You know that sinking feeling when you’re commuting to work in the morning and then suddenly realize your cash along with everything in your entire wallet is still sitting on the night stand at home? Yeah, that was me silently panicking in my car during a frigid morning rush a few days ago.
Being well past the point of no return and contemplating a lunch of ketchup packets and tap water, I calmed down enough to consider my other resources before saying, “Wait, I got this.”
Fortunately I had my Samsung cell phone which I’d set up for Android pay. I’d already broken through the 40+-year-old technology barrier by using my phone at Walgreens and McDonalds — mainly for the really cool noise your phone makes when the transaction goes through. So I’ve got my phone with a few apps to buy stuff and I should be set for this sudden experiment to see if I can comfortably get through the day without a wallet.
It didn’t start well.
My first move was to pull into Walgreens before arriving at work for a bottle of orange juice and $20 cash back. Of course, this would be the day that my Android pay doesn’t work at the register. Three attempts at a touch-phone-to-terminal purchase didn’t work; the orange juice sat on the counter as it and the clerk watched my frustrated exit out the door.
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So what would my wallet-less survival plan B be? As lunchtime approached, I called upon my trusty Chipotle app. It took about a minute to tap in an order for lunch which was ready and paid for when I walked in about a half hour later. If I’m ever stranded on a desert island, I’d have to have my Chipotle app — loaded onto my satellite smart phone that would generate my location coordinates for the search party to find me — after my burrito bowl arrived via drone so I could enjoy lunch before being rescued.
To push this technology test envelope to the limit, I courageously went back to Walgreens for another cashless clash with counter technology. This time, the orange juice purchase went through, but without cash back, which was part of the plan.
For the final test, I attempted my first mobile cash withdrawal with my bank app. After finally figuring out how to call the boxy-looking QR code on the ATM screen, I scanned it in and out popped a $20. There’s nothing like getting technology to work for you when you need it most.
In the end, I survived the test and lived to find my wallet. I’m still not happy when my cellphone bill is due, but sending in a payment via the app isn’t as bad as a survival lunch of cold ketchup soup.
Eric Scott is a freelance writer for the Pioneer Press
Twitter: @viberider18