Factoid: The three most popular credit cards for small businesses are, in order: (1) Visa (2) American Express (3) MasterCard
George and I went to Sam's Club today to buy supplies for tomorrow night's Barroom Blitz II play-testing session. Like any typical Sam's Club run a person makes, I ended up putting bunches of other stuff that caught my eye into the cart -- stuff I didn't necessarily need, but that was at a good price, or stuff I wouldn't ordinarily buy in volume except that it seemed like a bargain, etc., etc.
After we load up the cart, I leave George with it, so I can go to Member Services and renew my membership (haven't used it in like 18 months... oops). As I'm waiting in line, I notice that the sticker on the counter reads like:
We Accept (Some type of Discover Card) ... (Some other type of Discover Card) ... (Some other type of Discover Card) ... and then icons for "ATM", a generic "Discover" logo, and the various Sam's Club charge accounts.
"Do you not take Visa?" I asked the woman behind the counter.
"No, not for a year."
"How about American Express?"
"Nope."
"MasterCard?"
"Nope."
"The three most popular credit cards which in total control like 85% of the credit card market and you don't accept any of them?"
"Nope."
"Riiiight, guess I don't need to renew my membership, then."
... at which point about $150 worth of groceries was left to sit in the cart, abandoned in the middle of Sam's Club. If they won't take my money, they won't take my money, what can I do?
But, in all seriousness, how can a retailer have a motto like "We Are In Business For Small Business" and not accept the credit cards that small businesses are actually using to run their daily operations with? I mean, that just seems either downright fraudulent or stupid, I'm not entirely sure which.
Tangent: Discover doesn't uniformly implement Card Security Code processing - the cards have them but they are pass-through on every processor out there - making "card not present" fraud insanely easy with Discover (and nearly so with Amex).
Since this fall, the Sam's near me doesn't take any credit or debit cards, only the Sam's Club Credit Card. And cash. And, checks, I think. I thinked them by not renewing my membership.
Costco doesn't accept any cred*it card*s except American Express. I think it's standard for discount warehouses to not accept many cred*it card*s to save costs.
Thankfully Sam's is too far away for me to care about a membership. A friend of mine purchased a desk that I really liked at Sam's so I thought I would go in and take to look to see what they had. Walk in the door and I get trounced by security because I didn't have a card, didn't want to be a member unless they had said desk, and didn't want to give them my personal info so they could make sure I wasn't going to steal a f*cking desk out the front door.
I can honestly say I will never, ever, ever use a Sam's club membership as long as I live. The palce is completely full of nut jobs buying 48 packs of toilet paper to save $2.00.