Re: digital cc transactions, digital checks vs real digital cash

[Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>]

At 3:10 am -0400 on 5/3/97, Bill Frantz wrote:


> At 10:07 AM -0700 5/2/97, Robert Hettinga wrote:
> >Yup. But the neat thing about them is they take pennies to clear, instead
> >of quarters for paper checks. The other thing is, they're peer-to-peer.
> >Credit cards aren't, remember? When was the last time you sold a car or
> >house and took MasterCard in payment. :-).
>
> Carlsen Subaru in Palo Alto has signs in their sales offices notifying
> people that their agreement with their bank prevents them from taking
> credit cards in payment for cars.

Hmmm. The operative concept in my paragraph was "peer-to-peer". I should
have put "personally" in the last sentence, in between "you" and "sold",
and it would have been much clearer.

By the way, back when I was pond scum in Morgan Stanley's cage in Chicago,
American Express Gold Cards had just come out. About the first month they
were out, a commodities trader showed up at a local Rolls dealership and
offered to pay for a brand new Corniche with one.

The sales manager smiled, said "Yes sir", went to the phone, called Amex,
and took the card.

Probably apocryphal, but, hey, it's a great story.

The point is, you and I can't take Amex when we sell our used Honda off our
driveway.  We do, however take a certified check or cash. When we can sell
our work over the net for checks and cash, the world better look out. :-).

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga

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