Stainless steel credit cards !!!

[nakedfrog]

OK... why on earth are they making these out of metals?

Edit: So a simple Google search turned up the following...

Yes, metal credit cards are usually seen as a status symbol because metal card offers are typically geared toward high-spenders with good or excellent credit. Some of the most exclusive credit cards are made of metal, and the weighty feel of the cards certainly speaks to luxury. Metal credit cards have a premium feel.Aug 25, 2023
- - -
Status! That is nutty.

I don't personally care, but when I first got a metal card, cashiers were constantly going "oooo" or "fancy" or commenting on how heavy it was compared to plastic cards. These days most places I can just tap it on a reader, which seems to process faster than inserting into chip readers.

 

[pmv]

And here I thought "Stainless Steel Credit Cards are an incredible way to cut down on plastic waste!" only to see a hord of people bitching and moaning about it.

Why is steel waste better than plastic waste? Why are there no wooden credit cards?

Maybe a heavy slab of stone? That would probably be a way to encourage you to cut down on your spending, if you had to carry a kilogram slab of rock with you every time you wanted to buy something.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Why is steel waste better than plastic waste? Why are there no wooden credit cards?

Maybe a heavy slab of stone? That would probably be a way to encourage you to cut down on your spending, if you had to carry a kilogram slab of rock with you every time you wanted to buy something.

-Because steel is 100% recyclable and plastic is basically 0% recyclable?

Don't even need to process it, ship card back, printed surface is washed and reprinted, chip is reprogrammed or replaced, and the "new" card is sent out to a new user.

The old "back in my day we recycled all kinds of stuff, we just washed the bottles and put something else in them" approach.

As more and more places accept tap payments though just skipping over the physical card and going straight to the tap to pay approach could be best.

 

[Muse]

Why is steel waste better than plastic waste? Why are there no wooden credit cards?

Maybe a heavy slab of stone? That would probably be a way to encourage you to cut down on your spending, if you had to carry a kilogram slab of rock with you every time you wanted to buy something.

For me for many years it was a cross I was carrying, being my difficulty in making money that kept me from wanting to buy things (unless I needed them). The notion of disposable income was anathema. I still dislike the concept, if you can call it that.

 

[pmv]

-Because steel is 100% recyclable and plastic is basically 0% recyclable?

Oh, true enough - though if the idea is to recycle old steel credit cards (by chucking them in the recycling bin?) that doesn't address the aforementioned anxiety about destroying them to prevent fraudulent use - unless you can somehow melt them down in a blast furnace (or however steel is recyled) yourself at home.

 

[lxskllr]

-Because steel is 100% recyclable and plastic is basically 0% recyclable?

You could just throw the thing on the ground. It's ugly, but basically inert. It'll harmlessly find itself somewhere til an archeologist digs it up and marvels over it some time in the distant future. Wood cards are interesting though, or maybe bamboo. It would be hard to fit into slots, but it would make a reasonable tap and pay system.

 

[Zorba]

My ? is WTF do they make a CC using SS?

At first it was really high end cards to make you feel more special. It actually sort of worked 8 years ago or so when I first got a metal one I got comments all the time from cashiers about how heavy it was. But I think long term they hold up worse than the plastic ones and I don't need multiple metal cards making my wallet bulky.

 

[Zorba]

All AMEX cards are centurion cards. The bank behind AMEX is the Centurion Bank which is still AMEX. The black card is probably the card you are referring to. If it was ever called the Centurion card it was not for long. It was impossible to get. You had to be an AMEX customer for more than 10 years and it was invitation only. I guess 2017 is when AMEX made the Platinum card metal. The Black Card has been metal since 1999. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card was introduced in 2009. I am not sure if it was metal in 2009.

Other card companies have really upped their game in the last 10 or 15 years.

I've never been an AMEX holder, but have gotten invitations for black.

 

[Zorba]

-Because steel is 100% recyclable and plastic is basically 0% recyclable?

Don't even need to process it, ship card back, printed surface is washed and reprinted, chip is reprogrammed or replaced, and the "new" card is sent out to a new user.

The old "back in my day we recycled all kinds of stuff, we just washed the bottles and put something else in them" approach.

As more and more places accept tap payments though just skipping over the physical card and going straight to the tap to pay approach could be best.

There is probably just as much plastic on the steel cards as a plastic card.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

There is probably just as much plastic on the steel cards as a plastic card.

- I admit I am talking more about the idea of a recyclable CC than whatever the companies area actually shipping out now (which sounds like a plastic card with a thin steel core).

Plastic cards are almost iconic of the plastic waste generated by our consumer driven society today.

Ultimately, touchless payment through phones completely cuts out the middleman as the most eco-friendly model however, so best if we just jump straight to that option.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

^^ As long as you keep hold of your phone.

If I lose one card, I only have one call to make to cancel it.

 

[Zorba]

- I admit I am talking more about the idea of a recyclable CC than whatever the companies area actually shipping out now (which sounds like a plastic card with a thin steel core).

Plastic cards are almost iconic of the plastic waste generated by our consumer driven society today.

Ultimately, touchless payment through phones completely cuts out the middleman as the most eco-friendly model however, so best if we just jump straight to that option.

A plastic card that lasts for years seems much less iconic out plastic waste than all the plastic flatware and plates used at schools because they don't want to pay a dishwasher.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I wouldn't want to have to rely on my phone to pay for stuff. Cards are simple. Yeah you still need to rely on the interac network to work, but with phone you'd have to rely on that PLUS the phone as well as the cell network. A credit card is much smaller to put in your pocket too. If I'm not going far the phone stays home. I also don't want to be forced to run a stock ROM tied to Google or Apple's cloud just to run some kind of payment app. I really hate this trend of trying to make everything phone reliant.

There is nothing wrong with plastic/metal cards and the current payment infrastructure.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

A plastic card that lasts for years seems much less iconic out plastic waste than all the plastic flatware and plates used at schools because they don't want to pay a dishwasher.

- Yes but that plastic credit card pays for all that other plastic out there. Its like self replicating consumer whore plastic.

 

[nakedfrog]

- I admit I am talking more about the idea of a recyclable CC than whatever the companies area actually shipping out now (which sounds like a plastic card with a thin steel core).

Plastic cards are almost iconic of the plastic waste generated by our consumer driven society today.

Ultimately, touchless payment through phones completely cuts out the middleman as the most eco-friendly model however, so best if we just jump straight to that option.

While they may be iconic of it, they're probably an insignificant speck of overall plastic usage, I'd think each one probably sees somewhere between 2-5 years of use before it needs to be replaced.
I'm not interested in using my phone as a payment device though.

 

[Muse]

I wouldn't want to have to rely on my phone to pay for stuff. Cards are simple. Yeah you still need to rely on the interac network to work, but with phone you'd have to rely on that PLUS the phone as well as the cell network. A credit card is much smaller to put in your pocket too. If I'm not going far the phone stays home. I also don't want to be forced to run a stock ROM tied to Google or Apple's cloud just to run some kind of payment app. I really hate this trend of trying to make everything phone reliant.

There is nothing wrong with plastic/metal cards and the current payment infrastructure.

All these phone apps drives me nuts. Which is better than which and why? Why bother? I have dozens and dozens on my Android phone and most I know jack about.

I did just install one tonight that I guess makes sense, offered by my HMO: A covid-19 vaccination card on your phone. I ran out of lines for all my covid-19 vaxes on the card they initially gave me. How many times have I had to scan that card, both sides, then scale down the JPGs, print and cover with plastic tape and trim? And you know what? I've never once shown any of these to anybody!

Now, if asked, I can fire up the app and show my shots. I don't think they show the batch numbers of the shots but do show Moderna and the dates.

 

[WilliamM2]

All these phone apps drives me nuts. Which is better than which and why? Why bother? I have dozens and dozens on my Android phone and most I know jack about.

I did just install one tonight that I guess makes sense, offered by my HMO: A covid-19 vaccination card on your phone. I ran out of lines for all my covid-19 vaxes on the card they initially gave me. How many times have I had to scan that card, both sides, then scale down the JPGs, print and cover with plastic tape and trim? And you know what? I've never once shown any of these to anybody!

Now, if asked, I can fire up the app and show my shots. I don't think they show the batch numbers of the shots but do show Moderna and the dates.

The CDC no longer uses the cards at all. Most pharmacies will only add another shot on one if you request it. Out of space? Oh well.

 

[pmv]

- I admit I am talking more about the idea of a recyclable CC than whatever the companies area actually shipping out now (which sounds like a plastic card with a thin steel core).

Plastic cards are almost iconic of the plastic waste generated by our consumer driven society today.

Ultimately, touchless payment through phones completely cuts out the middleman as the most eco-friendly model however, so best if we just jump straight to that option.

Not convinced that mobile phones are exactly eco-friendly. Huge amount of plastic and rare-elements waste involved in the mobile phone business.

 

[sdifox]

Not convinced that mobile phones are exactly eco-friendly. Huge amount of plastic and rare-elements waste involved in the mobile phone business.

Err. You are going to carry one, so may as well have it serve as a document wallet.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not convinced that mobile phones are exactly eco-friendly. Huge amount of plastic and rare-elements waste involved in the mobile phone business.

That and they have such short life spans and are fairly useless after. 5 years if you're lucky. At minimum they really need to standardize the architecture so it's more like PC. You can install Linux on even a super old PC and still get updates for it and use it for stuff. But with the way the mobile ecosystem is everything is so closed and you have to rely on the manufacturer for updates and the architectures are different across all of them. Even custom roms only go so far as they only work on very specific phones and not universally on all of them. Honestly the whole ecosystem is a mess and it seems they are designed with planned obsolescence right from the start. I always shake my head at people paying like 2 grand for an iphone, when in 5 years from now it's basically going to be a paperweight.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Make it into a shuriken.

 

[WilliamM2]

Err. You are going to carry one, so may as well have it serve as a document wallet.

I don't carry one. Gave up cell phones in 2006.

 

[sdifox]

I don't carry one. Gave up cell phones in 2006.

Do you lug a SCR300 around?

 

[WilliamM2]

Do you lug a SCR300 around?

No need. I don't feel the need to be in constant contact where ever I am. I had cell phones for well over 10 years, never used them much. Now the world is full of cell phone zombies.

When we travel, my wife has one.

 

[dank69]

the CC information is on the plastic layer, right? ...

They fuse the SS with your DNA and mother's maiden name.

^^ As long as you keep hold of your phone.

If I lose one card, I only have one call to make to cancel it.

Don't most people carry their CC in a wallet with all their other cards, DL, etc.? I think I'd be more upset these days if I lost my wallet vs. my phone.