Due to some obscure reason (don’t ask!), I had to get a money order from Singapore Post. It is no big deal really. I did it a couple of times, maybe 20 years back when I did not have a cheque book, a credit card nor a NETS card. I think back then I made some orders for books, or I made some payment for this Pen Pal service (if you remember this, you are probably as old as me).
So off I went to the Post Office near home, and I brought everything I could think of bringing – the details for the payment, my cheque book, my NETS card, some cash, mobile phone, my brains… etc. So the post office was quiet when I arrived… hmm… market share shrunk because of the infiltration of the Internet perhaps? So I told the guy at the counter I need a money order and he passed me a form to fill up.
After that, he tried to key in the amount of S$2,400 and sheepishly apologized that the max amount per transaction was S$2,000 for money order. So he asked me to fill up another form to split the amount for S$2,000 and S$400. Ok that done. Then he swiped my card to make payment for S$2,000 which went through. He tried making the second payment, but it failed because apparently, the max amount I could make via NETS in a single day is S$2,000. Damn… thus he asked if I had a different NETS card to use. I passed him the card, but after trying 3 times, I realised I must have gotten the PIN number wrong 
There goes my PIN, because it would have been locked after 3 unsuccessful attempts.
I stared at the little credit card swiping machine right beside the NETS one, and asked the guy if that could be used. He had this expression of confusion, shame mixed with guilt or simply blurness, and he mumbled something which I took to mean “no credit card facility”. Hmm… cost cutting measure by SingPost?
Anyhow, finally I could not take it anymore and I went over to the nearby ATM (across the street) to draw money. Luckily it worked. Note to oneself – stick to modern methods of payment in the future.
July 27th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Oh, I have this experience too! That’s why I carry 5 ATM cards from different banks and several credit cards.
And come August, I might encounter problems using NETS. Many retailers are cancelling this facility to boycott the raising of its fee. duh.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Yeah ECL, they should be boycotted. There are no good reasons for them to hike up the charges. Just an excuse to make more money that’s all. I really do not think their costs went up that drastically to justify it.
The price of peanuts didn’t really go up that much, so the monkeys there should be quite well fed
Me poor man no money to have that many ATM cards lah. Anyway I will lose all my PIN…
July 27th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
If my thinking is right, it is really no reason why SingPost wishes to let you pay your money order by credit card – unless you are willing to bear that 3% transactional charge (or whatever percentage).
Anyway, what is it that you are buying that is or was so obscure? That I want to know
July 28th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Yeah, but they had this little credit card swiping machine there on the counter, but it could not be used. Point is, in this modern day and age, it should be easy to make payment, compared to 10, 20 years ago. For any business, it is always better to have as many different methods of payment available to the customers rather than simply looking at it from a cost perspective. You can have bank transfers, online payment, credit card, cash cards, NETS, cash, cheque, fake bills… etc… o_O ignore the last one.