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Comment by FractalParadigm | Hacker News Reader

I'd wager it's the same reason they're getting rid of parking pay booths and parking meters - it's a hell of a lot cheaper for people to install your app and pay through that, than installing traditional payment options. Why would you pay for the debit/credit terminal, then the monthly fee to connect it to the internet? If people want to use your service so badly they'll install your app.

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You mean of course it is simpler and cheaper for the provider, not for "people" (the users).

For actual users nothing beats the simplicity of paying via contactless card (or mobile) payment solution. Right now I have probably over a dozen apps installed just for paying for various services like parking (of course, each city/country has its own), it is _madness_, and I'm not even using anything special. I hate this passionately and would actually pay for simplicity!

I disagree. It's easier for me to have my payment method attached to an account and that account to be automatically debited whenever I connect my car.

It’s sorta also creates a situation where you need to have a smartphone with a decent specs to access basic services like parking and fuel. Whereas earlier it was any legal tender.

I wonder if a lawsuit could be brought against companies that restrict how they accept payment for services. It would seem like something like cashless stores would be illegal if cash is legal tender.

The constitution only specified that cash can be used to settle debts or pay taxes. Stores can (and many do) refuse cash.

You also need to read and write to access basic services.

I wonder where we could just provide all stubborn people with basic government endorsed smartphone just to shut up this argument.

The Government does provide free public education to cover the read/write parts.

And yes, absolutely a subsidy for folks to get a decent smartphone would be just fine.

No business is required to do business with you. Now, if you incur a debt and then they refuse to accept your money, that could potentially be a problem, but otherwise it's perfectly ok for them to refuse your cash at the register and tell you to leave without the products you wanted to purchase.

I have two apps for EV charging, one app for finding charging stations, two apps for parking, one app to connect to the car, and another app to connect to an OBDII bluetooth dongle. My PTSD flairs up (slight exaggeration) whenever I see a new company offering chargers or parking.

Higher costs for the provider translate into higher costs for the customers.

Which is fine by me.

Look, I'm not saying there shouldn't be an app at all, all I'm saying is that people should not be forced to use the app.

Lower costs for the provider do not necessarily translate into lower costs for the customers, most likely higher profits for the provider.

Sometimes. Sometimes it comes out of corporate profits.

If it’s cheaper for them, why isn’t it cheaper for us?

> For actual users nothing beats the simplicity of paying via contactless card (or mobile) payment solution.

Not true. The next level of simplicity is not having to do anything at all (eg just plug in to charge and have the money deducted automatically). NFC or fiddling with an app on a phone is definitely worse than that. But now we need more standards to enable it for anyone other than teslas.

It's also easier for me to pay for parking on app rather than - look 5 minutes for parking meter - type car plate number on an antiquated unergonomic keyboard that doesn't work really well in winter - go back to car and put the paper behind windshield, which accidentally is opposite the direction I want to go - few hours later realize that I want to stay longer than I've bought parking for, and go back to prolongate it

>Right now I have probably over a dozen apps installed just for paying for various services like parking (of course, each city/country has its own), it is _madness_, and I'm not even using anything special.

Here in Poland I can do this in my banking app for pretty much every parking in my country. Blame your shitty parking providers rather than technology.

There still needs to be a terminal of sorts to enable charging, usually with a big touch screen these days, and of course it needs to be connected to power and internet. Can't be cheaper than a gas station style card reader - where gas stations sometimes even save on costs by having one card reader for multiple pumps or the whole station.

There's no terminal on Tesla chargers. You just plug in and it starts charging.

For non-teslas, this isn't an option so you have to use the app.

The normal solution is: you drive up, you fill up, and then you go inside and pay when you're done. No app, no smartphone, no problem. You can pay cash or card.

Why in the world would you complicate this?

There's nothing complicated about a Tesla charging.

You drive up. Plug in. Done.

There's no app. There's no wallet.

There's no kiosk or attendant that has to be maintained or paid.

That requires staffing (at a 24/7 level ideally). I just did a cross country drive in a Tesla and most of them are in stations that are around stores, malls, hotels or restaurants - but none of them are staffed. The costs of these stations are already high, adding a physical building that is staffed by somebody 24/7 will just make it even harder to build and more expensive.

How is getting out of your car, walking to a valet or booth to talk to a person, and paying where they ask "What is your stall number?" less complicated than literally just plugging in your car?

To be clear, if you have a Tesla, there is NO app needed. There's nothing. You literally just plug in and it works. That's better than any gas station I've ever been to.

FYI - This isn't a Tesla EV thing. This is an EV thing. EVERY network basically requires either an RFID card or a smart phone app: ElectrifyAmerica, Chargepoint, SOMA, Flo, EVGo. I can't think of one that doesn't.

> EVERY network basically requires either an RFID card or a smart phone app

My Mach E isn't a Tesla and charges on EA stations by just plugging it in. I don't have an EA app. There's a standard protocol for this negotiation. Lots of chargers don't yet support it, but the technology exists for non-Teslas to have a plug and charge experience.

go inside and pay when you're done.

Go inside where and pay whom? The vast majority of charging stations I've seen are unmanned.

Right. I was thinking of non-Tesla terminals. I'm sure its not an insurmountable obstacle to add terminals to future or current charging points (if they are forced to by regulators)

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