My amusing encounter with an iPhone kid the other day

(January 18, 2011) | me myself and I

[dennisw]

I try not to eat junk so I was at Sweet Tomatoes a few days ago. They are a soup and salad buffet. For the carnivores they always have chicken noodle soup with big pieces of chicken in it and a great full tasting broth. They have passable pizza and very good muffins. In advance I had printed out a coupon from the internet that saves me ~17%. So I get my food and paid the cashier. I look behind me and see this 22 year old holding up his iPhone in front of the cashier. Displaying (you guessed it) the same coupon I had to dick around printing it out. She accepted it. 
I said to the kid, "I'm a dinosaur. I had to print it out" This got no reaction from him. Because when you are young you think you will re-invent the world and older people are just in the way

[Future Snake Eater]

Homer: You know, when I was a boy, I really wanted a catcher's mitt, but my dad wouldn't get it for me. So I held my breath until I passed out and banged my head on the coffee table. [cheerily] The doctor thought I might have brain damage.

Bart: Dad, what's the point of this story?

Homer: I like stories.

[9YearLurker]

I look instead at what you and the whippersnapper have in common: choosing the same place for lunch and clipping coupons, both somewhat metaphorically.

[dennisw]

The young man is forced to be a cheap bastard otherwise his data plan will go into arrears. I’ll bet he didn’t leave a tip. Why? Because he’s the iPhone generation

[struggle]

The coupon was downloaded onto the screen of the phone and shown to the clerk, who scanned the block code. The payment was FeliCa.

[Turbopilot]

I recommend you get the free Scoutmob app (if you have an iPhone or Android phone). The restaurant discounts are pretty big, typically 50% off up to $20 or so, and I’ve tried some new places based on seeing them on my list. Unlike Groupon or some others where you buy the coupon in advance, you don’t have to pay anything to use the Scoutmob discount. The server just reads the code off your phone and marks the coupon used.

(No, I didn’t make the app or know who did. I’ve just saved a pretty good chunk of money by using it.)

[RayChuang88]

That sounds like an older FeliCa payment method, especially since it required the store clerk to use an optical reader to read the block code on the cellphone's display screen. On the newest FeliCa-equipped cellphones in Japan, all you need to do is wave the phone in front of an near-field communications (NFC) reader and the payment is ready to be automatically transacted.

Hong Kong's Octupus payment card system uses the FeliCa format, but last I heard they haven't integrated it with any cellphones sold in Hong Kong.

[irishtenor]

“Those are not the droids you are looking for.” Obe Wan

[Psycho_Runner]

I did this on my Android awhile back. Forgot the emailed coupon and so when I got to the cashier and explained my dilemma, she asked if my phone gets email and I said yes and got the coupon on my phone. She was able to get the SKU number and I got my savings.

I foresee a day when this will be more commonplace. As it is,you can download a app just by using your bar scanner to
read your monitor.

[GizmosAndGadgets]

i have an iphone and i still probably couldn’t figure out how to do that.

I recommend an iOS app called "CardStar" for this kind of stuff. You can enter the number associated with various accounts and it creates the matching barcode, which can then be read by most laser-based scanners. I have successfully used this (on iPod Touch) to check-in at Delta by scanning my Delta SkyMiles number. Most often, I use it at the library. I don't have to carry any of those little keychain cards or other "rewards" cards :-)

[Rebelbase]

So how long are retailers going to keep using coupons when everyone in line is downloading them after seeing the person ahead of them use on?