4 ms·

Safe in the sense that me sending money doesn't expose my bank account to being ripped off. We have a huge problem in the office right now in that we don't hav

Safe in the sense that me sending money doesn't expose my bank account to being ripped off. We have a huge problem in the office right now in that we don't have any mechanism to pay each other digitally for things like lunch - seriously! A lot of the office feels really weird about giving their banking credentials to Venmo (even though it's pretty popular here in Ann Arbor, MI) and a bunch of people think paypal is shady (I use both of them, but I'm probably a little more open to risk). Zelle sounds like it will be exactly what we've been looking for - a safe way to send cash to each other, with the exact same risk profile of cash - that is, I give you my cash, and you have my cash, but nothing else. I 100% agree with you though, that the banks need to make it clear that this is to be used to send money to friends, and family - not strangers - unless you are okay with strangers just taking your cash. Poor communication on their part.

briandear 9y ago
> We have a huge problem in the office right now in that we don't have any mechanism to pay each other digitally for things like lunch - seriously Apple Pay in iMessage makes this laughably easy and secure.
- ghshephard 9y ago
  3 iPhone users in the office - everyone else is an Android user.
  - Fej 9y ago
    Off the top of my head: - Google Wallet - Square Cash (now "Cash App") - Venmo (blegh. Owned by PayPal) The first two allow you to send and receive money via a debit card, no direct banking info needed. I've never used Venmo but I imagine it's the same. Facebook has a similar way to send money, no idea how that one works. Google Wallet funds can be sent via Gmail. The apps auto deposit money. Square takes a bit longer unless you pay them.
    - ghshephard 9y ago
      I spent the better part of a week trying to get google cash working - submitted passport, utility bills - they kept claiming my passport picture wasn't clear enough. Eventually I gave up and just used paper cash - which is what we, a pretty much 100% highly technical office, use to pay each other. I love venmo - it's worked well for me. And I use Apple pay multiple times a day, every day. And been a PayPal user for 15 years - but no common thread with colleagues in the office. We just need something that we can be certain everyone can use. Zelle might be that thing.
      - heartbreak 9y ago
        In a similar anecdote, all 32 members of my law school section use Venmo to submit section dues and dispurse refunds from those dues when someone hosts a gathering, etc. A large group of non-technical users signed up without blinking.
      - throwaway413 9y ago
        Square Cash works very well.
acjohnson55 9y ago
You can use Venmo with a debit card, instead of bank credentials.
tzs 9y ago
> We have a huge problem in the office right now in that we don't have any mechanism to pay each other digitally for things like lunch - seriously! Have you considered running an internal credit system? Those who pay for other's shares of a given lunch get credits for those, and those whose lunch is paid for get debits. When a group of people go to lunch, the person with the persons with high debt should pick up the tab. Once a week or once a month or something, people should bring cash to settle their debt, with the cash then distributed to those with credit. We almost did that at an office I worked at...but got bogged down in bikeshedding other features. In particular, our biggest lunch problem was not settling the bill. It was agreeing where to go to lunch. So some people wanted the lunch manager to also handle that, and wanted to do it in a way that was fair. How to do it fair is not obvious, and no one could agree on the solution.
- helper 9y ago
  We used splitwise to do this at work for while. Its designed for splitting roommate expenses, but ended up working pretty well for accounting for who should pay for the next lunch. When someone would leave the company we would settle up with cash.

briandear 9y ago

> We have a huge problem in the office right now in that we don't have any mechanism to pay each other digitally for things like lunch - seriously Apple Pay in iMessage makes this laughably easy and secure.

ghshephard 9y ago
3 iPhone users in the office - everyone else is an Android user.
- Fej 9y ago
  Off the top of my head: - Google Wallet - Square Cash (now "Cash App") - Venmo (blegh. Owned by PayPal) The first two allow you to send and receive money via a debit card, no direct banking info needed. I've never used Venmo but I imagine it's the same. Facebook has a similar way to send money, no idea how that one works. Google Wallet funds can be sent via Gmail. The apps auto deposit money. Square takes a bit longer unless you pay them.
  - ghshephard 9y ago
    I spent the better part of a week trying to get google cash working - submitted passport, utility bills - they kept claiming my passport picture wasn't clear enough. Eventually I gave up and just used paper cash - which is what we, a pretty much 100% highly technical office, use to pay each other. I love venmo - it's worked well for me. And I use Apple pay multiple times a day, every day. And been a PayPal user for 15 years - but no common thread with colleagues in the office. We just need something that we can be certain everyone can use. Zelle might be that thing.
    - heartbreak 9y ago
      In a similar anecdote, all 32 members of my law school section use Venmo to submit section dues and dispurse refunds from those dues when someone hosts a gathering, etc. A large group of non-technical users signed up without blinking.
    - throwaway413 9y ago
      Square Cash works very well.

acjohnson55 9y ago

You can use Venmo with a debit card, instead of bank credentials.

tzs 9y ago

> We have a huge problem in the office right now in that we don't have any mechanism to pay each other digitally for things like lunch - seriously! Have you considered running an internal credit system? Those who pay for other's shares of a given lunch get credits for those, and those whose lunch is paid for get debits. When a group of people go to lunch, the person with the persons with high debt should pick up the tab. Once a week or once a month or something, people should bring cash to settle their debt, with the cash then distributed to those with credit. We almost did that at an office I worked at...but got bogged down in bikeshedding other features. In particular, our biggest lunch problem was not settling the bill. It was agreeing where to go to lunch. So some people wanted the lunch manager to also handle that, and wanted to do it in a way that was fair. How to do it fair is not obvious, and no one could agree on the solution.

helper 9y ago
We used splitwise to do this at work for while. Its designed for splitting roommate expenses, but ended up working pretty well for accounting for who should pay for the next lunch. When someone would leave the company we would settle up with cash.