Orientation of new style cards

Theleak250

Eyeful said:

Not everyone has or wants a  mobile phone.

It’s like saying not everyone wants electricity these days…

Every technology shift has such groups. Some claimed the tractor was the work of the devil. 

IanManc

GTR_King said:

It will be ages before we go to Fully Digital Cards 

If ever. The main advantage is that plastic cards don't have batteries which run out. 

Friends of mine who pay by phone usually have one "emergency" card in their wallet just in case. I pay by card, but always have a bit of cash on me when I'm out, just in case, in a similar belt-and-braces approach.

The "death of the phone" problem is especially relevant where I live, because if you have a tram ticket on your phone and the battery has died when the ticket inspectors get on then you can't show a ticket and you get a penalty fare. It's unlikely to happen with a single journey, but most tickets sold are returns / day tickets:

"My mobile phone battery died prior to inspection

You cannot appeal for this reason. Customers must be able to present a valid ticket on inspection. Please see the conditions of carriage."

https://tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/refunds-and-penalty-fares/penalty-fares-on-tram/penalty-fare-notice

In terms of shape / orientation of cards, I prefer ones that I can differentiate, at least by colour if nothing else, when they are displayed horizontally in my wallet.

Rob5342

I use my phone for everything I can, but I always carry my bank cards and paper copies of theatre and train tickets just in case. I've never needed them yet but if I dropped my phone or my battery went flat and didn't have a backup I'd be completely stuck. 

Rob5342

DullGreyGuy said:

Rob5342 said:

The wise one looks the best, its easy to see the wise text when it's in a wallet, and when you take it out it's the right way round for putting in chip and pin machine. I'm not sure why they still have chips though, I'd hsve thought that the machine could still ask for a pin when using contactless. 

Only if you're a lefty, for right handed the Trading 212 card is. 

I'm right handed and I keep my wallet in my. right pocket so I always use my left hand to get cards out with. 

DullGreyGuy

IanManc said:

GTR_King said:

It will be ages before we go to Fully Digital Cards 

If ever. The main advantage is that plastic cards don't have batteries which run out. 

Friends of mine who pay by phone usually have one "emergency" card in their wallet just in case. I pay by card, but always have a bit of cash on me when I'm out, just in case, in a similar belt-and-braces approach.

The "death of the phone" problem is especially relevant where I live, because if you have a tram ticket on your phone and the battery has died when the ticket inspectors get on then you can't show a ticket and you get a penalty fare. It's unlikely to happen with a single journey, but most tickets sold are returns / day tickets:

"My mobile phone battery died prior to inspection

You cannot appeal for this reason. Customers must be able to present a valid ticket on inspection. Please see the conditions of carriage."

https://tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/refunds-and-penalty-fares/penalty-fares-on-tram/penalty-fare-notice

In terms of shape / orientation of cards, I prefer ones that I can differentiate, at least by colour if nothing else, when they are displayed horizontally in my wallet.

Our trams (and buses) have charging ports, at least on the refitted ones. 

With apple transit tap to pay continue to work even after the battery has insufficient power to activate the screen... dont know if that also works with the inspectors card reader or not though half the time you just say you paid by phone and they leave it at that.

HillStreetBlues

Eyeful said:

Not everyone has or wants a  mobile phone.

Or wants to be tracked by Google /Apple

400ixl

The chip is in the same location on every card, if it weren't then it would not work with the chip machines they go into.

The writing may be at a different orientation on them which may trigger OCD in people which I can see and could mean some cards seem stored upside down or on their side compared to others.

Like others I mainly use a digital wallet, but the physical one I have takes all cards in one way and you can't see any writing on them once in so it doesn't really bother me.

400ixl

HillStreetBlues said:

Or wants to be tracked by Google /Apple

Really makes little difference, using physical cards you are being tracked by the likes of Kantar anyway. Google and Apple would get the data from secondary sources if not directly anyway.

Theleak250

HillStreetBlues said:

Eyeful said:

Not everyone has or wants a  mobile phone.

Or wants to be tracked by Google /Apple

Then you wouldn’t use a credit or debit card either. As the payment processing also tracks you and the data is sold. 

flaneurs_lobster

Unless my phone (posh Samsung) is particularly clunky, I find having to swap between cards before contactless payment to be a real pain.

If I was always paying with the same card then fair enough, but I use different cards for different retailers because of the reward criteria (JL Credit/Waitrose, Nectar Amex/Sainsburys, Chase/elsewhere).

I've moved back to carrying/using the physical cards, with a cash card in the Google Wallet for one-offs or watch payments. It's just less hassle.