Credit Card Parking Meters

About four months ago, the City and County of Honolulu activated its first credit card parking meters on downtown streets. I finally saw one last week, and even got to use it.

Of course, I was only going to be in the parking space for a few minutes as I waited for the wife to run an errand, so I didn't use my credit card for the measly 25-cent charge. But it was interesting to see and use.

We are rapidly fulfilling that long-time prediction that we're becoming a cashless society. I remember maybe 12-15 years ago when I was staying in downtown San Francisco and dropped by a fast-food chain for a snack (I forget which one). I could have swiped a credit card for my purchase if I wanted to. Of course, I didn't want to at the time.

Today, maybe I'd do otherwise. After all, I charge as little as 99 cents for an iTunes app purchase on my iPad, or an ebook on Amazon.com. So a small credit card charge is beginning to make more and more sense as it's easier to pay a credit card balance off all at once, than keep digging cash out of one's pockets.

But, where do I draw the line? Certainly not at a quarter.