I know that for really big amounts they called the credit card company. But did they also do it for small amounts of $10-$20? And if so how did it work in a Taxi when there were no mobile phones?
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>How did it work in a Taxi when there were no mobile phones?
New York City didn’t force cabs to accept credit cards until 2007: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/nyregion/08taxi.html
>Although New York was late to bring credit cards to cabs, it leapfrogged ahead by pioneering a customer-friendly system that required no signed receipts, no minimum payment, and an interactive device that let passengers swipe the card and add tips themselves.
I don’t think in the beginning there were any calls. Making an imprint of the card on carbon paper was sort of like writing a check to someone. Back then you didn’t know if the check was any good either until days after you deposited it.
It had to do a lot with trust. Not all places would accept checks or credit cards. Maybe you wouldn’t accept a check from someone you didn’t know well.
Also, in the beginning it was hard to get a credit card. Only the most well-to-do had them.
Back in 1971 I worked in a department store…they had a newspaper type booklet with published bad card numbers and you had to look it up. If the number was in the booklet, it was not usable. Fine print and the size of a small paperback
Back in 83 there was apparently a $25 threshold, below that and most retailers didn’t call/verify or do the telecheck thing. (not sure when that came out)
Mom ran up thousands on a couple of cards (that were already in default) by keeping every individual purchase below $25.
*fun facts from my fscked up childhood…
In some respects, it didn’t matter. The whole point of a “credit” card was that having one was a marker of trust in you from the bank. It meant you could write a cheque and the bank agreed to honour that transaction with the seller, up to a certain limit.
My first bank card, for example, had text on the back saying it was good to cover debts of up to $100. This gave the seller the confidence that they would receive the money, while the bank took the risk that you could not actually pay the debt (the risk is balanced through interest and fees).
Even now, when you use a credit card, it is the bank that pays for the sale, and then pursues you for the debt.
The raised lettering is only there to make it easier for the teller to record your bank details, effectively making it very easy write a check.
The book. Published monthly if I recall correctly, you had to manually check every number.
Early 80’s working at a high end (linen, candles, china) restaurant we had a printed booklet to check cards if the bill was over $100. We manually swiped the cards on a three copy carbon voucher that customer would sign.
Then came these telephone modem like devices that we would use by punching dollar amount and swiping the mag strip. Machine called a number and you could hear an exchange then it would display an approval number or declined. When the machine was not working the host would call a bank number to get approval code.
Once in a blue moon it would say call hotline. Sometimes they wanted to talk to the cardholder before giving us an approval, other times they would want us to confiscate the card or cut it. We would get $50 if we did either.
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