In the UK one of our larger train companies is still using pre-hated handheld card terminals they bought from British Airways over 20 years ago on their buffet counters.

Fun fact: They apparently aren't connected to anything, and transactions are processed later, so basically any valid card will go through regardless of funds etc.

The market for shoddy bacon baguette & gin fraud is presumably fairly limited.

>Fun fact: They apparently aren't connected to anything, and transactions are processed later, so basically any valid card will go through regardless of funds etc.

Cards however have a special "service code" on the mag stripe/chip. Certain cards like the Monese debit card or debit cards for customers who are not allowed to go into overdraft can only be used for online transactions. So they wouldn't work in this case where the transaction is authorized offline.

Source: My experience with cards in Germany where the train company is processing credit cards the same way.

Another fun fact. Before card terminals became universal, it was common for different cards to require their own handheld terminal. A sales desk may have had half a dozen or so, in order top process the card.

I really wish I could find that video again. It was interesting.

You may laugh but those bacon baguettes are pretty expensive ;)

> pre-hated handheld card terminals

I assume that first word isn't what you meant, but I can't come up with any substitute. What was it supposed to be?

I think it says exactly what it is meant to say. It's 'pre-hated' as opposed to 'pre-loved', that being a common euphemism for 'second hand'. The implication being that BA sold on a bunch of old, beaten up card-reader terminals that they no longer had any use for...