Was in Asda this morning, just to buy a few items at self checkout. The fun started when I tried to pay for them using a contactless 'Visa' card. The till display just showed the spinning wheel of doom, which went on and on and on. Eventually a staff member came over and said they were having issues with card payments, and could I insert the card and use PIN. Again, spinning wheel of doom. Then, I had an idea.

Yep, I ended up paying in cash, a method of payment I have used for a lifetime.

On getting home, I learned it was a national issue, not just Asda, with all Visa/Mastercard payments as the system had severely crashed.

You gotta wonder about those eejits who advocate a 'cashless' society. My 'cash' has never gone faulty, I wonder if those 'card' folks are still at the till points waiting for some IT guy to fix it 🤣

with me, i like to only carry my card, i dont really liek to carry any cash at all. its just convinience i guess.

13 minutes ago, froggy8 said:

with me, i like to only carry my card, i dont really liek to carry any cash at all. its just convinience i guess.

I have no concept of the inconvenience of having cash. It's not as if you're carrying around a 5kg box of soap powder? 😂

I was in Tesco this morning about 10am and there seemed no problems in there. I normally carry cash as well, but it wouldn't cover what Mrs B manages to spend at the supermarket!😀

Stripe worked with my debit card at the podiatrists at 12.30. She's lost me as a customer as she's reffered me onto NHS podiatry due to a big toe issue.

3 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

Stripe worked with my debit card at the podiatrists at 12.30. She's lost me as a customer as she's reffered me onto NHS podiatry due to a big toe issue.

Good to see you gave her the boot! LOL

23 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

she's reffered me onto NHS podiatry due to a big toe issue.

Oh dear. I hope they're more use than the ones I was referred to for my hallux rigidus!😀

 

I'm sure I've seen Hermione use that spell!

4 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Oh dear. I hope they're more use than the ones I was referred to for my hallux rigidus!😀

 

that sounds very rude

1 hour ago, Jimpster said:

that sounds very rude

They do like to use these Latin terms. The senior partner at my GP practice, who I've known for years, is much more straightforward. When discussing the X-rays of the joint with me he just described it as "completely buggered"!😀

I prefer using digital payments honestly, mainly due to my laziness to carry the alternative really. 

It does irk me however, when I was buying some delicious fudge brownies at the local market, when someone wouldn't take my Amex because they apparently get charged £1.60 on a £2.50 transaction. I'm no business owner but surely that's not possible, potentially why people are moving over to Zettle where they take a smaller flat fee instead of the traditional POS card readers?

55 minutes ago, Buxty said:

It does irk me however, when I was buying some delicious fudge brownies at the local market, when someone wouldn't take my Amex because they apparently get charged £1.60 on a £2.50 transaction.

I spent over 40 years in a retail career. We all hated Amex because of the exorbitant commission fees they charged. 'Customers' don't give a second thought to the actual cost a retailer has to absorb by paying by card. Hence it was often a good haggling point to offer cash instead. However, with the demise of 'local' shops, big chain stores aren't interested in haggling, what do their staff care, it's nothing to do with them. I'm afraid my sympathies fall on the fudge seller...

If Amex charged you £1.60 on a transaction, you'd likely think twice about using the card.

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

We all hated Amex because of the exorbitant commission fees they charged.

Just out of interest, has anyone come across a store that does accept Amex? Or Diners come to that? I never have, but perhaps I don't shop anywhere upmarket enough!😀

does Asda count

1 hour ago, Jimpster said:

does Asda count

On further investigation apparently all these do, though I've never seen anyone using one:

UK supermarkets that accept American Express July 2024:

Aldi

Lidl

Tesco

Asda

Sainsbury’s

Morrisons

Waitrose

M&S

Co-op

Ocado

This is a major, "I told you..." Moment.

We've woken up this morning to a world where due to a major outage of MicroSoft cloud services, that all aspects of modern life have been effected.

It is a global catastrophe effecting UK, Japan, USA, Australia, India & other countries impacting on airlines, media, railway and the banking system so far.

This is the shape of the world to come. Our total reliance now on IT is terrifying. Anyone that has ever had to reboot a computer knows how fragile this whole pile of cards is.

I bleat on at every opportunity at the monstrous decision to close down the UKs analogue landline phone system, in favour of 'digital'. We all know how crap digital comms are if you own a mobile phone. No signal is now just accepted as the norm. Analogue landlines are pretty much 100% reliable, and now in my 6th decade, I've never 'lost' an analogue phone call.

The advancement & fears of AI will be nothing when we have no electricity, and we have a 'cloud' that breaks. I have nothing purposely that I have volunteered on the cloud, why would I trust another bloke to keep my photos/data etc on their computer when I can keep it myself. I have external hard drives to store my stuff.

It's stunning that with so many clever people involved in the IT industry are unable to see the bright light heading straight for them in the tunnel...

I am so angry that government (of all flavours) have allowed us to be so vulnerable. Their first call of duty is to protect their citizens - they are failing miserably.

Digital world outage

Supposedly exacerbated by an update sent out by CrowdStrike, an American security company. We've just gotten rid of them at work, so aren't seeing our services affected, but looks like many of the big players in society do use them. 

10 minutes ago, Buxty said:

Supposedly exacerbated by an update sent out by CrowdStrike, an American security company. We've just gotten rid of them at work, so aren't seeing our services affected, but looks like many of the big players in society do use them. 

To be honest, I feel the 'cause' in this case is irrelevant, whether a cyber attack, or simple human incompetence. Our total reliance on IT to just 'work' is the scary bit...

4 hours ago, StephenFord said:

now in my 6th decade

Goodness, you're a youngster Stephen. I could have sworn you were a lot older than that .

I'm in my ninth.

As usual you've hit the nail on the head. I'm sure a great many of us have been seriously concerned for some time about the folly of total reliance on digital systems and the headlong dash into a paperless economy.

I'm also worried about the fragility of a totally voip-based telephone system.

Like you I do not knowingly use any cloud services, preferring to keep my data on my own systems. It's not just a reliability issue but also a security one.

Is one of us counting decades wrong?  I've just spent far too long trying to work out if it's the same as the 19th century actually being 1800 or not. 🫢

7 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Is one of us counting decades wrong?  I've just spent far too long trying to work out if it's the same as the 19th century actually being 1800 or not. 🫢

I'm confused Tom, decades, 10 years. I'm in my 6th, how old do you think I am? 🤣

Just now, StephenFord said:

I'm confused Tom, decades, 10 years. I'm in my 6th, how old do you think I am? 🤣

I think you're a sexagenarian, which would actually be 7th decade in mine & Mike's world...  You're not counting 0-10 as the 1st decade.

3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I think you're a sexagenarian, which would actually be 7th decade in mine & Mike's world...  You're not counting 0-10 as the 1st decade.

Now, I never said I was a mathematician lol

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I think you're a sexagenarian

That sounds like someone with a s*x addiction. Or is that just my warped (septugenarian) mindset?😀