Credit cards in pubs.

[Uptowngirl]

Has anyone else noticed how many folk are using plastic cards in pubs these days?

Last night in a bar trying to get a drink. It seemed the bar staff spent more time swiping cards for a round of drinks than they did actually serving them.

[JFKvsNixon]

Has anyone else noticed how many folk are using plastic cards in pubs these days?

Last night in a bar trying to get a drink. It seemed the bar staff spent more time swiping cards for a round of drinks than they did actually serving them.

 

Do you still have to swipe cards when buy drinks? I'd have thought that contactless payments available on most cards it'll be just as fast as paying with cash.

[Jim Hardie]

It's usually the people who shouldn't be in pubs in the first place paying for coffees or fancy cocktails that take forever to serve.

[Uptowngirl]

Do you still have to swipe cards when buy drinks? I'd have thought that contactless payments available on most cards it'll be just as fast as paying with cash.

 

The place I was in last night was using an old hand held card reader. It took about 45 seconds to get a call through and a similar length of time for a drunken student to remember his pin. They had one card reader between all the bar staff so they were queuing whilst the previous transaction finished.

[ECCOnoob]

It's usually the people who shouldn't be in pubs in the first place paying for coffees or fancy cocktails that take forever to serve.

 

Oh of course, pubs should be nothing more than spit and sawdust serving hand pulled pints and a glass of wine of the ladies.

 

Grow up. Its 2013 now. Not everyone drinks alcohol in a pub anymore. Not everyone wants to or even can stomach beer/lager.

 

Pubs that have not moved on are thre ones that are dying. Cards will soon the the way to pay for everything. Nobody will be carrying round cash anymore and loose change will be virtually obsolute for everyday use.

 

Sounds to me that the problem with this particular pub was either lack of staff or poor equipment.

[Winner99]

I often just by a glass of coke and add my own whisky from my hipflask

[JFKvsNixon]

The place I was in last night was using an old hand held card reader. It took about 45 seconds to get a call through and a similar length of time for a drunken student to remember his pin. They had one card reader between all the bar staff so they were queuing whilst the previous transaction finished.

 

So it looks like your issue is with the pub to provide a better service for it's customers.

[Jim Hardie]

Oh of course, pubs should be nothing more than spit and sawdust serving hand pulled pints and a glass of wine for the ladies.

 

Nearly right. Half of bitter for the ladies.

[Uptowngirl]

So it looks like your issue is with the pub to provide a better service for it's customers.

 

Not really. My issue is there is a cost for this. The machines are not cheap. There is a monthly charge for their use. There is a transaction charge for their use. As pubs don't put these charges solely on folks buying a pint of Carling on their card, it is spread over everyone's drinks bill. So perhaps the price you pay for a pint will increase by 20p so that you can stand in line whilst someone pays by card.

[JFKvsNixon]

Not really. My issue is there is a cost for this. The machines are not cheap. There is a monthly charge for their use. There is a transaction charge for their use. As pubs don't put these charges solely on folks buying a pint of Carling on their card, it is spread over everyone's drinks bill. So perhaps the price you pay for a pint will increase by 20p so that you can stand in line whilst someone pays by card.

 

You're complaining about about businesses revisiting money into their business to make the customer experience better. I really don't understand the point that you're trying to make.

 

Also what about the money saved from having to handle so much cash? Like it or not we are moving towards a cashless society, it may not happen for a long while but this is just another step towards it, and with contactless payments it's just as fast to pay as someone buying a pint with a fiver.