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Notes from Notchcode

7.17.2006

retina scans for everyone!

Why should biometrics become a standard way to authenticate someone and allow them to buy stuff?

I bring you the example of the OfficeMax cashier line.

I was in the local office supply store this morning, buying boxes to store old client files, and ended up behind two lovely old ladies, who were buying pens (or something). The first lady paid for her purchase with a credit card, and the transaction was completed in about thirty seconds. The second woman, presented with a tab of (I'm not kidding) $1.78, whipped out her checkbook. Now, I know that everyone has their own preferences when it comes to handling cash. I carry no actual money on me, as I'll usually run to the nearest bakery and spend it on fudge. Checks are a hassle, and I prefer the simple minimalism of one credit card (actually it's a debit card, but same thing). One little thing to carry around, and that's that.

[[ An aside: paying vendors is another matter: checks are very convenient, unless I'm paying off my mob-run web database company, in which case it's rolls of cash stuffed into cannoli ]]

Well, the nice woman in front of me wrote out her check for her sub-two-dollar purchase. It took a while. Nearly a minute to write the check (although I'm sure her penmanship was much better than mine ever is on a check). Another thirty seconds for the cashier to verify her identity with a driver's license check, writing the info out onto the check itself. Another thirty seconds to run the check through what is basically a scanner, which converts the check into an automatic bank transfer from the woman's checking account to the office supply store--essentially making it a debit card purchase. Five more seconds for the receipt, bringing our total to about two minutes and five seconds for a buck seventy-eight.

Now, let's forget the waiting, the eternal waiting, that someone (or a whole line of people) have to endure behind one or two check-writers. Let's focus on the cost to the business. It's obviously about four times more costly to process a check than a credit card, when looking at the time the hourly employee is spending on the transaction. Credit card companies will charge 2 percent or so per transaction, but it's a net savings if you account for the employee time spent on the transaction as well. So, the quicker you transact, the more money you save, and the happier you make your customers, which means they're not pissed off enough at you to go somewhere else next time you need ink cartridges.

So, my solution: Give everyone who has a checkbook a free retina scan/fingerprint scan/DNA fingerprint when they renew their check order. That way, they will be able to pay more quickly!

This is more than a little tongue in cheek: I know that there are obvious privacy issues with this solution, not to mention probable social/class discrimination issues, as I'm sure some demographics are much more likely to write checks for absolutely everything, ensuring that they would unduly be forced to be scanned/fingerprinted/whatever. But the office supply store example does show one thing: Time is money, and the quicker you can make a buck, the more bucks you are going to make (and the happier your client is going to be).


If you're a retailer. As for me, since I charge a million dollars an hour, I only need to work one hour a year. That's my strategy and I'm sticking to it.

posted at 4:22 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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