The challenge in “Supporting Irish businesses”

pgj2015

is it that big of a deal for you to take cash out from an ATM? if you want to support Irish business.

Wanderer78

pgj2015 wrote: »

is it that big of a deal for you to take cash out from an ATM? if you want to support Irish business.

oh dont worry, our politicians will be out in force soon trying to encourage us to spend our savings, while a shed load are still out of work and the rest of us wondering if we ll have a job by christmas, theres nothing stopping the government from creating the money and giving it to every citizen to spend, this might just prevent some businesses from going bust. if we dont support sme's, it could have a major negative effect on the rest of the economy as markets dont occur in a vacuum.

Darc19

So the op has an issue in ONE store and then applies that to all irish businesses.

Seriously?

And then goes for the old chestnut and compares a premium hotel in kerry to a high rise overcrowded slum in Spain.

heroics

pgj2015 wrote: »

is it that big of a deal for you to take cash out from an ATM? if you want to support Irish business.

Pretty much. I don’t carry cash anymore. Apple Pay for everything except Tesco as they have the same 50€ limit as contactless so have to bring a card.

Haven’t carried a wallet outside of the weekly shopping in months.

It’s dead easy to get a terminal that allows contactless now. No excuses for businesses not to have them.

lisasimpson

Always carry at least 50 in case card/contactless systems crashes (which can happen) ive seen this twice. Once in aldi last year and people just abondoned shopping as they had no cash.
Also some retail dont help themselves when it comes to customer service. Although its the bigger stores that are guilty of this. Staff talking away while serving you or too busy gossiping to notice you are waiting there to pay for goods. One example stands out years ago. A boots store one sunday clearly the girl had been out the night before with whats was left the night befores makeup still on. Open mouth chewing while talking to someone else. Even had to ask her for a bag for my items which she barely acknowledged.

Wanderer78

heroics wrote: »

Pretty much. I don’t carry cash anymore. Apple Pay for everything except Tesco as they have the same 50€ limit as contactless so have to bring a card.

Haven’t carried a wallet outside of the weekly shopping in months.

It’s dead easy to get a terminal that allows contactless now. No excuses for businesses not to have them.

is there charges on the businesses side?

Wanderer78

lisasimpson wrote: »

Always carry at least 50 in case card/contactless systems crashes (which can happen) ive seen this twice. Once in aldi last year and people just abondoned shopping as they had no cash.
Also some retail dont help themselves when it comes to customer service. Although its the bigger stores that are guilty of this. Staff talking away while serving you or too busy gossiping to notice you are waiting there to pay for goods. One example stands out years ago. A boots store one sunday clearly the girl had been out the night before with whats was left the night befores makeup still on. Open mouth chewing while talking to someone else. Even had to ask her for a bag for my items which she barely acknowledged.

retail is well known for its generous pay and conditions!

pgj2015

heroics wrote: »

Pretty much. I don’t carry cash anymore. Apple Pay for everything except Tesco as they have the same 50€ limit as contactless so have to bring a card.

Haven’t carried a wallet outside of the weekly shopping in months.

It’s dead easy to get a terminal that allows contactless now. No excuses for businesses not to have them.

look you aren't a robot yet, if you can get into the shop im sure you can get to an ATM and use it. it will take you all of 5 seconds, you pass by them multiple times a day no doubt.

pgj2015

pgj2015 wrote: »

look you aren't a robot yet, if you can get into the shop im sure you can get to an ATM and use it. it will take you all of 5 seconds, you pass by them multiple times a day no doubt.

I don’t want to touch an ATM. So if a business doesn’t want to take contactless then they can go whistle, I’ll go elsewhere.

The whole idea of supporting Irish produce and business is just posturing anyway. None of these businesses would look after their own.

pgj2015

Wanderer78 wrote: »

is there charges on the businesses side?

of course there is.I pay 2.75% of card transactions to sum up. im in business and take cash and card. id say around 90% of people pay me with cash.

pgj2015

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I don’t want to touch an ATM.

and do you not touch other things like door handles?

KiKi III

theballz wrote: »

Okay fair point. However, I am interested to understand how you have come to that conclusion? I work in e-commerce and I can assure you from the statistics we have, again, far from minuscule and the uptake post covid has been x11.

I use Apple Pay now and then, but I also carry a wallet as does everyone I know. I've never heard of anyone using their phone alone, as you'd run into immediate problems if your battery died or the contactless reader wasn't working, as happens fairly frequently.

pgj2015

pgj2015 wrote: »

and do you not touch other things like door handles?

I have to touch things like door handles. Ridiculous clutching comparison.

Enough places take contactless to not have to bother with those that don’t.

lisasimpson

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I have to touch things like door handles. Ridiculous clutching comparison.

Enough places take contactless to not have to bother with those that don’t.

You not going to win this arguement. Its not that hard to carry a bank card

heroics

pgj2015 wrote: »

look you aren't a robot yet, if you can get into the shop im sure you can get to an ATM and use it. it will take you all of 5 seconds, you pass by them multiple times a day no doubt.

But why would I bother? So I want something in shop A. Instead of going to shop A directly. now I need to stop at an atm to get cash first. And if it’s anything like the one in the garage here it’s out of order half the time.

I also need to know how much I’m going to spend so I have enough cash.

Much easier to go to shop B that takes contactless.

lisasimpson

lisasimpson wrote: »

You not going to win this arguement. Its not that hard to carry a bank card

There’s no argument to be had, I’m 100% right for me. And like I said there’s enough places taking contactless that I’m not missing anything ignoring the others.

heroics

lisasimpson wrote: »

You not going to win this arguement. Its not that hard to carry a bank card

it’s not that hard for businesses to take contactless

_Kaiser_

I pay by card for pretty much everything. Tap whenever possible to speed things up.

2 issues though.

- It would be nice if the display told you how much "credit" you have left when tapping before you need to enter the PIN again
- I'd use my phone, but PTSB don't support Google Pay. Revolut does though and I use that when in the UK to avoid the higher fees

As for the question of "supporting local businesses". As others have said, I find local retailers generally sell the same limited stock at the same prices (especially in things like tech). Why would I limit myself to what they have in the store room when I could get a better product online for the same or little extra?
Online retail is something Irish stores really need to embrace more - and I don't mean like one or two of the UK chains slapping a .ie domain on their UK (Sterling priced) site.

_Kaiser_

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I pay by card for pretty much everything. Tap whenever possible to speed things up.

2 issues though.

- It would be nice if the display told you how much "credit" you have left when tapping before you need to enter the PIN again
- I'd use my phone, but PTSB don't support Google Pay. Revolut does though and I use that when in the UK to avoid the higher fees

You don’t have to just use Revolut in the UK, you can use it here.

heroics

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I pay by card for pretty much everything. Tap whenever possible to speed things up.

2 issues though.

- It would be nice if the display told you how much "credit" you have left when tapping before you need to enter the PIN again
- I'd use my phone, but PTSB don't support Google Pay. Revolut does though and I use that when in the UK to avoid the higher fees

I’m ptsb and just transfer cash to Revolut and use that all the time on the phone. It’s instant from ptsb to Revolut.

Mrs OBumble

What's the definition of an "Irish" business?

_Kaiser_

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

You don’t have to just use Revolut in the UK, you can use it here.

I know but then you have to keep topping up or maintaining a balance. It would be nice if it just charged back to my PTSB account on demand as needed.

I'm not a fan of the whole top-up thing in general. Same reason I have a post-pay toll tag

kalych

lisasimpson wrote: »

You not going to win this arguement. Its not that hard to carry a bank card

I think you're missing his point though. If people are asked to 'make an effort' in supporting Irish businesses, why can't we ask those same businesses to make an effort and make it as easy as possible for us to support them with our money? Why do we have to jump through hoops to do so like queue at an ATM?

lisasimpson

heroics wrote: »

it’s not that hard for businesses to take contactless

If you want to suppose irish lifestyle sport on line is v good. I used them during lockdown and had the items delivered within 2/3 days. A lot more Irish companies should look to them as a example. Actually so are cummins sport based in cork. They even include a thank you note in the package. A small touch like that showing apprication fory your custom would encourages you to use them again

HBC08

pgj2015 wrote: »

of course there is.I pay 2.75% of card transactions to sum up. im in business and take cash and card. id say around 90% of people pay me with cash.

Really? I pay 1.95%
Sum up is a great yolk.

Darc19

pgj2015 wrote: »

of course there is.I pay 2.75% of card transactions to sum up. im in business and take cash and card. id say around 90% of people pay me with cash.

Sum up is for people who take minimal card transactions.

A Merchant terminal is €20-€25 a month rental and commission ranges from 0.2%-0.5% for debit cards to 0.5%-0.9% for credit cards.

Banks charge 0.45% for lodging cash.

Darc19

Darc19 wrote: »

Sum up is for people who take minimal card transactions.

A Merchant terminal is €20-€25 a month rental and commission ranges from 0.2%-0.5% for debit cards to 0.5%-0.9% for credit cards.

Banks charge 0.45% for lodging cash.

They can weigh up the cost difference vs loss of business when people are being asked to use contactless where possible. If they’re happy with that then grand but luckily for shoppers most businesses aren’t in the dark ages.

If they’re pinching that much on the price of a card transaction then maybe they should get out of the game anyway. Things obviously aren’t going well.

johnnyskeleton

Part of the problem with supporting local Irish businesses, as I see it, is that people will have changed their behaviour patterns, and it is unclear if they will revert back or will keep going as they are.

Some examples could be:

1) buying a latte on the way into work for 3e, but since lockdown have got good coffee equipment and now makes better lattes at home so won't be buying a take away coffee every day;

2) can't go to the clothes shop, so buy new clothes online and are impressed by the convenience of it;

3) reducing the amount that you drink on a night out, and the thought of going into a packed pub and drinking 8-12 pints and being hungover the next day is horrifying;

4) making more food at home rather than relying on restaurants and take aways;

5) learning to repair damaged items or to live with things that are less than perfect rather than binning them and buying a new alternative;

etc

These could equally go the opposite way i.e. pent up demand for pubs means that more people than ever go now that they're back open. The impression I get, and I accept that it is a purely subjective view, is that overall consumer demand is down.

For example, in your typical pub/restauarant, they now have maybe half the tables for customers, no standing room, and people can't stay beyond the 2 hour slot. So that in itself reduces the amount of customers they can serve. Then there is probably an increase in the number of staff needed to ensure PPE, social distancing etc. Even with that, the impresison I get is that the expected level of demand has not materialised, and if you want to go to a pub or restaurant, you can usually get a walk in table.

So I think the real challenge isn't the services that business provide, it's that people overall are just going to be hesitant to spend more for the next 6-12 months at least.

lisasimpson

lisasimpson wrote: »

You not going to win this arguement. Its not that hard to carry a bank card

He is winning the argument though.

washman3

A sandwich, 2 slices of brown sliced pan,few bits of salad and a slice of ham.
Served with a small portion of soup in a disposable paper cup.
O'Briens cafe, Cresent Shopping centre Limerick.


€11.65 :mad:


Support Irish Businesses my h##e :mad: