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[Frumple]

Which seems to still have predacons (near the end of it, apparently)? I don't think I've meaningfully interacted with the series since approximately when Beast Wars initially aired, but it seems to. You can't escape the furry transformers.

[King Zultan]

Nobody escapes the Furryformers, they're furries that transform into different kinds of furries!

[McTraveller]

Oh man, it's worse than the marketing people seeing what they can get away with, apparently the goofy name of the Sony-Honda automotive joint venture is intentional!

I can't take companies seriously with names like that...

Spoiler: if you haven't heard-I seriously can't keep a straight face (click to show/hide)

Afeela

[Frumple]

Huh. It's somehow at the uncanny meeting place between too chummy stoner and sexual predator. I can think of ways it could be worse, but that's still kinda' impressive...

[King Zultan]

Okay I'm lost why is it funny?

[EuchreJack]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A-feel-a, likely pronounced "I-feel-ya".  The "A"s make it sound like a fundamentalist terrorist organization.

[martinuzz]

Laughing at Activision Blizzard for not expecting that the game developer they bought to help with WoW is trying to create a Labor Union.

C'mon.... They developer they bought... Their name is 'Proletariat'. What did you expect?

[Loud Whispers]

Laughing at Activision Blizzard for not expecting that the game developer they bought to help with WoW is trying to create a Labor Union.

C'mon.... They developer they bought... Their name is 'Proletariat'. What did you expect?

COS WE ALL LIFT TOGETHAAAAAA

[martinuzz]

Supermarket chain ALDI opened a supermarket without checkout in the city of Utrecht.
Cameras in the store combined with a mobile app for the customer register which products are taken, and the bill is automatically charged.

However, to access the supermarket, customers need to register to the company app, and provide their credit card information for that.

What ALDI seems to have forgotten though is.... People in the Netherlands rarely use credit cards. Less than 1 in 3 dutch people even have a credit card. It is mostly regarded as one of those silly things from the USA that we don't need.
Buying on credit is kinda viewed as a mental problem. Get money first, then buy things.

And those 1 in 3 that do have a credit card most certainly do not belong to the customer class that goes to the ALDI. Poor people go to the ALDI, because it is cheap. Poor people do not have credit cards.

Unsurprisingly, since the credit card is the only accepted payment link for the app, the supermarket has had zero customers so far.

[Akura]

Huh. We have an ALDI in our town(my mom buys her milk there), and they don't have anything like that. They do require a 25˘ deposit to use a shopping cart - you insert a quarter to unlock the cart, and you get it back when you return it. The selection is... interesting. It's not what I'd buy on my usual shopping trip, but stuff I'd browse through and maybe buy, but I wouldn't because I wouldn't go there during my usual shopping trip.

That said, I absolutely abhor this kind of thing. Automatic charging without customer input is a terrible thing, in my opinion. I mean, what's to stop it from charging you for something you pick up, but put back down, if the camera doesn't see you put it down?

I also understand that opinion on credit cards. My mom keeps telling me to buy things with my credit card, except I can afford what I buy and thus shouldn't have to pay more buying with credit.

[Frumple]

I'm just kinda' curious if netherlands is primarily cash, now (which would be a fairly significant negative t'me, heh). If they're not using a card, what are they using and why isn't the store linking into that instead? Like, I don't have and don't like using a credit card, but I have a debit card which more or less the same functionality, just... not on credit. More convenient than cash, and it's just part of the basic services the bank I use provides.

[martinuzz]

It is indeed a horrible, dystopian idea to have supermarkets work like that. I am happy this experimental location seems to be failing.

The normal ALDI supermarkets are okay-ish though. I buy some of my groceries there once in a while, because they are cheap.
The original concept of ALDI which makes it so cheap, is that they do not spend much time and effort on product display.
It's mostly just racks with the products still in their opened wholesale delivery box.
This way, an ALDI supermarket can run on a barebone staff. No need to hire a dozen highschool kids to keep the shelves filled in a neat and eye pleasing way.

I'm just kinda' curious if netherlands is primarily cash, now (which would be a fairly significant negative t'me, heh). If they're not using a card, what are they using and why isn't the store linking into that instead? Like, I don't have and don't like using a credit card, but I have a debit card which more or less the same functionality, just... not on credit. More convenient than cash, and it's just part of the basic services the bank I use provides.

We are all using bank cards, just not credit cards. They are directly linked to our bank account, you enter a 4 digit 'PIN' code at the checkout's terminal and pay.
We also have ATMs to withdraw cash. Both cash and 'PIN' are accepted methods of payment almost everywhere. Public transport only accepts cards. Some market stalls or pizza delivery services and similar small retail only take cash.

[Frumple]

Ah. Yeah, bank card and debit card are more or less the same thing. It's fairly common over here for debit cards to actually be able to function as a credit card (up to and including having a credit line it defaults to if for some reason it can't withdraw normally), too... it's somewhat weird that doesn't work in this case. If those bank cards are ones that operate through the major card networks (i.e. they're a visa or mastercard or whatever operating with the bank), there's no reason they wouldn't function just fine where a credit card is needed.

[King Zultan]

I don't think I'll get any credit cards because they just seem like terrible thing.

[scriver]

Ah. Yeah, bank card and debit card are more or less the same thing. It's fairly common over here for debit cards to actually be able to function as a credit card (up to and including having a credit line it defaults to if for some reason it can't withdraw normally), too... it's somewhat weird that doesn't work in this case. If those bank cards are ones that operate through the major card networks (i.e. they're a visa or mastercard or whatever operating with the bank), there's no reason they wouldn't function just fine where a credit card is needed.

Might have to do with... I don't know the words. But basically isn't it the case that since card exchanges don't get sorted immediately, you keep the money you've already "spent" on your account until it gets sorted through the next work day or whenever. So if you go into a store with 20 bucks in your debit card account you could possibly make repeated purchases that each cost less than 20 dollars, but together would sum up to much more?

But then again even if you did they would still have all your information to sue you for fraud. So the only thing they would gain from enforcing credit cards would be that the overflow of purchases would go unto the credit bill automatically.

But yeah I am not into bank mechanics, I might be speaking in misgivings here.