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From: lmg@houxb.UUCP (L.M.Geary)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Department Store Credit Cards: Why?
Message-ID: <263@houxb.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Mar-84 18:53:36 EST
Article-I.D.: houxb.263
Posted: Tue Mar  6 18:53:36 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Mar-84 06:40:14 EST
Lines: 35

#
	The discussion about Sears credit cards reminds me of another
of life's annoyances: stores that won't accept conventional credit cards.

	Last fall I was shopping for shirts in Syms Clothing store.
It took me almost an hour to find three good shirts (I'm tall and thin
and picky, too), then I loaded up on underwear and headed for the
checkout counter. As I stood there, arms overflowing, I saw the SIGN:
"Cash, checks and Syms charge only." I flushed red with embarassment
and anger, broke out of line and confirmed it with a clerk. It was true.
I couldn't pay. I had to put everything back where I found it.

	I don't carry cash. I don't *believe* in cash. I'm anxiously
awaiting the dawn of the cashless society. I carry a few bucks in
emergency money in case I can't find an Exxon station or have a Big
Mac Attack, but other than that I live by Visa, MC and AmEx, and just
about anyplace I'm likely to patronize will accomodate me.

	Checks? Who besides Bob Keeshan can carry a checkbook in his
pants pocket? Who actually *accepts* checks without also asking for
a major credit card for ID? Checks are for paying credit card bills.

	Rhetorical questions aside, why do some stores insist on issuing
their own credit cards and rejecting commonly available cards? Syms has
six stores in the universe and discounts, so it isn't prestige. You might
say they can't afford the overhead the card vendors charge, but the same 
could be said of the audio/video joints, and *they* take cards. Macy's
and Bamberger's issue their own cards. The Rainbow Room takes American
Express. What gives?

	Any ideas?

					Larry Geary
					AT&T Information Systems
					Holmdel, NJ ...houxb!lmg