To want a plastic card

[crinklyfoil]

Recently lost my purse and needed to replace all my cards.

John Lewis, morrisons, M and S and Boots all don’t offer a card any more. Instead you access your account via your phone.

It’s such a faff. Instead of opening my purse and paying I have to fumble for my phone, unlock it (not easy with a face mask) find the app, find the card.

I’d far rather just have the card there.

That's annoying. I don't have a mobile phone of any kind, let alone a smart phone.

Why is it presumed everyone wants and has a smart phone? Why are cards being fazed out - is it just the cost of making them and sending them out? One can always lose a phone or have it stolen - so what does one do then?

If the face recognition doesn't work on my iPhone because I'm wearing a mask, I just put in my passcode instead. It's not a problem.

@WhatATimeToBeAlive

YANBU. I do wonder what will happen as each generation ages and struggles to use any new technology. Memories fade, arthritis can set in, eyesight is poor - yet we will all be expected to use phones for everything. It's fine when you're younger, but we all get old eventually (if we're lucky).

That’s so true 🥲

[quote ChrissyPlummer]@Exhausted4ever My iPhone (a 7) only offers face recognition. It has no ‘home’ button anymore so nowhere to put a fingerprint. It does still do the passcode option to pay, but this takes longer and sometimes goes back to the wallet app, causing more faff![/quote]
Iphone 7s don't have face recognition. They only have a fingerprint option.

YANBU - I don't know how you're supposed to juggle all your stuff! I'd need one hand to hold the phone and the other to unlock it, especially as the fingerprint ID only works about one time out of ten. Then I need another hand for my shopping and I might need another one to hold the toddler's hand or my walking stick... and do I need my purse as well or am I only allowed to pay using my phone? Unless I'm actually an octopus the chances of dropping my phone are unreasonably high! If I have a plastic card everything is in my purse and my phone can stay safe in my pocket/bag

If your reasonably handy you could print out the cards barcodes and use it that way, would need a decent printer though and bonus points for a laminator
If you can't open an app as your hands are full its also unlikely you could open a purse and remove the right card easily too, at least a phone can be used one handed.

@swapsicles

If your reasonably handy you could print out the cards barcodes and use it that way, would need a decent printer though and bonus points for a laminator If you can't open an app as your hands are full its also unlikely you could open a purse and remove the right card easily too, at least a phone can be used one handed.

Agree with this. How can you go into your bag, fumble around looking for a purse then pull out all the cards till you get to the correct one but you can't click Stocard?

@tara66

Why is it presumed everyone wants and has a smart phone? Why are cards being fazed out - is it just the cost of making them and sending them out? One can always lose a phone or have it stolen - so what does one do then?

This. ^ It is very annoying. I have one, but only got it in mid 2019. It does keep me in instant contact with a few people which I like, and has a few little advantages, (and it was a Godsend for me during lockdown.) But I get that some people don't want one/can't use one etc. And why should they?

It's like this bloody tale of the landline being phased out and everyone will have to 'upgrade' to mobile phones/smart phones. No fuck off. I am not giving up my landline. My phone signal is a bit dodgy in my little village, and I sometimes struggle to hear what someone is saying. I have even had calls cut off.

I have also had a couple of important calls not come though because the signal failed, and it went straight to voicemail. It was the doctor once, and the hospital once - they called my mobile in error - instead of the landline. And I couldn't just call them back, as THEY have to call the patient. So fucking annoying.

Texting, whatsapping, twitter, facebook, instagram, email etc, all good, but actual SPEAKING - like an actual phone call - on a mobile phone - is not always great, because the signal breaks up sometimes! No WAY am I ever giving up my landline. And as has been said, lots of people do not have mobile phones/smart phones, and don't WANT them! So I think they'll be hard pushed to cancel landlines altogether!!!

I feel like we are being forced kicking and screaming into things we never asked for, and do not want. UPGRADE TO A SMART METER NOW scream the energy companies. My energy company - I won't name and shame them - have sent me letters every few months since the middle of 2017. I have had about 15 so far in 4 years. Firstly, saying 'we are in your area fitting smart meters next week, ring to book an appointment.'

NOW, the last 3 or 4 letters have been upgraded to a stern (in UPPER CASE LETTERS) title saying YOU ARE DUE A SMART METER! RING AND BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT NOW!'

So if I was a bit slow on the uptake, or easily-led/easily manipulated/frightened easily, I would see that as saying that I am MEANT to have one, and I NEED to book an appointment to have one fitted. Not that it's fucking VOLUNTARY.

Twats. I DO NOT WANT A TWATTY SMART METER, SO DO FOOOOK OFF!!! I have not responded to your 15 letters over the past 4 years. Take the hint!

Same with electric cars. Apparently we will ALL HAVE ONE by 2030. 9 years away. That's all. The Government thinks that we will all be able to afford to 'upgrade' to a electric car, at the cost of around £30,000, within the next 5 or so years, and that the whole country will have an entire infrastructure for millions of electric cars. And obviously all of the 100s of 1000s of charging points, will charge a car within 5 minutes, and that charge will last at least 450 to 500 miles (The average amount a tank of petrol will last.)

Until all this happens with electric cars, and they can reduce them to £10,000 to £13,000, they are trippin' if they think the UK will go all electric by 2030.

As I said, I am fucked off with things being forced on us that we never asked for, and that we don't want!

Plastic reduction is a good thing. However if they're just loyalty cards surely a paper based card with a barcode or QR code would be feesable for collecting points.
I'm crap with tech, but recently figured out how to work Google pay and it's been a godsend because I keep forgetting my purse!

@Womendohavevaginasnick

Plastic reduction is a good thing. However if they're just loyalty cards surely a paper based card with a barcode or QR code would be feesable for collecting points. I'm crap with tech, but recently figured out how to work Google pay and it's been a godsend because I keep forgetting my purse!

I am only guessing, but I would have thought that the components that go into a phone (that's often replaced every other year or so) are not environmentally friendly either and that there is more plastic surrounding a phone than a plastic card.

Ahh but I only need one phone, not twenty

I like using my phone, and I have my credit and debit card on it, but I definitely like the option to leave my phone behind and use my plastic cards instead. It makes for a single point of failure if all your cards are on your phone.

THe opposite, love not having tons of cards, some of which I use once in a blue moon... it takes a few extra seconds to tap in the pin instead of face ID, or just pull your mask down for 2 secs.
Don't carry a purse though, just a couple of cards in a card holder...

@tara66

Why is it presumed everyone wants and has a smart phone? Why are cards being fazed out - is it just the cost of making them and sending them out? One can always lose a phone or have it stolen - so what does one do then?

Or that it is an iPhone? We are an Android household here, and can unlock our phones in many different ways.

TBH I prefer having my store cards on my phone. I rarely use cash these days and don't use my purse any more. I just take my phone and debit card out with me when I go out.

So what happens if someone doesn’t have a suitable phone.

No store card I suppose. IMO the only ones worth having are Tesco and Boots anyway.

The National Trust cards are now plastic free BTW.

I agree, OP. Like lots of people, I have and love a smartphone but I like my use of it it be on my terms. I switch mine into incognito mode as I don't like the idea of my phone knowing where I am all the time, giving me a monthly timeline of where I've been, etc. I also don't like it that the choice of not using a smartphone for everything, and all the data harvesting and digital footprints that it involves, is being removed.
I try to avoid using my phone in shops now as I can't be arsed to keep cleaning it after being in public and touching all sorts of things. A store card that I use once a week can go back in my purse until the following week. I like technology and use it a hell of a lot but it's for my convenience, not so all my habits, however anonymous, can be stored and used by Google.

Agree with OP. I never use lidls new loyalty scheme as it means faffing about with the phone when I just want to pay with a card and leave.

I love having on my phone. Smaller handbag as I just need my phone. I use Samsung pay and it stores loyalty cards and pay cards and u just swipe up and it all magically appears so easy. And more secure as access to phone is more secure and if phone lost can quickly be blocked. A debit card someone can go on a spending spree

We are an Android household here, and can unlock our phones in many different ways.

As can iPhone owners.

Sadly the "I don't have a smartphone" narrative is going to be as effective as the "I don't have a phone" narrative was in the 70s and 80s (and I had a couple of friends at school whose parents tried that one) as more and more places switched from written correspondence, to using the phone.

Being blunt there's no going back.

My sister can unlock my iPhone with her face we are not twins and I didn’t think we looked particularly similar.

But YANBU. Some of my store cards are over 10 years old, so very efficient use of plastic. I also prefer not to touch my phone until I’ve sanitised my hands if I’m at the shops.

@DGRossetti

Sadly the "I don't have a smartphone" narrative is going to be as effective as the "I don't have a phone" narrative was in the 70s and 80s (and I had a couple of friends at school whose parents tried that one) as more and more places switched from written correspondence, to using the phone.

Being blunt there's no going back.

That's all well and good, but the principle reason Boots et al run the loyalty schemes is to track consumer habits - the points are buying your data off you.

Moving to an exclusively app based system isn't just alienating the customer base who aren't interested in getting a smartphone, it's also alienating the customer base who only change smartphones when their old one breaks...meaning that as it ages less and less apps are usable but for many that isn't an issue.

I certainly wouldn't upgrade my phone just to have access to loyalty schemes. I'd rather not bother. This a the risk the companies are running because no one needs to give their data to a company. Folk like me are going to be around for at least another few decades so discounting us as a customer base would be a foolish move.

I’m glad they’re doing this