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America is BIG. America is HARD. America is MANLY!! AMERICA IS THROBBING! AMERICAAAAA! e: well this is a good page snipe
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Jul 12, 2016 03:56
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ryonguy posted:Sure, if you literally travel hundreds of miles every day to a wide variety of locations. People like saying this while ignoring the fact Europe is larger than the continental US. True, but payment systems differ within the European continental as well. Checks, for example, unheard of in the Netherlands, but strangely common in France. Edit. gently caress checks.
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Jul 12, 2016 04:19
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ryonguy posted:Sure, if you literally travel hundreds of miles every day to a wide variety of locations. People like saying this while ignoring the fact Europe is larger than the continental US. Yes, but it's more densely populated; goods do not travel as far in Europe as they do in the US, because there're a lot fewer low-population areas there. The overall population density of the US is much lower than Europe, and it's even moreso when you figure in that Canada is a major trading partner so there's a lot of goods moving to there as well; the US has 240,000 kilometers of rail network compared to 156,000 kilometers in the EU-15. The US is sparsely populated compared to Europe, and that sparseness lends itself much better to rail transport of goods than rail transport of people. The average distance a package travels by road in North America is 685 kilometers; in the EU-15 it's 110. The average distance a package travels by rail in North America is 1400 kilometers, in the EU-15 it's 245. In the northeast corridor, you do have a lot of passenger rail and you also have a lot more trucks on the road; still not as many as in Europe, but more. But goods have to travel much further in the US than they do in Europe, and it's no surprise that the US's rail network is optimized around that.
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Jul 12, 2016 04:19
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I thought America was 1.5x the side of yuroop with 60% of the pop, I have been wrong in the past
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Jul 12, 2016 07:29
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Krakox posted:I thought America was 1.5x the side of yuroop with 60% of the pop, I have been wrong in the past Anyone including Alaska in these kind of debates has their thumb on the scale.
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Jul 12, 2016 08:12
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Groda posted:Anyone including Alaska in these kind of debates has their thumb on the scale. Anyone including the flyover states in these kind of debates has their thumb on the scale.
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Jul 12, 2016 08:14
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None of this justifies still using checks. 
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Jul 12, 2016 08:36
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I write the amount of money, the date, the payee, and my signature on a standard little form, and I can get things for it. It's like having your own special currency. Have you ever paid for an actual physical good with a check? Not rent, or a bill, or some crap like that. It's great! It feels like getting away with something. You know how many times you have to write that much information on a little form and sign it in your life and you get nothing tangible in return?
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Jul 12, 2016 08:48
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cheerfullydrab posted:I write the amount of money, the date, the payee, and my signature on a standard little form, and I can get things for it. It's like having your own special currency. Have you ever paid for an actual physical good with a check? Not rent, or a bill, or some crap like that. It's great! It feels like getting away with something. You know how many times you have to write that much information on a little form and sign it in your life and you get nothing tangible in return? So you're that rear end in a top hat causing the line up at the checkout?
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Jul 12, 2016 08:54
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Humphreys posted:So you're that rear end in a top hat causing the line up at the checkout? If you start writing the check while you're being rung up, it doesn't take any longer to get out of there than a chip card. You're probably sour on this from old people writing checks which takes forever because it takes old people forever to do anything.
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Jul 12, 2016 09:06
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ryonguy posted:Sure, if you literally travel hundreds of miles every day to a wide variety of locations. People like saying this while ignoring the fact Europe is larger than the continental US. The USA is roughly 100% uninhabited.
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Jul 12, 2016 09:58
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cheerfullydrab posted:If you start writing the check while you're being rung up, it doesn't take any longer to get out of there than a chip card. You're probably sour on this from old people writing checks which takes forever because it takes old people forever to do anything. Looking at the big picture, it didn't take them long to ruin the entire world.
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Jul 12, 2016 09:59
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cheerfullydrab posted:If you start writing the check while you're being rung up, it doesn't take any longer to get out of there than a chip card. You're probably sour on this from old people writing checks which takes forever because it takes old people forever to do anything. It was half in jest. Although here is Aus, cheques are becoming so untrusted that many retailers will stamp the rear of the cheque with table that needs to have the cheque carriers photo ID and address filled out, then called the information through to a cheque clearing company that is essentially an insurance policy.
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Jul 12, 2016 11:57
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robodex posted:Chip + PIN and contactless has been the norm here (Canada) for years now. Even remote lovely towns with mom & pop grocery stores have Chip & Pin at the least. How does America not have Chip + PIN standard yet??
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Jul 12, 2016 12:08
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Chip and PIN was first introduced in the UK twenty loving years ago, Jesus Christ America.
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Jul 12, 2016 12:24
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Humphreys posted:So you're that rear end in a top hat causing the line up at the checkout? That's half the fun, watching youngsters roll their eyes and get all huffy.
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Jul 12, 2016 12:52
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cheerfullydrab posted:I write the amount of money, the date, the payee, and my signature on a standard little form, and I can get things for it. It's like having your own special currency. Have you ever paid for an actual physical good with a check? Not rent, or a bill, or some crap like that. It's great! It feels like getting away with something. You know how many times you have to write that much information on a little form and sign it in your life and you get nothing tangible in return? 100%. Here let me write my name on this piece of paper, give me dinner please.
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Jul 12, 2016 12:59
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People still write checks? You learn something new every day. I thought most places gave up accepting them (in the US at least). What's the point of carrying around your "personal currency" if no one will take it?
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Jul 12, 2016 13:25
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Last Chance posted:People still write checks? You learn something new every day. Sovereign Citizens, of course.
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Jul 12, 2016 13:44
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Veotax posted:Chip and PIN was first introduced in the UK twenty loving years ago, Jesus Christ America. I'd rather have the old mechanical carbon copy machines than the UK's "chip-and-PIN is so perfectly secure that the cardholder is assumed to be responsible for any fraud or unauthorized activity" approach to liability.
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Jul 12, 2016 16:03
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Last Chance posted:People still write checks? You learn something new every day. Go to your local K-Mart and wait in line behind someone slowly writing out a check to buy $10 worth of junk. Some US retailers will print everything on the check for you - all you have to do is sign. This is an awesome innovation... Too bad the paranoid people still using checks are too afraid of computers to ever use this.
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Jul 12, 2016 16:50
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Space Gopher posted:I'd rather have the old mechanical carbon copy machines than the UK's "chip-and-PIN is so perfectly secure that the cardholder is assumed to be responsible for any fraud or unauthorized activity" approach to liability. Which has not been the case for the last seven years. From wikipedia: quote:The Financial Services Authority (FSA) Payment Services Regulations 2009 came into force on 1 November 2009[45] and shifted the onus onto the banks to prove, rather than assume, that the cardholder is at fault.[27] The Financial Services Authority said "It is for the bank, building society or credit card company to show that the transaction was made by you, and there was no breakdown in procedures or technical difficulty" before refusing liability.
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Jul 12, 2016 16:57
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Last Chance posted:People still write checks? You learn something new every day. I pay my rent by check. The rental company attempted to go electronic once but nobody wanted to the pay the $10 "convenience fee". For $120 a year, I can buy a fuckload of checks. Also, I live 30 feet from the office and can drop off the check easily. I pay my water bill by check because the city hasn't heard of the 21st century. They DO allow me to pay by debit/credit card by writing the number on the bill and sending it back in. I don't think so. A local businessman takes electronic payments for them (not officially affiliated with the the city) for $4.95 AND 1% of the bill's total. I don't know how many suckers fell for this.
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Jul 12, 2016 17:57
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obsolete and failed: "convenience fees".. Why do I have to pay a fee to make it more convenient for us both? That's just the company saying "gently caress you, because we can"
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Jul 12, 2016 18:03
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If only there were organizations that allowed you to easily transfer money straight from your account into any other account for free. Like, banks* or something. *) In the first world.
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Jul 12, 2016 18:03
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Mister Kingdom posted:I pay my rent by check. The rental company attempted to go electronic once but nobody wanted to the pay the $10 "convenience fee". For $120 a year, I can buy a fuckload of checks. Also, I live 30 feet from the office and can drop off the check easily. Meanwhile in the civilized world, I pay my rent via a direct bank transfer that costs me literally nothing.
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Jul 12, 2016 18:05
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Collateral Damage posted:obsolete and failed: "convenience fees".. Why do I have to pay a fee to make it more convenient for us both? That's just the company saying "gently caress you, because we can" I don't get this. I say gently caress you right back, if you want to deal with my checks over an automated payment, you go right ahead. I resent the fact that I have to keep getting checks from my bank for that purpose, but gently caress those companies trying to charge for e-payments.
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Jul 12, 2016 18:09
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Collateral Damage posted:obsolete and failed: "convenience fees".. Why do I have to pay a fee to make it more convenient for us both? That's just the company saying "gently caress you, because we can" Back when I had a house, the gas company wanted to charge a $4.95 fee to pay online. Instant payment and they want to charge a fee.
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Jul 12, 2016 18:14
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TotalLossBrain posted:but gently caress those companies trying to charge for e-payments. 
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Jul 12, 2016 18:34
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Jabor posted:Meanwhile in the civilized world, I pay my rent via a direct bank transfer that costs me literally nothing. Yeah but in the civilized world people also can't drain your account with just the number.
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Jul 12, 2016 18:37
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Shillary posted:Yeah but in the civilized world people also can't drain your account with just the number. Yeah that's why it's the civilized world 
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Jul 12, 2016 19:00
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Jerry Cotton posted:Yeah that's why it's the civilized world civilised*
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Jul 12, 2016 19:16
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Last Chance posted:People still write checks? You learn something new every day. My workplace still hands out physical checks to be cashed and only just began a mass switch to electronic timesheets and direct deposit this month. Part of the reason is that many of the employees and contractors are old farts who get confused by anything harder than writing their hours out in pencil and cashing a check, and another part is that the company won't pay the big bucks to have an excellent and efficient payment system created for them and we've suffered numerous glitches and bugs. The crane industry is way crazier than I expected it to be.
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Jul 12, 2016 19:56
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chitoryu12 posted:My workplace still hands out physical checks to be cashed and only just began a mass switch to electronic timesheets and direct deposit this month. Part of the reason is that many of the employees and contractors are old farts who get confused by anything harder than writing their hours out in pencil and cashing a check, and another part is that the company won't pay the big bucks to have an excellent and efficient payment system created for them and we've suffered numerous glitches and bugs. My job has an entire team that works on the timesheet web application and it still sucks. At least it no longer refreshes the entire page every time you click on a different field, the way it did from ~2010-2014
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Jul 12, 2016 20:14
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blugu64 posted:100%. Here let me write my name on this piece of paper, give me dinner please. This is the actual joy of checks. Not paying your rent or any such thing.
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Jul 12, 2016 20:40
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Picasso paid for tons of little things with checks, because he knew nobody would ever cash something with his signature on it.
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Jul 12, 2016 20:48
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Tunicate posted:Picasso paid for tons of little things with checks, because he knew nobody would ever cash something with his signature on it. Knuth used to write and mail checks for anyone who found errors in his books or code. He has apparently moved to check-like certificates after some fraud problems, which is a bit of a shame. I doubt many of those have been cashed, either.
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Jul 12, 2016 20:59
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I used to be a trainer for a web-based virtual timecard firm it was pretty hilarious, training the C suite in the morning how to admin the system and then getting up in front of 400 city plumbers in the afternoon to explain to them how to use it
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Jul 12, 2016 21:56
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Collateral Damage posted:obsolete and failed: "convenience fees".. "Convenience fees" are usually the fees collected on the transaction by the payment card processor. Which sucks for the payer, but look at it from the payee's perspective: somebody has to eat the cost, and why should it be us when the customer could use a virtually universally available tried-and-true payment method that has no fees whatsoever? If the customer wants to take the expensive route for their own convenience, then they can eat the fees. And as far as paying anything to the government, often enough there's a law dictating that $100 shall be collected for each X, and that's does not mean $100 - the payment processor fee. Plus the fact that sometimes the payment system was mandated but not funded, and it has to be paid for somehow. And the United States banking system, ahahaha... the only way you're going to get banks to universally interact well with each other is to regulate the poo poo out of them, and in the US, banks have spent the past twenty-five years ripping apart every banking regulation they can get their lobbyists to grab. I still get paid with a paper check, because my employer can't direct deposit from the business' credit union account to my Wells Fargo account, mostly I think because Wells Fargo is going "gently caress credit unions".
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Jul 12, 2016 22:47
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| # ? May 27, 2024 21:55 |
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Yeah, those two things (convenience fees and lovely banks) are intertwined. In the civilised world no large bank charges for direct transfer/deposit. You only get slugged fees when using a 3rd party payment gateway, like paypal, credit card companies, specialist utility or rent gateways etc (because they exist to make money purely on transactions of course). Fix the banks and then you'll get easy payments moving between them without "convenience fees" like the rest of the 1st world.* e: *Lots of scum real estate agents in Australia are pushing people into 3rd party payments because the slack r/e agents don't want to do the paperwork/accounting. "Oh look we can outsource to this payment processor. Yeah they charge a fee for doing the work we should be doing but we're just going to pass that on to the renter LOL" Luckily my agent isn't scum like that and I can still just pay my rent for free using internet banking, bank account to bank account transfer even though they are different banks. Fo3 has a new favorite as of 23:06 on Jul 12, 2016 |
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Jul 12, 2016 22:58
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