Question about "the old days".

[FixMyCredit1992]

"we had to carbon copy it and call in every purchase, "

I bet that slowed the line down, eh?

[tcbofade]

Depends how old we're talkin' here.

In the "old days", most folks paid their bills, so there wasn't a need for instant approval or denial.  A merchant would simply tally his receipts and send them off to the credit card company every week, or even every month, and the credit card company would THEN pay the merchant.

Unfortunately, we the people grew more and more dishonest, and instant verification has now become the norm.

Ever try to write a check in a grocery store?  Sheesh.

[irrational]

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@tcbofade wrote:

Depends how old we're talkin' here.

In the "old days", most folks paid their bills, so there wasn't a need for instant approval or denial.  A merchant would simply tally his receipts and send them off to the credit card company every week, or even every month, and the credit card company would THEN pay the merchant.

Unfortunately, we the people grew more and more dishonest, and instant verification has now become the norm.

Ever try to write a check in a grocery store?  Sheesh.

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I take it then, that you're not familiar with the 1958 launch of Visa/Bankamericard... Allegedly 22% of the accounts were delinquent.

[Glkslngr]

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@FixMyCredit1992 wrote:

"They're not impressed when you try to use a card without embossed numbers"

I'm surprised they are still used, being that you can buy a new terminal for what, like $99?

Lots of cards are no longer embossed, especially discover.

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You also have to factor in merchant services fees that a lot of small, and also cheap, businesses are trying to limit and/or avoid althogether with electronic methods. 

[Stralem]

Ugh. Those things.

I've only seen them in action once or twice, and it was one of those times where I saw it damn nead shred someone's card when the clerk used his retard strength to work it. I think he loaded it incorrectly or something. I think it was at a Montgomery Ward store sometime during their final few weeks of existence.

But earlier this year, I had a pizza delivery guy break out the carbon paper. That was pretty amusing.

[NonSufficientFunds]

I remember using credit cards in the 1980s - the major credit card companies sent "pick-up books" to merchants every month, which contained long lists of lost, stolen. and cancelled cards. 

If the merchant located a bad card, he was supposed to call the issuer, who would instruct the merchant to cut the card in half with a pair of scissors, in front of the customer, and mail it to the issuer.

The merchant would then be given a small reward (about $10), but if he did not comply, he could lose his ability to accept credit cards in the future.

These days, there is no need to physically destroy the card - as the card can now be instantly deactivated, and will simply not work. 

It is very unusual to see an old fashioned card imprinter still being used, but I expect that very soon, there will no more reason to physically emboss the card member's information on cards.  Discover and some of the newer metal card issuers have already discontinued the practice.

[OHWWCB]

Every large retailer actually still has these! They have to be used whenever a card gets a referral message. Crazy!

[FixMyCredit1992]

One of my old bosses at Kmart told me that in the early 90s...the card issues would actually give you a $50 reward if you caught someone using a stolen card. 

[CreditJim]

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@FixMyCredit1992 wrote:

"we had to carbon copy it and call in every purchase, "

I bet that slowed the line down, eh?

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Actually the more I think about it I think it was just larger purchases we had to call in. Most people paid cash or check. Also remember there was a reward on offer for catching those cards.