If you haven't used a debit terminal before, it's a way to pay for groceries and such with your ATM card. Many grocery stores on the west coast do not accept credit cards (because of the expensive merchant fees), but they will accept your ATM card as a form of payment. And because they are guaranteed payment, and are charged only a flat fee per transaction by the bank, most stores are happy to give you cash back with each debit transaction.
The only catch in using a debit card at one of these terminals is that your card has to be on one of the same networks that the debit terminal uses. On the west coast of the US, the most common networks are Star or Interlink, and Explore (which is, oddly enough, controlled by Star). In Canada, the primary network supported by debit terminals is Interac, so this is less of a problem there.
Ordinarily, merchants will post logos of the networks that they support. Ralph's does not. However, I tried my card anyway. It failed, for a very bad reason.
Don't get me wrong. I would not have been upset if the card failed to work for a good reason, such as not being supported by the network. Unfortunately, after sliding my card, entering my PIN, and waiting for the transaction to process, I was greeted by the following error message:
Only Explore and Interlink networks supported.I tried my card again. I also tried my credit union ATM card (which also supports the Interlink network) and received the same message. No joy for me. No cash back.
My best guess is that Explore is the most common network in California, and because my card is also a Visa debit card, the debit terminal was confused about how to authenticate it. After several tries, the checker (who was less than pleased with my response of "Do you care?" to her lackluster "hihowareyou" query when the transaction began) became visibly impatient, and I paid with cash.
Ah, cash. At least that still works.
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