So the other day my dad and I went to the store to get some food and beverages. After we were done we decided to do self check out, since we only had a few items. I personally think the Self checkouts are so annoying, but convenient. My dad decided to pay by touch. “Pay by touch” is where you use your finger to pay and the money comes out of your bank account. Pay by touch (PBT) is a nice new technology that must stores in my area have. PBT is sort of like a fingerprint scanner for check outs.

The stupid check out machine was not working, so my dad decided to use his credit card. Which he never uses. The machine didn’t like his credit card. So he decided to do Pay by touch again, still no luck. Let me tell you one thing. My dad is not a patience guy when it comes to stuff not working right. The only thing

I’m worried about is having my dad being double charged, my dad is the type of guy to not allow that to happen, but when the machine is not working and making him swipe his finger five or six times. If this happens my dad wont be very happy at all.
Eventually the Associate running the self check out, switched it over to his register. That eventually did work and we were finally able to get are stuff and leave the store. The guy apologized to us for the machine not working. But was it his fault? No of course not.

Technology is great but when it breaks it drives you crazy. But the scary thing for me with the PBT system is the fact that some one could steal your fingerprint if you are not careful. My dad does believe in this stuff, he believes it easy for some to easily steal your fingerprint and then use your identity. Which is why he always wipes off the scanner when done.

The PBT system is still new and needs some work for it to be perfect and in a few years I think we will see that as a new form of payments. I think Credit and Debit will become like cash, It will take too long and PBT will become faster and more widespread. But it will always be a big target for identity theft villains who want your data.I still pay by cash because I know it’s the only way I can and I trust the person giving me money back.

Paying by credit is always tricking because the slot you insert you credit card could be linked to a felon. I have a debit card but rarely ever use it, I use it primarily to purchase stuff off Newegg.com or Tigerdirect.com and every now and then iTunes. Just always be careful when using your credit/debit online you never know who might get a hold of it.

[tags]self checkout, food, store[/tags]