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On average credit cards have almost 2x the volume of germs as cash[1], but in this era I would be more concerned about the POS terminal itself. Even with conta
by paulgerhardt 7y ago
On average credit cards have almost 2x the volume of germs as cash[1], but in this era I would be more concerned about the POS terminal itself.
Even with contactless cards or Apple Pay I still have to touch the same screen the previous customers (even just to tip). I would expect the terminal to be as dirty as a typical public door handle.
There may be a hygiene case for using QR codes as is universal now in China - but until we solve the privacy concerns I wouldn’t argue for it.
[1] https://lendedu.com/blog/dirty-money-credit-cards/ https://lendedu.com/blog/dirty-money-credit-cards/
- dannyw 7y agoWhy do you have to touch the screen? Here in Australia, I never make physical contact with anything.
- iknowstuff 7y ago'murica likes their tips.
- MarkSweep 7y agoThere are still prompts on the terminal like “credit or debit” or “please enter your PIN” or “type your phone number for reward card points” or “push X if you want orphans to starve”. (Safeway has the last one commonly.)
- grecy 7y agoThe US is very far behind when it comes to payments. It's still quite common for someone to take your card and swipe it and want a signature. Every time I go down there from Canada I get confused and feel like I've gone back in time 8 years.
- OrgNet 7y agoWhen my dad comes from Canada to the US, he still has to touch it because he has to enter a PIN. But at most stores, when I use the chip from my US card, I don't have to touch the terminal at all.
- IAmEveryone 7y agoThe number of germs isn't a useful measure. A credit card is probably full of your own germs, while cash comes to you with a representative sample of other peoples' microbiota. A screen could be effectively wiped even for every single customer, or you could wash/disinfect that one fingertip, or use one of the strawberries you are paying for (remember not to eat it).
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoQR is a pain compared to contactless payments. The problem I have is that I have a transit card as well as a credit card, so I can’t just slap the back of my phone (which has both cards) onto the POS.
- jobigoud 7y ago> On average credit cards have almost 2x the volume of germs as cash[1] They measured this by surface area, which makes zero sense in this context. You need to measure by value spent. If I need to spend $200 over a week in multiple errands, how many germs for a card vs cash? The credit card is always the same germs while the notes are new germs every time they change hand and can spread nasty stuff much more easily.