Just wondering how wide spread this card is. Just picked one up tonight but not sure if this is a pilot or not.

http://www.timhortons.com/en/timcard.html

A pre-paid coffee card. Now I've seen everything! :D

I've heard about it - meant to speed up their drive-thru service for the most part. I'm not a really big coffee drinker so I doubt I'll be getting one anytime soon.

Also a great way to collect information about their customers.

Seems every retailer is getting in on the "tracking" game, though I do notice Winners has cooled it quite a bit.

Love this blurb from the Hortons site: "Please note that the remaining balance of an unregistered card cannot be replaced even if we are notified of its loss or theft."

Nice!

I would guess this is their way of trying to get customers to stop using cash (that way they don't need to train the new employees on how to count the coins :p). They brought in paypass not so long ago but I guess there aren't very many people with paypass cards so this would be the next logical step. I know I have a paypass card and most of the cashiers at places that take paypass don't even know what it is!

Tim Hortons Introduces Quickpay Tim Card (http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2007/25/c8227.html?view=print)

Convenient if you're a frequent customer. Great for Tim's to speed up service.

Even better if they were to pass on the savings in the form of a minor discount for using the card.

TO the comment about losing your balance on an unregistered card - makes perfect sense to me. They have no proof you ever had a card if you don't register it. Why would you expect to get your money refunded?

remaining balance of an unregistered card cannot be replaced even if we are notified of its loss or theft

Are you suggesting they should? I don't put a lot of faith in some humans being that honest. I.E give your card to your buddy then ask for a free replacement.

I was at a Canadian airport recently and waited about 30 minutes to be served (I had nothing else better to do). The customer in front of me stepped up to the counter after waiting the same amount of time and asked if they took debit? The answer was no. Thanks for stopping by. :rolleyes:

I picked one up last night. I have been saying for years they need to come out with this exact card so I am going to take full credit for its implementation. :)

I rarely have cash on me so having this card that I can load up with cash online and just leave in the car is great.

Its great for Tims because they get your money up front.....

Its great for Tims because they get your money up front.....

Hence the reason they should apply a discount when you use the card:

A) To speed of service and improve throughput
B) To use your money before you cash in on the coffee

Using this card probably slows things down. The cashier needs to hit something on the display, you have to swipe the card (hopefully it goes through the first time) and then it has to print a receipt.

If its the same as the Starbucks card, which has been around forever, it'll speed things up. People who pay debit or credit slow things down all the time. This card is as fast as cash and sometimes quicker if you don't want your receipt.

You say that.....but why is it that some people are too lazy to get out of their cars and go in, when there is no queue inside, but the drive thri is packed? No wonder people are getting fatter :rolleyes:

Oh by the way, timmys don't take debit, which is stupid IMHO. They can stick that card where the sun don't shine ;)

...as a merchant, debit and credit transactions reduce profit. If the introduced either or both, they'd just jack up the prices to justify! :eek:

Funny how they accept mastercard though eh :rolleyes:

You say that.....but why is it that some people are too lazy to get out of their cars and go in, when there is no queue inside, but the drive thri is packed?Yeah I've noticed that ... don't tend to go in Tim's much ... not a great selection of coffee's in my experience - and when I do, I'm quite happy to stretch my legs.

What get's me though, is when I'm stopping in a plaza that has a Tim Horton's in (to go to something else), and when I try to get out, I'm trapped in my parking spot by a long line of people trying to get in the Tim Horton's drive-through - despite there being empty parking spaces everywhere. When I honk at them to give me space to get out, they act as if they've got some god-given right to foul up the entire parking lot, so that they drive through, instead of getting a spot (which ironically would be faster). I could understand it if you've got small kids, in the winter - but people by themselves on a nice sunny day!

So will this card work? Or are Tim Horton's clients too lazy to get out of the car to charge up the card ... perhaps they'll get a drive-through for that too.

You say that.....but why is it that some people are too lazy to get out of their cars and go in, when there is no queue inside, but the drive thri is packed? No wonder people are getting fatter :rolleyes:

Oh by the way, timmys don't take debit, which is stupid IMHO. They can stick that card where the sun don't shine ;)
Actually, most of the Tims around Calgary do take debit. If this card works the same as a Starbucks card I will be interested in getting one.

Perhaps Calgary Timmy's are more civilized than the ones in the GTA? Word of advise to the lazy sods that can't be bothered to get out of their cars, getting out of your car and stretching your legs, might actually shed a few calories off ya, before you tank up again. :rolleyes:

In the Greater Vancouver area the acceptance of debit varies by store. The one by my work does take it (its connected to a Wendy's for reference) but one of the ones by where I live doesn't and the other does. Actually, come to think about it, the one by my house that does take it is also connected to a Wendy's and the one that doesn't is a stand alone.