Words On Wednesday

I temporarily lost my credit card over the weekend, which resulted in a short but intense panic. However, even had I lost it for good, it occurred to me how much better it is to lose a credit or debit card than cash. Had I lost cash, it would probably have been gone for good. While there are kind souls out there who might try to return the money, how do you differentiate your bills from those that belong to other people? Other than knowing the individual serial numbers of every bill in your wallet (which, really, who would do that?), a $20 is a $20. I’ve heard of instances in which people were able to prove their loss by knowing the exact amount, but I’ll be honest, I have no idea how much cash is in my wallet at any given time. And that still depends on someone being exceptionally generous. I guarantee you there are more people who would just keep the money than those who would even attempt to return it. Similar to losing the money, what happens if you get mugged? That cash is gone. E...

Some merchants allow customers to receive digital receipts via email. Why can’t everyone? The Benefits of Digital Receipts Toys R Us is a surprisingly tech-savvy store chain. They allow NFC tap and pay, and you can even have receipts sent to your inbox instead of getting a paper copy. For me, this is amazing. First and foremost, it gives me something that I’m far less likely to lose. If I get a paper receipt, I usually just throw it in the bag with my merchandise. For items that I may need to return, I’ll put the receipt in my wallet. Either way, it usually gets lost or thrown away within a day or two. By opting for an email, I have a semi-permanent record of my purchase that I can’t exactly lose, and I can even search my email for later. Unless I delete the email, which I rarely delete emails, I have records of basically any purchase I’ve made at Toys R Us within the past few years. In addition to giving me a digital record of my purchase that I can easily find later, email re...