it seems to be on the buyer for debit card.

We are just in the final phases of adopting cards with chips in them. We'll see how that goes. Not all cards require a PIN number so I am not sure who is getting protected with the chip cards here.

Here the vendor carries the charges for the transaction for both debit and Visa, with a debit card the cash comes out of your account immediately.
We have had in card chips (tap and go) for some time, but only good for transactions under $100.00, anything over and a PIN is needed.
Max.

 

I make it a point to carry a few pennies with me so I don't get any more of them! Though sometimes it is unavoidable hence my ever growing collection of pennies.

I keep it as a point of honor to be a net donator to the penny cup, very rairly ever using it, with a 4 cent absolute maximum usage per occurance.

 

I make it a point to carry a few pennies with me so I don't get any more of them! .

I have some English Pence (pennies) from around the time of the American Revolution, so I imagine these were also in circulation in America colonies at that time.
They weigh in at 18g each and are 34mm in dia. Imagine a dozen of those in your pocket!
Max.

 

Aren't debit cards that popular in the US?
This way no bill and no need to carry cash. (pay as you go) handy for the small everyday transactions.
Max.

I don't do debit cards. If there is an error or if someone hacks my card and PIN then they can clear out my entire account and my recourse is limited since the money has already been taken out of my account. Even if I eventually get the money back, it is not available while that is going on. Even if the particular bank has a policy of making disputed funds available until a resolution is reached, there is still a significant delay before the funds are actually made available. If someone makes a fraudulent charge on my credit card, then I can dispute the charge before paying the bill and I don't have to pay it until the dispute is resolved. Bottom line, using a debit card places my ability to pay my mortgage at risk, using a credit card does not.

Yes, there are games I could play to minimize the risk, such as using one account solely for debit card purchases and only transferring funds into it in anticipation of charges to be made. That actually has a lot going for it for a number of reasons, namely that now the only money at risk is the limited funds placed in the account at any given time (as opposed to the entire credit line limit on a credit card) and that process can also be used as part of a rigid household budgeting process. We have even thought about setting up separate debit card accounts for major purchase categories such as food, vehicle expenses, etc., so that each month we transfer in the budgeted amount for that category and now we have a hard, enforced cap on the spending. But it does mean carrying around multiple cards. As long as we keep it to no more than about five categories, that shouldn't be too bad.

From an educational standpoint, though, I don't know how well my daughter, at her age, can really distinguish the difference between using a credit card and using a debit card. Plus there is the inherent psychological difference, for most people, between using a credit/debit card and using cash. Countless studies have shown that people, on average, will spend considerably more if using a credit card than if using a debit card than if using cash. My goal is to help my daughter develop a cash-only attitude toward spending (and, even at eight years old, I'm seeing some very positive signs after just a couple of months of working with her) so that, later, if she chooses to use debit or credit cards it will be as a deliberately planned approach using them as cash-only equivalents.

 

Here the vendor carries the charges for the transaction for both debit and Visa, with a debit card the cash comes out of your account immediately.
We have had in card chips (tap and go) for some time, but only good for transactions under $100.00, anything over and a PIN is needed.
Max.

Imagine how quickly someone could go through your funds with a sequence of under-$100 transactions that don't require a PIN. Quite a price to be at risk of paying for a minor convenience (IMO).

The cards with chips here are not tap and go (RFID). They are smart card chips that have to be physically inserted into a machine (although tap-and-go cards are just starting to be accepted at a small number of places).

The chip-and-sign cards provide quite a bit more protection for the consumer (once the requirement for merchants to ONLY process chip-authenticated payments comes into force) since it will be harder to steal the information needed to make additional fraudulent purchases. But that requirement is not as easy to implement as it might seem because of things such as online purchases. Chip-and-PIN is much better from a security standpoint, but it also imposes more inconvenience for the user for some transactions (such as restaurants). But there are solutions to all of these and it is a matter of getting them mainstreamed.

 

Just an excerpt from the Canadian Banking site.
Using debit cards has become a way of life for many Canadians. In fact, Canadians are among the biggest per capita users of debit cards in the world. Whether you’re withdrawing cash from an ABM, using your card to pay for this week’s groceries, or punching in your Personal Identification Number (PIN) for a night at the movies, your debit card is a simple way to access your money. Using your debit card is a convenient way to get money from 65,000 banking and cash machines and for making purchases at more than 500,000 retailers across Canada.

It is also very safe, with more than 99 per cent of debit transactions occurring without incident each year in Canada. And while your bank is working to protect you from fraud, there are simple steps that you can take to protect yourself.

http://www.cba.ca/en/consumer-information/42-safeguarding-your-money/59-debit-card-fraud

Max.

 

It is also very safe, with more than 99 per cent of debit transactions occurring without incident each year in Canada.

Now THAT's not at all reassuring. I probably make well over 1000 transactions a year (albeit with a credit card) and if 99% of them occur without incident, then that means that 10 have problems each year. I would not consider having one the order of one transaction a month go awry something that is "very safe". In this case, I suspect that it is probably closer to 99.99+% of then occur without incident.

 

What can I say, I have used a debit card for some many decades now and never had any problems.
Just lucky I guess!
Max.

 

Unfortunately, with the credit and debit cards there is a weak link in the overall system that very few know about which is the majority of the machines all run though only a handful of dedicated communications lines which means if one of those lines get wiped out literally thousands of those machines go offline and are completely unusable for transactions until its fixed.

My Wife at the time worked for the phone company so I got the full inside story on the what and how of it all.

I learned this first hand about a year ago when our local phone company accidentally drilled through one of their main lines with their horizontal boring machine while doing fiber-optic line installs.
They hit one line and every one of the several thousand card machines and ATM's in our region all went offline at once taking every businesses ability to run cards on site in real time out entirely.

During that outage everything that couldn't be paid for with cash had to be done by writing down the customer's card number and related info then manually entering it once the system was fixed or the customer simply could not buy what they wanted.