When I came to Vancouver, I was surprised at how easy it was to shop. With just one credit card, you can shop almost anywhere. Touch payment is the norm, so you don’t have to insert your card or enter your PIN. You can also use touch payment to ride the train. It’s really convenient to be free from the hassle of carrying coins and transportation cards.
In Japan, there are a lot of “XX Pay
You often have to use a different app for phone number list each store. In contrast, here, even small stores almost always accept credit cards. Cash is rarely used.
Self-checkouts are commonplace in supermarkets. They are especially convenient when the store is crowded. What’s interesting is that sometimes the self-checkouts are crowded. For some reason, everyone seems to prefer self-checkouts.
Bank transfers are also easy. With a function called E-transfer, you can send money as long as you have the recipient’s email address. There’s no need to look up account numbers or go through the transfer process. I think this simplicity of payment is a big attraction of life in Canada.
That said, it’s not without its hassles
Not the least of which is paying for parking. There are so many different apps to use at each parking spot in Vancouver, and each one comes with a fee.
Another inconvenience is that, unlike optimising campaigns based on cost per click (cpc) in Japan, you don’t pay for the time you park later. Here, you predict the amount of time you plan to use the parking lot and then pay the fee. For example, in hospital parking lots, it’s very inconvenient because you don’t know how long your appointment will take. It’s easy to extend your time by using an app, but I still don’t like the “pay in advance” system. If you have extra time, you feel like you’ve lost out.
Parking fees are also expensive in downtown Vancouver. You might think, “I just have to pay it without being stingy,” but the frustration of paying for three hours but only using it for one hour never goes away. Maybe you just have to get used to it.
What surprised me even more was
How change is handled. In south africa business directory Vancouver, it seems that any change less than 5 cents is rounded down. There is no culture of giving exact coins to reduce the change like in Japan. In fact, it seems they don’t even bother to do such precise calculations. I rarely use cash, so I never paid any attention to it, but I was a little surprised by this.
Still, there’s no doubt that daily shopping is now a comfortable experience. The combination of credit card and touch payment makes it hassle-free. Although there are some small inconveniences, shopping in Vancouver is generally a pleasant experience. I’m really grateful that there are systems in place that make daily life even a little easier.