cash not good enough for apple

[kimba1]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?entry_id=63811

I wonder what other bussinesses does this

[Xavier_Onassis]

I suppose Apple has a right to do this, but if they are making money whenever they sell an iPad in the US, why would they turn down cash? It could be that they want the name and address of all iPad owners in their database. I think that was what Radio Shack was after years ago when they insisted on a name and address for everyone buying a battery or an alligator clip.

 

[Amianthus]

FedEx

[kimba1]

they could of insisted the warrenty to be active before they leave the store, that would insure they got customer info.

[Amianthus]

but if they are making money whenever they sell an iPad in the US, why would they turn down cash?

Their stores are not setup for cash. No cash drawers, no change, etc.

[kimba1]

credit only means thier stuff cost at least 4% more .creditcards take 3 % all purchases .

[Christians4LessGvt]

Apple has some nutty rules, but they have been enormously successful
and they also know they can get away with being cocky and basically assholes...
well...because they can. Hopefully one day competition will stuff a sock in that pie-hole,
but until then.....Apple can get away with being Apple.

[Xavier_Onassis]

credit only means thier stuff cost at least 4% more .creditcards take 3 % all purchases .

=======================================
That is typical, but I would not be surprised if Apple did not have a better deal worked out with the credit card companies.

[kimba1]

possible but doubtful.
that 3% is the primary source of income of credit companies. not every cardholder pays thier bills or is willing to pay 29% of thiers purchase .

[Xavier_Onassis]

Sometimes one card company or another will wangle a deal to get a monopoly: they will ONLY accept Visa or Amex for anything to some event, like the Olympics. The card company gets a deal because they pay a percentage to those staging the venue: this suggests that the percentage is a negotiable amount. I think that there are different amounts for some businesses: massage parlors have to pay a higher percentage than grocery stores, for example.

If the customer is more likely to pay the item off slowly, then the percent could be lower and the credit card company would still make more off the customer than they would gain from the merchant.

[Amianthus]

There are other savings from eliminating cash at a retail store as well. But discounts on card purchases are larger for higher dollar volume stores in general. In other words, the more they sell via credit card, the less the credit card clearing house will charge them for processing.

[kimba1]

hmm
I`m wondering is this the reason why some store have thier own credit cards , so they would save on not paying interest to credt companies?

[Xavier_Onassis]

The stores that have their own cards save on fees, but as a rule, they seem to end up with a higher nonpayment risk. Brandsmart is a local retailer of electronics and appliances that issued their own card, with special incentives (interest holidays and deals on closeouts, mostly) to cardholders. The interest rates were in the 15% annual range of Visa and MC.

Three years ago, the canceled the BrandsMart cards and replaced them with Visa. The new BrandsMart Visa Card has no interest holidays, and they do send cardholders an invitation to their "special sales", but everyone comes to the sales, and there is rarely room to park (The parking lot is huge), so their close out sales are obviously not so "special", as formerly they were much less attended.

Many stores have their own Visa cards now. There is no advantage to having one over the Visa card that anyone can get. The rates are higher and the fees are higher and there are more of them than for other cards I have.