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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

My sister, a retailer, didn't see it that way. It cost her something. Her normal (coffee-shop) transaction is cash. This scheme is a big loss for her.

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Remember, handling cash has costs associated with it as well. They're just not as direct as credit card processing fees.

Cash also offers a level of freedom not offered by electronic payments, something that I think our future selves will learn to appreciate.

Grrr! Cash only retailers! You don't get my money.

Didn't say that. She takes plastic too.

How would Apple Pay be a big loss for her then? From her perspective it's no different to regular debit/credit cards

Because cash can be lost in the shuffle, and there is not necessarily a hard record of it ever existing.

If everything is on the level, then there's no loss.

Why would it be a loss, then? People using Apple Pay were probably paying with a card previously, not cash. Transaction fees remain the same, POS remains the same if it already supported RFID cards, interface remains the same.

Tips, presumably.

I didn't consider tipping culture. A scourge.

Sad that you insist on paying a 3% tithe to the payment processor companies instead of bothering to carry a few pieces of paper around. This hurts your local, small businesses.

It's not the carrying of the paper that's the problem.

I have to know beforehand how much I'll need, and keep that separate from the rest of my funds. This means that I can't use it for anything that would normally come directly out of my account, and can only be used for in-person transactions.

You are over-simplifying the entire process.

Why would people not use plastic currently and now adopt Apple Pay?

Its another gadget and training and relationship with another billing entity and register programming and ....

Why would any of that be different? As I understood it, from the point of view of the retailer it's no different than a (contactless) card. So sure, she might have to update her POS, but is going to have to do that anyway. So no different gadget, no different training, maybe another processer but maybe what she's already using?

What am I missing?

She most certainly doesn't have to update her POS. She can sit tight, accept cash and cards and do fine.

My understanding was the chip and pin / EMV is coming for all merchants in the US pretty soon, regardless of what they think of it. If your forced into making that change, supporting apple pay isn't anything much additional. Of course I could be wrong about that.

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