Our OP Shop has to give an annual report to NSW Fair Trading. It has to be done online, and the required fee paid with plastic.
Here's the gripe: The payment of teh fee can be done by credit card. It can also be paid using a debit card, provided it is a Visa debit card. The Op Shop banks with the only bank in town - Bendigo Bank, which is not tied in with Visa. A physical debit card works well for the shop since it can't be used for fraud by anyone associated with the shop. The payment of the annual fee to Fair Trading is the only payment that would require the use of a credit card. The annual fees for a credit card would exceed the fee to Fair Trading.
So, in order to pay the fee, one of the members who has a credit card has to be with the Treasurer at the computer in the person's home ( we don't have in the shop because we don't need one) so that person's card can be used and then the Treasurer has to reimburse the person. The job gets done, but how inconvenient?
The coming problem for a lot of people is that Banks will not issue personal credit cards to pensioners, but will issue debit cards. It seems that the officials at Treasury, who are in employment so can get a credit card, are not aware of this problem and blithely introduce payment systems that are impossible for amny people to use.