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LOL... we used to call them 'knuckle busters', and like others have stated they were mainly used to prove the card was present for offline situations.
(I can also remember in a pinch just putting the card on the counter with the charge slip over it in the right position and firmly rubbing the side of an ink pen over it to get the impression. Crude, but effective.)
If you were lucky, you would have one of these (that worked) to go along with it:
If you didn't have access to the Verifone terminal (or it was out of service) you would have to call for an auth code, which meant you would need the proper toll-free number as well as your merchant ID (usually you had three of each, for MC/V, for Amex, and for Discover). At the places I worked usually the numbers were hand-written on a sticker near the phone.
Ahh... simpler times!
@SunriseEarthwrote:
@C_DUBYAwrote:I received a Playstation Sony Capital One Visa today. And the card has a chip but all the data is printed on the card, first the raised textured numbers Im used to. Is this new?
The trend these days is moving away from embossed cards vs simply printing the card numbers. I believe there is a cost benefit to printing numbers, and many consumers prefer them, as they stack more thinly within one's wallet.
Of the cards listed in my signature, the majority are still embossed. However, SYNC has been issuing more printed cards these days, so I suspect its a matter of time before printed numbers take over
SunriseEarth your problem in stacking cards isn't the embossed numbers making them thicker, it is the huge credit limits/lines that are assigned to the cards GADS how do you carry them?
The first time I saw a non-embossed was when I got my Cap1 Quicksilver One a few years back. Thought it looked odd and like a fake credit card for a long time. And they moved the card number to the back on the new ones, so Id continuous flip it the wrong side when paying online. You are so used to CC numbers being in a specific place. Now I am pretty much used to it.
@Shadowfactorwrote:
I much prefer the printed numbers.
I did run into one of those knuckle grinders though last year at a boutique hotel on South Miami Beach. They wouldn’t let me check in without taking a carbon copy of the card. So I was forced to use a different card then the one I wanted to use.
Remember the day when the store was out of carbon forms so they just wrote the information down on a piece of paper and called it in. Yeah ...
This conversation is getting dangerously close to "remember when we used to just get BankAmericard and MasterCharge cards in the mail without even having to apply?"
@K-in-Bostonwrote:This conversation is getting dangerously close to "remember when we used to just get BankAmericard and MasterCharge cards in the mail without even having to apply?"
@C_DUBYA wrote:I received a Playstation Sony Capital One Visa today. And the card has a chip but all the data is printed on the card, first the raised textured numbers Im used to. Is this new?
I think at this point I have more non-embossed cards than embossed.
Citi Costco Visa
BoA Cash Rewards
Capital One QS
DCU Visa
Discover
Chase Amazon.com (slightly raised, but not tall enough or large enough to be imprinted clearly)