Topic: Real life experience paying with bitcoin - page 4. (Read 460 times)
Bitcoin desperately needs near-field communications and integrated POS solutions. The current user experience - for both customer and merchant - is clunky and hacked-together feeling. This, more than anything else, is where crypto-currency needs the most development. Ease of use.
I've had similar experiences. The Bitcoin payment system gets too little use and staff forget how it works. The line piles up and it's not nice for anyone.
The underlying problem is that a second, disconnected payment system at a physical store is a lot of hassle, and the benefits of Bitcoin don't make up for that in every case.
The underlying problem is that a second, disconnected payment system at a physical store is a lot of hassle, and the benefits of Bitcoin don't make up for that in every case.
Let me premise this by saying that I am a firm believer of bitcoin as a revolutionary technology. I whole-heatedly believe that bitcoin will gain traction in the future, but right now, it's a consumer's nightmare.
Today for lunch, I went to the Mexicali Burrito in Cambridge expecting to pay with bitcoin. I was pretty excited, because this store was the latest to accept bitcoin in the area. I made my order and had my coinbase app fired up, ready to scan a qr code. However, the cashier wasn't ready.
Okay... Not such a big deal. He spends a few seconds to pull out an iphone, and launches what looked like the bitpay app. A few more seconds pass and it still doesn't load.
The line behind me is getting busy and the next customer is ready to pay...but this app still hasn't loaded. In the end, I paid with credit to speed up the process. When I finished paying, the bitpay app still had not loaded.
I had a little chat with the clerk during this time and he said that they were planning to stop accepting bitcoin in the upcoming month.
As it is now, bitcoin needs a face lift. It needs better PR and it needs better consumer/merchant interfaces. I still think that bitcoin is awesome, but there is still much that needs to be improved.
Today for lunch, I went to the Mexicali Burrito in Cambridge expecting to pay with bitcoin. I was pretty excited, because this store was the latest to accept bitcoin in the area. I made my order and had my coinbase app fired up, ready to scan a qr code. However, the cashier wasn't ready.
Okay... Not such a big deal. He spends a few seconds to pull out an iphone, and launches what looked like the bitpay app. A few more seconds pass and it still doesn't load.
The line behind me is getting busy and the next customer is ready to pay...but this app still hasn't loaded. In the end, I paid with credit to speed up the process. When I finished paying, the bitpay app still had not loaded.
I had a little chat with the clerk during this time and he said that they were planning to stop accepting bitcoin in the upcoming month.
As it is now, bitcoin needs a face lift. It needs better PR and it needs better consumer/merchant interfaces. I still think that bitcoin is awesome, but there is still much that needs to be improved.
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