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Posts: 188

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Q: Why all these credit/bank cards used everywhere?

Why do now do nearly all Chinese pay by card? What's happened to cash? So much easier & quicker.

I understand if large sums are involved, but there's no minimum transaction amount  here!! WTF?! Whether it be Starbucks, Jusco etc people are paying bills of 9rmb ~ 20rmb on their cards! so, it can't be a safety measure, i.e. dont carry too much cash in case I get robbed. It just delays the time spent at a shopping venue for little money.

The other day (and I wish I was making this up) at my local small supermarket, an elderly lady bought one cabbage, cost 2rmb ~ yep she dragged out her card, it took fuckn ages.Now, let alone the waste of time, what about all that extra paperwork required to process, all those poor trees being cut down for a paltry sum of money.

Now  in Aust they set minimums for card transactions, I think its(correct me if I'm wrong abt the figures) $10 for bankcard & $20 for credit, if less hand over the cash.Why not in China?

AND, what about a CASH ONLY check out at the supermarkets? Not seen one yet. Regulatory where I come from. Saves so much time & would be easy to implement here.Well, maybe...cos it does take a modicum of common sense.

Anyways..same bs in your city? Let me know.

 

10 years 14 weeks ago in  Money & Banking - China

 
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Posts: 879

Emperor

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Don't stand behind old people in supermarkets. The process of paying for something causes them immense confusion and requires a lot of arguing. Every single time.

 

Why do they do it? Probably because it's annoying and inconvenient for everyone else.

 

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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
Posts: 298

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I actually thought it was the other way around, I see much more people here paying by cash than I did at home.

 

Anyway, I don't think your problem lies in the payement method, paying by card here is far from being a decisive criteria in the process of being annoying around here.

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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
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Those who use cards do so to avoid touching the filthy money that the poor people have touched. They are concerned of catching poverty from them. 

ou812:

too funny :)

10 years 14 weeks ago
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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2310

Shifu

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yeah, I love when in Lianhua stores, with their, client carss, they pay for shopping 80 kuai, and end up by using 5 different client cards, where each have 20kuai... take 10 minutes....

 

And, My favorite ?

A guy in Starbucks, bought coffees to his colleagues. of course not his treat ...

So he paid those 35 coffees, by bank card, every single coffee separately, giving to each person there later his own slip for his coffee ... 20 minutes deal man. I just wanted eat my beef@salad

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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
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they dont even consider the privacy concerns either in the hacking capital of the world, and the government knowing every place you go, when you shop, what you like to buy, guess im the only paranoid person around, i always pay cash, even in other countries.

EnriqueM:

agree

9 years 26 weeks ago
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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
Posts: 821

Shifu

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I would of paid the damn two kuai for the cabbage, lol. Yeah, it pisses me off too. When I left England three years ago, minimum payment by card was £5.

The other day in Starbucks I was complaining to my friend that the woman in front of us was paying by card for a 17 kuai coffee.. The Chinese woman turned round and said in English, is that strange? Tongue

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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
Posts: 204

Governor

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I think it makes them feel very modern and ah, well, developed. Don't see it too often though. I had to pay a bill recently that exceeded the amount of cash I was carrying (at a hospital) and they appeared to be able to use my bank card, much to my surprise. So I slid it through the machine and had to say to both the doctor and his assistant to look the other way while I punched my PIN. 'Ahhh, yes, of course, hihihi'

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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
Posts: 83

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If the part where signing after entering your pin anyway was taken away it would make things smoother. Here in NZ it is definitely most common to pay for everything with your card, but it's quick and painless, usually more efficient than cash. Even in most taxi's they have eftpos machines. Very rarely come across a minimum payment for cards except credit which usually has a minimum of NZD15-20.

 

Not a week ago I paid for an item for $2 with my card. 

 

Really if done properly it's faster than cash, cleaner than cash and more secure than cash, no need for the cashier to count out 97.50 change when all you had was a note for 100. 

Visco8:

Yeh good point! Aust the same. If implemented correctly can be speedy & efficient, but alas in China...

10 years 14 weeks ago
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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
Posts: 201

Governor

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In China when they adopt new things (like bank cards), concepts, or ideas, they always tend take it to the extreme:

 

1.  I've had several staff members log every minute of overtime they work.  If they are off at 18:00 but leave at 18:03, they will try to claim 3 minutes overtime (yes, really).   6-8 years ago this was never an issue.

2. Now that they have escalators and elevators, it is completely unacceptable to use stairs anymore, even if you just want to go up/down one floor.  Notice the mile long lines of people trying to use the escalator to exit a metro station while the stairs beside the escalator are virtually empty.

3. Their parents didn't have cars, heck, 10 years ago most didn't have a car or even know how to drive.  Now, it's practically a marriage requirement.

4. Still can't wrap my head around how some locals spend the equivalent of 3 months salary on a new phone (because a mid-range model now is completely unacceptable where as 6-8 years ago they were all using basic Nokia phones with 2 color display). 

5. Ever see locals in a all-you-can-eat buffet?  They will come when the doors open and stay until the doors close, just because they can, actually they were full 2 hours ago.

 

 

Much of what drives their behavior now is this "because I can" mentality, and not about what they need.  They will pay with their bank card not because it's practical or impractical, but just because they can.  

 

Feel free to add!

 

 

Scandinavian:

5. And they will carry much much more food to their tables than they ever eat, thus wasting it. 

Your other observations, I've also spotted some of them. The other day in a department store, I am walking up a stopped escalator, a young couple if walking towards the escalator to go down, when they see it's not running they both show the most visible sign of annoyance and "giving up", like their house just burned down. They then start walking to another escalator about 50 meters through the store

The claimed 5000 years of history fades fast. I find most Chinese people have little idea of how life was, even while they have been alive themselves. I am pretty sure most of the 30 year olds today would have had a childhood without air-conditioning and some without tv, their mothers would have washed clothes by hand etc. None of this is part of the collective memory of the people. It is purely what is in the present, if you can't see it, it never happened. Maybe looking at the world that way makes it easier to live in a country full of lies

10 years 14 weeks ago
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