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Comment by lsc | Hacker News Reader

>It would be nice if it had NFC for payments though.

I find this interesting. I mean, sure, when I'm buying online, having a unified wallet is really, really nice and saves me a lot of effort punching in my credit card with each site I buy from, but in person, I don't see how a phone or watch is more convenient than a credit card; I'm carrying backup cash and ID at a minimum already, so adding a credit card to the mix doesn't really lighten my load. (for that matter, the other day I found myself without a wallet but with cash and my cellphone. I ended up in a bar that took credit cards but not mobile payments or cash. It was awkward.)

What use do you find for a nfc payments solution?

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> I don't see how a phone or watch is more convenient than a credit card; I'm carrying backup cash and ID at a minimum already, so adding a credit card to the mix doesn't really lighten my load.

Not the parent poster, but I don't carry a wallet. I quite often head to the store without picking up anything on my way out, with my pockets empty, buy some groceries and pay with my watch.

Usually when I'm out for an evening at a bar or restaurant, I'm out with only my phone and watch.

I find it quite freeing not to have to carry much, but YMMV: I'm in Australia, and I don't think I've seen a 'cash only' vendor in over 6 months, and I haven't seen anywhere that takes card but not NFC payments in literally years.

> What use do you find for a nfc payments solution?

It's one of these things that you don't understand before you start using it. I was also sceptical about NFC payments, but it's just way more convenient than reaching for wallet and searching for a card. The same with reaching for phone for notifications. On a smartwatch paying and checking notifications is just smoother and instant. It's just a better UX.

In the past year I've switched from using a physical credit card to NFC payments.

I have a copy of my ID in my phone case, and now I can get away without carrying a wallet (except when I drive) 90% of the time. I've only had issues twice in the last 12 months, and in both cases the vendor blamed their equipment for the failure rather than me.

>I've only had issues twice in the last 12 months, and in both cases the vendor blamed their equipment for the failure rather than me.

that's... about what I'd expect, and personally, for a twice a year event, I'm carrying a backup. (for that matter, my credit card fails a lot less than that, and I still tend to carry backup cash or another card) it just seems like it would be super awkward to eat a meal and then not be able to pay.

I can't imagine any circumstances where paying on a phone wouldn't work in a restaurant here (in Australia). It would be a complete disaster for the restaurant since probably 80% of people are paying on their phone.

The backup here is the "cash via phone" thing. I can use my phone to get cash out of ATM, which is not NFC based (it's an in-app thing with my banking app).

the comment I was responding to (from you?) said:

>I've only had issues twice in the last 12 months,

which is often enough, for me at least, to want to carry a backup, just 'cause it's super awkward to eat and not pay, regardless of who is responsible for the equipment failure.

(I've been using the atm-via-cellphone thing and it is pretty neat, though mine only lets me use atms branded with my bank, which diminishes the utility for emergency cash. I think mine (at least Bank of America and Chase) does involve some sort of NFC? I can start the process by waiving my phone over the ATM, which resulted in me looking like an idiot, waving my phone trying to get it to work on other bank's ATMs. Reminded me of how when I first got an electric car (not a Tesla) I pulled into a supercharger and it was... several minutes before I figured out that the supercharger was Tesla-only. )

re reading this, I'm beginning to wonder if I have a stronger than usual aversion to seeming like I don't know what I'm doing? it's not something I've really thought about before. Huh.

Imagine you're not carrying an id and backup cash, which many people don't.

There you go.

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