Black Friday Panic at Macy's: People Report Credit Card System Outage (fastcompany.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Macy's might have celebrated an increase in share price on Black Friday, but it seems like the retailer will end the day with a lot of lost sales. Many of its customers recently took to Twitter to complain that its credit card machines are down, and that they can only pay with cash.

Comments

O. M. G!

[Frosty Piss]

I wonder how many murder / suicides this will result in?

But seriously, do they not load test in the run-up to these extravaganzas?

Re:O. M. G!

[tlhIngan]

Businesses should always be prepared for a system failure or power outage. I was in a local shop recently when the power failed. It took them less than a minute to get a box of paper based "kerchunkers" from the manager's office and put one at each register. Sales lost: $0.

That works for the mom and pop shops, but for bigger chains, the registers do a lot of the cash tracking because otherwise you'd have to train teenagers how to handle cash and cash tracking. It's also a lot easier when most of them can do credit card payments because they don't have to count cash or figure out counterfeits and other things.

Basically computers have made it so the cashier can be pretty dumb. There is no need to keep track of cash versus credit transactions, keep track of credit slips, keep track of cash in the cash box (if you ever wonder why a cashier would trade a bill for an equivalent amount of coins, it's so their cashbox comes up even - if the register says they should have $3,293 in there, then there has beter be close to $3,293 in there (and that includes the starting amount so you can make change).

If your cashiers are properly trained, yes, you can still maintain business, somewhat. Though it's usually easier to stop credit transactions because those can take an annoyingly long amount of time to ring up (if you're using the manual methods, some stores may require calling into the payment processor to obtain an authorization code).

Re:O. M. G!

[omnichad]

Raised/embossed numbers are no longer a requirement (and flat cards are much easier on the wallet too) for card issuers. Most of my cards are completely flat now.

A few people who know what's accepted where they're going may only have their phone with them for Android Pay / Apple Pay.

Re:O. M. G!

[omnichad]

Sure - but it's far more likely to be in violation of PCI compliance. Either way, declined cards are probably a bigger risk than lost sales for a bigger chain store.

Re:O. M. G!

[BronsCon]

But seriously, do they not load test in the run-up to these extravaganzas?

No. Last time I was there for a one-day sale (unplanned, so I didn't have my Macy's card with me), their system for looking up Macy's accounts was down. There was an additional 20% off that day if you used your Macy's card so, while I was able to still make my purchase, I didn't save as much as I could have.

Their website seems to be broken and unable to display Macy's card account info more often than not, as well.

It's almost like they've forgotten they're not some mom and pop operation.

Re:O. M. G!

[myid]

Businesses should always be prepared for a system failure or power outage. I was in a local shop recently when the power failed. It took them less than a minute to get a box of paper based "kerchunkers" from the manager's office and put one at each register. Sales lost: $0.

Last summer on a hot day, I was in a Target store when the power failed. Backup lights went on immediately. People who looked like managers went quickly from one checkout station to another, doing something. Everything at the checkout stations worked except the conveyer belts; you had to move the stuff towards the checker by hand.

When I drove away, the signal lights in the area weren't working, so the power loss wasn't the store's fault.

When the managers were going from one checkout station to the next, I don't know if they were enabling an override or what. But whatever they were doing, it looked like they knew what to do, and that they had practiced getting the checkout stations back online; they were prepared.

Old adage

[boudie2]

Never borrow money unless it's for something you can make money with.

Re:Old adage

[AvitarX]

Why would you assume that a credit card purchase is for the loan?

I get 2% cash back, and price protection for 60 days.

That means if they do better sales in January (likely), I get the discount, and it's easier than dealing with various stores.

Between the two, I save about $300-400/year, and 200 of it is zero effort.

Re:Well..

[phantomfive]

Fools pay with cash. When you pay with credit cards, you get cash back.

(And don't make a stupid argument that the price is increased to pay for the "cash back"........of course it is, but the people who pay with cash pay the same price as those who pay with credit cards, just don't get any cash back).

Re:Well..

[jmccue]

Well you are correct, but in reality:

# 1. People do not have the cash, so they need to borrow to buy what they cannot afford. If Credit Cards were to disappear, the world economy will crash faster then it ever has.

Also there seems to be a push worldwide to do away with cash completely, I think a couple of countries already have. What I have read this seems to due with "stop the criminals", but I think is is more like 'monitor the public'.

Re:Well..

[tk77]

This exactly. I pay with credit cards because i get cash back or points towards things like gift cards for places I actually buy things. I'm paying the same price at the register as someone who is paying cash, except that I get back a percentage of what I'm paying for to reduce the cost of something next time.

Not everyone is using credit cards because they can't afford things. I hardly ever carry a balance on mine and pay them off right away. I also don't like carrying a lot of cash around with me. If someone steals the money off you while your out shopping, you've probably lost it for good. If someone steals your credit card you can simply cancel it and get a new one. Any charges incurred will be wiped away.

Re:if u have 2 use a credit card

[DontBeAMoran]

Without credit, most of the american, european and asian retailers would have to close down.

Re: Plays right into the governments hand

[easyTree]

Watch out!

I hear they're monitoring Aluminium sales. Once you cross the secret threshold, black helicopters will be outside foil-mart waiting to intercept you on your next shopping trip. For safety, distribute your transactions amongst the shell corporations you control.

Why I pay with cash...

[b0s0z0ku]

If stores get the majority of their payments by cashless means, they'll drop the option of paying in cash. This is bad from a privacy, anonymity, and economic class (immigrants and the poor are more likely to be un-banked) perspective. This also puts more power to track purchases in the hands of governments, banks, and marketeers.

I think of the slight inconvenience as doing my part to slow down the slow erosion of privacy in the US.