5 ms·
> No one imprints anymore. that's not true at all; have you been outside of any major city in america?
by sxtxixtxcxh 13y ago
> No one imprints anymore.
that's not true at all; have you been outside of any major city in america?
- coldtea 13y agoAs an avid road fan, I've been in 47 out of 50 states (no Hawaii, Alaska or Vermont) and roadtriped around 50.000 miles, in the course of 7 years. I've stayed in hundrends of small cities, from Ogalala, NE to Ozona, TX and Oatman, AZ, and used my credit cards for all kinds of purchases, from Kroger and CVS, to outlet stores, gas, local shops, small eateries, fast food places, restaurants etc. Never had a vendor inprint my card.
- sxtxixtxcxh 13y agoI had it happen at a Denny's in Oregon, and not because the electricity or phone lines were down, but because that's just how they processed cards.
- ams6110 13y agoImprinting happens a lot at hotel check-ins, in my experience. They will often imprint your card onto their copy of the check-in document.
- smackfu 13y agoYeah, it's a low-end version of a pre-authorization. If the room is already paid for in advance, and you have no extra charges, they can just shred that imprint.
- AdamTReineke 13y agoIt still happens. I had it happen at a gas station in the middle of nowhere Nebraska or South Dakota (where he probably didn't have internet) as well as at a gas station in a bigger town where their internet was out.
- sopooneo 13y agoI was under the impression a lot of swipe machines used plain old phone lines. No?
- willshowalter 13y agoOlder ones did. Newer ones tend to run over the internet. They don't tie up a phone line at either end of the connection, and the information transfer is much quicker, so in most circumstances it works better for everyone.
- ececconi 13y agoHave you never been in a cab in a major city?
- coldtea 13y agoHad my own car for the trips, but have used cabs for convenience in Chicago and NY. I usually pay cabs in cash though (probably because I never think of cabs as accepting cards, thinking by my country's norms).
- kelnos 13y agoNone of the taxis in any major city I've been in lately take imprints either; they have the normal card-swipe machines that retail businesses have.
- ececconi 13y agoIt's been a shift in the last few years. They're rare now.
- parasubvert 13y agoI have at least a dozen in the past 6 months from Taxi/limos in various US states and Canadian provinces, and a couple from road diners.
- ansgri 13y agoBetter to ask, have you been _outside_ America. For I presume, in most countries who adopted CCs fairly recently, the concept of 'offline transaction' is entirely foreign.