Always Trying to Be Fair

It´s about time I said something good about Brazil, so I will tell you of an area where I think they are ahead of the U.S.

ATM machines in Brazil have scanners, and every bill/invoice you receive has a bar code. I have never sent a payment through the mails in all the time I´ve been in Brazil; I just go to my nearest ATM. If you don´t like using those impersonal ATMs, you can pay your bills at the teller´s window. Better yet, you can apparently pay your bills at virtually any place that can read bar codes. I´ve seen people paying bills at the supermarket (which is really irritating if you select a line because someone´s cart is virtually empty only to have them pull a stack of invoices out of their purse) and at the department store.

I don´t know how long this system has been in place. The possible irony is that the U.S. simply bypassed this phase and went directly to internet banking. Also, this system may have developed here because Brazil´s postal service is much less user friendly than the one in the U.S. The Brazilian PO is dependable and reliable in terms of making deliveries, but it is much less friendly when you want to mail something (like a payment). There are no drop boxes around town and the postage rates, as near as I can tell, are not set in any way that would allow you to slap a stamp on an envelope and feel comfortable sliding it into a mail slot.

To be fair, on-line banking is available in Brazil for making payments, but it is not quite as easy to set up as it is in the U.S., or at least as it was in the U.S. way back when I started using it. Heitor uses it and one of these days I need to get his help in getting me set up too.

What prompted this post was the recent experience of having my U.S. credit card declined at a pharmacy website where I have used it for five years. I have had the experience in the past with other on-line retailers of having my U.S. card refused for on-line purchases, but having it accepted for the same purchase when made in the store. While all this is frustrating when it happens, it reflects an internet security consciousness one is loathe to criticize.

When my credit card was disallowed for the pharmacy purchase, I discovered one of those things that has been right in front of my eyes for years. Many, perhaps most, on-line retailers allow you to print out an invoice with a bar code and trot over to the bank (a five minute trot for me) and pay it. This seems to me an option that, if it were available in the U.S., would appeal to many people who have a lurking fear of making credit card purchases on the internet. We hear stories of the horrible hassles people have had to endure because of credit card fraud and/or identity theft and we worry that sooner or later it is in store for all of us.

My Brazilian bank´s debit card would also function as a credit card if I just went through the process of setting it up. But I wouldn´t have discovered this ability to print out an invoice if my U.S. card hadn´t been declined.