IBM Granted "Paper-or-Plastic?" Patent

theodp writes "On Tuesday, IBM was granted US Patent No. 7,407,089 for storing a preference for paper or plastic grocery bags on customer cards and displaying a picture of said preference after a card is scanned. The invention, Big Blue explains, eliminates the 'unnecessary inconvenience for both the customer and the cashier' that results when 'Paper or Plastic?' must be asked. The patent claims also cover affixing a cute sticker of a paper or plastic bag to a customer card to indicate packaging preferences. So does this pass the 'significant technical content' test, IBM'ers?"

Comments

Re:debit or credit

[jacquesm]

the reason the merchant prefers debit is because it is a fixed per payment charge for them, but credit card payments are a fraction of the amount charged.

Re:How about - ATM language pref

[hughk]

Many ATMs do this in Europe, they take the fact that you have a non-local card and either offer you a menu in the country of origin or offer you a choice. I have taken a German ATM card to the UK and the ATM switched to German automatically.

Re:This won't have an effect in Belgium

[zugmeister]

At the risk of killing my karma, this may help illuminate that oblique reference.