Do cabs hate it when you pay witha credit card? (Chicago: taxis, live) - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

dontcallmeshirley · 03-09-2009, 10:12 PM

If they do....why? Do you, yourself use cash all the time. I am new to Chicago and find myself without cash a lot. I have a hard time communicating with a lot of the cab drivers, so I have been afraid to ask.

Venom · 03-09-2009, 10:14 PM

As long as they get money...

Avengerfire · 03-09-2009, 10:15 PM

They like to know ahead of time if you are going to use a credit card so they can call it in and make sure it is not maxed out or stolen.

skchi · 03-09-2009, 10:19 PM

I did have one cab driver who refused to take a credit card. I forgot to ask before I got in the cab at O'Hare (and, honestly, I had never before had a cab that wouldn't take credit cards). Luckily, I had enough cash on me. I rarely carry much cash.

I have had a few cab drivers get a little upset about taking a credit card. They weren't angry or anything, they just weren't very friendly when I told them I was paying with a credit card.

After the incident when the driver wouldn't take a credit card, I always ask or look for the Visa/MC stickers in the window of the cab.

skchi · 03-09-2009, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

They like to know ahead of time if you are going to use a credit card so they can call it in and make sure it is not maxed out or stolen.

Thanks for the tip! I had no idea that they would want to call it in ahead of time.

ajolotl · 03-09-2009, 10:22 PM

I take cabs constantly and refuse to back down. They are required to take credit cards. Usually, they act all weird about taking them and make excuses. I let them know ahead of time (even though it's not required) and say credit card or nothing when they start fumbling with the machine and trying to get out of it upon arrival.

My understanding is that they lose the charge fee from the fare. It is also a little slow and awkward for some reason, so they'd probably like to avoid it. I usually beef up the tip to make up for it if they behave normally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontcallmeshirley

If they do....why? Do you, yourself use cash all the time. I am new to Chicago and find myself without cash a lot. I have a hard time communicating with a lot of the cab drivers, so I have been afraid to ask.

alwaystraveling25 · 03-09-2009, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajolotl

I take cabs constantly and refuse to back down. They are required to take credit cards. Usually, they act all weird about taking them and make excuses. I let them know ahead of time (even though it's not required) and say credit card or nothing when they start fumbling with the machine and trying to get out of it upon arrival.

My understanding is that they lose the charge fee from the fare. It is also a little slow and awkward for some reason, so they'd probably like to avoid it. I usually beef up the tip to make up for it if they behave normally.

In my old job, I used to travel between Chicago and NYC a lot, and found myself cabbing it from Lakeview to O'Hare and from LaGuardia to Manhattan (work paid for it).

It was never an issue paying with Credit Card in NYC, and almost always an issue here. Because there's not the centralized Taxi System that NYC has, you run into rogue cabbies that don't want to take credit cards.

My biggest nightmare was when I was delayed at LaGuardia and arrived at O'Hare around 1AM on a Thursday (so Friday at 1AM) and had a conference call at 8AM. After getting back to Lakeview around 1:30AM, the cabbie said his credit card machine broke and offered to drive me to an ATM. I lived literally next to a Jewel, so I went there, and took out the money (with the ATM fee).

My cab ride was 41 dollars, and he received 43. I said "if you would have let me pay by credit card, I would have gave you a nice 20% tip, but because you wanted cash, and made me walk to an ATM at 2AM, I deducted my ATM fee and some extra". Boy, was I pissed...if I wasn't so exhausted, I would have called 311 on him...I know he could have called it in. It was 2AM, I had been in a suit since 7AM the day before, and I couldn't wait to get home!

My advice? Always bring extra cash for cabs...it makes it a lot easier all the way around.

Irishtom29 · 03-10-2009, 04:49 AM

I always pay cash with taxis, it's easier for me and for the driver. Christ, it would never occur to me to pay for a taxi with anything but cash.

What's the big deal with carrying a few bucks around? Some of you guys are like a bunch of broads, paying for everything with a goddam credit card.

You pay for a gallon of milk with a check too? Do you sit in the tavern with an Old Style, a shot of VO and your credit card on the bar?

Drover · 03-10-2009, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontcallmeshirley

If they do....why? Do you, yourself use cash all the time. I am new to Chicago and find myself without cash a lot. I have a hard time communicating with a lot of the cab drivers, so I have been afraid to ask.

They hate it for a couple reasons:

1) harder to hide the money from the IRS when there's a paper trail;
2) It takes up more of their time, especially when their card reader is broken (which is at least half the time) forcing them to do the transaction manually. And of course in their business, time is money.

I still use plastic because one, I don't carry cash, and two, it's the 21st century and we're getting more paperless all the time. In NYC the card reader is in the back seat and they always seem to work quickly and perfectly. If Chicago cabbies don't want to upgrade to machines that work and work quickly, well then I guess they're just going to have to break out their old-fashioned credit card thingies where you manually slide it across the carbon-copy receipt to get an imprint of the card number and all that.

Drover · 03-10-2009, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

They like to know ahead of time if you are going to use a credit card so they can call it in and make sure it is not maxed out or stolen.

BS. I have never had a cabbie call ahead to ask if it was maxed out or stolen. They like to know ahead of time so that they can drive off if you're not paying with cash. I stopped telling them I'm paying with credit years ago when I discovered that doing so made them drive off half the time.

Except for the small independent guys, cabs are required to take credit card. They just don't want to, so they'll pretend like their machine is broken. Well if it's broken, too bad, they're still required to take credit cards, even if they have to do it manually. They just don't want to take the time to do that. And it's amazing how many of those "broken" machines magically repair themselves when you tell them they're either going to take your credit card or they're going to get stiffed.