Dreamscape: I said hire me

Untouched by Touch

It was one of those contactless payment nightmares, and it truly was a nightmare. I was with a close family friend, and we had boarded a train within the city to travel from one location to another.

Upon arrival at my destination, my mobile phone simply refused to provide the NFC-related information and contactless payment interaction to let me through the exit barriers.

Despite my efforts, my friend easily exited and waited for me as I began to look like a fare dodger. However, I had indeed touched in where my journey began and was struggling to touch out.

A Free Pass Granted

One of the staff came to help, first directing attention away from us before moving us outside the perimeter of the checking system. Effectively, I was beyond the exit barriers and could go on my way.

However, having touched in, if I did not get a legal touch out, I could potentially be fined almost 10 times the cost of travel. I needed this resolved before I was subject to a cash grab from my account.

Finding a Solution

Upon reviewing transactions on my phone, I found that the entry contactless system had failed to register my touch-in properly, posting an Error 21, indicative of a fault with the system rather than a mistake of my own making.

I approached the staff who called in a technical architect to review the error. While acknowledging the error was not my fault, he opted to do nothing about it as he prepared to take his dogs out for a walk. As far as he was concerned, the cost was too minuscule to warrant concern.

Meanwhile, in my examination of the information related to the error, the company admitted fault and offered compensation for the inconvenience. As the architect was walking away, I inquired about the compensation, and he promptly signed off a few free tickets for daytime and nighttime travel.

Fighting My Corner

It was his attitude that was grating, inconsiderate, and failed to recognize the needs of the customer. To which I vocally stated, for all to hear, “If your company needs a technical architect with an eye for detail and solutions to help the customer, please immediately hire me.”

That was completely out of character for me; I am not typically one to express myself in that manner. However, I felt irked and disrespected; it needed to be said. All that agitation, and it was only a dream.

How technology is changing retail shopping

Self-service bagging errors

The march of technology is quite inexorable, and it is quite noticeable in retail stores. You are somewhat caught unawares by the developments, for instance, self-service checkouts were introduced in The UK when I lived in the Netherlands.

I had bought some goods in the Sainsbury’s local store when I realised, I was in a self-service queue unschooled about where to place my basket or the scanned goods. “Unexpected item in Bagging Area.” The till screamed, until a member of staff came to help.

Now, supermarket self-service checkouts are commonplace that you only consider manned checkouts for volume purchases or where a branch has not installed the self-service systems.

Touch and be fleeced

I was also late to the contactless payment inception, as my bank card did not have the feature, I had to apply for a new card and with that a change to my debit card number which I had memorised and the addition of the contactless payment feature. Just the ease with which money can be extracted from your account without additional verification like a PIN.

Courtesy of SuitsMe (The anatomy of a debit card.)

At present we can pay up to £45 for purchases and this contactless feature can be activated in you mobile banking app if your mobile phone has Near-field Communication (NFC). This limit is to be raised to £100 and that must bring security implications as it presents a lucrative angle for criminality. The possibility that air raiders might have kit to swipe money off your card and out of your account by walking by.

Maybe, one has to consider electromagnetic interference shielded wallets to shield cards as added security as the limits get increased without the need for user verification.

Bin for totals

Then, a few weeks ago, I stepped into Uniqlo where I have never shopped to get some thermal underwear for my sister. I saw no checkout tills or counters until I was pointed in the direction of receptacle bins and advised to throw all the purchases into the bin. The total cost came up automatically that I was too taken aback to consider what technology was at play. I was both amused and impressed.

It was when I was at Decathlon in Leeds that I had more of a presence of mind, you had to fill the bin in one go, basically pour your shopping basket into the bin, and watch the screen total up the cost of your purchases. This was exploiting Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology which is used to identify and track objects first against theft by shoplifters and now if you can identify the object, why not add the price too? Primark, get up and going, those queues are so last century.