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For decades now TPTB have been pushing us to used debit and credit cards. And I've finally started doing that almost all the time. Some days I carry NO cash.
So I go to the post office today -- not some small mom and pop store with an old 1950s push the keys cash register.....the post office. And the sign on the door says, "no debt OR credit cards -- CASH ONLY."
Now, I have to say that just royally ticked me off. How the heck does that location have NO register that can take debit or CC. Now it might have been only for today. The sign didn't say. So all the people who had no money on them were out of luck?!
But that is the kind of example I'm talking about when I ask about annoyances and inconveniences that just get on your nerves.
This is really a first world problem, but I do agree, I find it beyond annoying when you go somewhere and they do cash only. Most places, even mom and pops now take debit/credit cards. Once in a blue moon I'll come across a place that doesn't and I'm like just get in the damn 21 century already. charge a small service fee to compensate for the charges that the credit card companies put on them and just be done with it. I've been coming across more places that are passing off that cost of credit usage on to the customer. One place is a mom and pop pizza joint and when you use a credit card they charge you and extra 50 or 75 cents. I forget which but for me the convenience is well worth it.
I hardly ever carry cash on me anymore, I might have a 20 or less at most unless I know for sure I need cash. My dad used to walk around with a big fat greasy wad of money on him that would choke a donkey.
Credit card processors take a percentage of the charge off the top, often 3 percent. Do you think the government is going to give private enterprise part of their receipts? ... I can't answer for why they wouldn't accept debit cards, although debit card processors often charge a fee too, usually upon the user though, not on the merchant.
I've actually never been to a post office that DIDN'T take debit or credit cards.
I thought the cracking of some post office employees was due to tedium, monotony, and ennui.
That, and being inundated and surrounded by a huge bureaucracy of epic proportions, which reduces every possible scenario to a capricious game of Hot Potato.
Even I could accept a credit card payment (although I don't have a business). There's a company called Square where you can get a free credit card swipe reader that plugs into your smartphone earphone jack and works with an app on your phone. You set up an account with them and connect it to your bank account and you are ready to accept credit charges. I used mine only once, on my own card just to see if it worked, and it did. I've never used it since but I believe they charge 2.75% processing fees, which is IMO quite good. But of course most people including me don't need to accept credit card payments.
I don't know where selhars lives but it's my understanding that USPS accepts cash or debit cards, but not credit cards (because of the processing fee). If you charge $100 at a merchant they might get $97 due to processing fees. USPS won't sell on the cheap.
More and more lately I use cash for small charges and put it on my credit card only if it gets above $25-$30 because it's too much a hassle to check the validity of your credit card statements with a bunch of nickel and dime charges. I bet at least 80% of my charges are automatic payments for cellphone, cable TV, etc. I use a debit card for gas.
I thought the cracking of some post office employees was due to tedium, monotony, and ennui.
That, and being inundated and surrounded by a huge bureaucracy of epic proportions, which reduces every possible scenario to a capricious game of Hot Potato.
Think about this for a minute. Can you think of one single interesting job at USPS? That, and what are the chances of promotion? Could you imagine standing at a counter all day just taking in postage, selling stamps, and fetching undelivered mail? You'd have to pay me a million dollars a year to do that job and I'd quit and retire after 2-3 years!
About the only partly nice job I can think of is letter carrier where at least you spend a lot of time outdoors and get lots of exercise. No need to go to the gym. However, due to the increasing predominance of CBUs (cluster box units) that job is turning into drive from CBU to CBU all day, and they've taken the only health benefit out of the job.
Ever since the phrase "going postal" came into vogue I've never been surprised when a worker goes postal.
Yes, but you're assuming that this actually works and that the local PO will actually follow your very clear and simple instructions. That's a huge stretch of faith - misplaced faith, I might add.
True story - one of just many I could relay to you about the joys of our local post office:
I was going out of town for a week. I had ordered a Kindle - which was backordered on Amazon. So eventually I just had to go out of town but no worries, right? Because the PO would hold my mail, right?
Err, no.
A week later, I'm driving into my neighborhood - in the pouring, driving rain - wind, rain, hail, you name it, we're having it. As I turn onto my street, I see a package balanced precariously on the top of my mailbox. This surprises me for several reason, the first and foremost reason being that my mail should have been held till the following day. Anyway, so I pull into my garage and then brave the elements to run to the mailbox to retrieve the mystery package. Honestly, I don't even know how it managed not to get blown off, or stolen or whatever. Of course the package was soaked. And of course, there was no other mail in the mailbox - just this random, soaked package (shipped via USPS - I checked) balanced precariously on the curved top of my mailbox.
I get inside, and open it - and it's my Kindle. Soaked of course. Apparently it had been sitting there for two days. Nothing quite like that to advertise "hey, nobody's home here! COME ON IN!"
Hmmm...
I won't bore you with other tales but let's just say there's a lot more where that came from. My husband and I travel frequently and often fill out Mail Holds online. I'd say we're batting about 65 percent success.
One time - this is no lie - the PO gave my held mail to a total stranger, who then took it with her on vacation to South Padre Island in Texas. She didn't open it till she got there. In MY mail (not hers) she found bank statements, a debit card for my military son's bank account, a letter from the IRS to my son (which included his SS number) explaining something about military pay, an eBay package for me, an order of checks, and about six bills. Somehow or another, this person tracked down my phone number and called me, and mailed this package of mail - intact - to me. A stranger. I'd say I lucked out, but no thanks to our local post office, who just apparently grabbed a packet of held mail and gave it to whoever walked in and said "You've been holding my mail."
Yeah - that's my pet peeve.
Oh, and recently - I renewed my passport. First of all, I filled out everything online. There was no mention of appointments or shortened hours or whatever at the local passport office (which ironically is in the post office). So I got to the post office, with my documentation in order and my stuff already filled out, about 45 minutes before the PASSPORT office closed - which was an hour before the post office closed. So in other words, about 2:45. Apparently the passport office closes at 3:30 - which was nowhere on any information online, which just said their hours were from 8 till 4. But like I said, no worries, because I walked in at 2:45, right?
Well, the first thing the guy said to me was "Do you have an appointment?" No, I didn't - how would I know that was necessary? So he heaved a great big sigh and said, "We close at 3:30." I said, "OK - it's 2:45 so we're good." He said, "No we're not, because my coworker has to leave in 15 minutes and that will leave me here alone and there are two people ahead of you."
Two people. OK. Come on - how long does this take?
He actually expected me to just make an appointment for the next week and come back then. No. I'm here now. I followed all the instructions online. This should take, oh, ten minutes max for you to process. I'm here nearly 2 hours before you close according to the website. We're doing this TODAY.
You know what this fool told me? He said, "Well, you can stay if you want to, but I can't guarantee you will be waited on." I said, "Oh, I'm staying alright. I'm not leaving here till my passport is ordered."
About 3:15, he huffed and puffed and made a big show about calling someone from the front office (the post office apparently) to the back because I wasn't going anywhere - and my paperwork took literally about 5 minutes. The person he called back there actually said, "So that's it? That's all you need for me to do? There was nothing to that!"
Yes, so so difficult...this damn public, these dang tax payers...we make their lives so difficult...
Think about this for a minute. Can you think of one single interesting job at USPS? That, and what are the chances of promotion? Could you imagine standing at a counter all day just taking in postage, selling stamps, and fetching undelivered mail? You'd have to pay me a million dollars a year to do that job and I'd quit and retire after 2-3 years!
About the only partly nice job I can think of is letter carrier where at least you spend a lot of time outdoors and get lots of exercise. No need to go to the gym. However, due to the increasing predominance of CBUs (cluster box units) that job is turning into drive from CBU to CBU all day, and they've taken the only health benefit out of the job.
Ever since the phrase "going postal" came into vogue I've never been surprised when a worker goes postal.
I personally know someone who retired from the USPS. Great benefits. Great retirement. Some people would consider this worth it. I mean, don't do the crime if you can't do the time, ya know?
I personally know someone who retired from the USPS. Great benefits. Great retirement. Some people would consider this worth it. I mean, don't do the crime if you can't do the time, ya know?
Oh I totally agree with you. Do a mindless job for 25-30 years or whatever and get a great retirement. In fact it would be a good thing for somebody who has no special job skills and doesn't mind boredom, and has the patience to do the same job day after day after day.
I'll admit I was personalizing it from my point of view. I require more intellectual stimulation and creativity and variety of challenges in a job, but not everybody is like me. I'm a retired electronic engineer. I spent my entire facing new challenges as technology evolved and I liked it.
Just because a job is not right for me I assume too much to say it's not right for others.
Oh I totally agree with you. Do a mindless job for 25-30 years or whatever and get a great retirement. In fact it would be a good thing for somebody who has no special job skills and doesn't mind boredom, and has the patience to do the same job day after day after day.
I'll admit I was personalizing it from my point of view. I require more intellectual stimulation and creativity and variety of challenges in a job, but not everybody is like me. I'm a retired electronic engineer. I spent my entire facing new challenges as technology evolved and I liked it.
Just because a job is not right for me I assume too much to say it's not right for others.
Well, amen to that - it's not my thing but I can't really drudge up a lot of sympathy for people who sign up for it "for the benefits."
Well, amen to that - it's not my thing but I can't really drudge up a lot of sympathy for people who sign up for it "for the benefits."
I wouldn't call it sympathy but I can understand why people do it. They've traded the opportunity to have an interesting career to instead have a very boring job but with extreme security and a promised pot of gold at the end of the job.
I took the opposite approach: In the last two decades of my career I was an engineering consultant, I got paid twice as much as the employee engineers but worked half the hours, and often was unemployed 6 months out of the year. This gave me the same income, no job security, and huge amounts of time to do whatever I wanted. I'm rather surprised that even though my career ended earlier than I wanted (I reached an age where I would have continued to work but could find no clients due to a bad economy) yet my retirement is working out well, better than I thought it would.
Some people want interesting jobs, others will work dull jobs in trade for security and assured pension.
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charge a small service fee to compensate for the charges that the credit card companies put on them and just be done with it. I've been coming across more places that are passing off that cost of credit usage on to the customer. One place is a mom and pop pizza joint and when you use a credit card they charge you and extra 50 or 75 cents. I forget which but for me the convenience is well worth it.
