Update 1 – 12/10/2015: Coin saw my post and acted quickly by expediting my 2.0. I think this was good customer support on their part. Because of that I will give 2.0 its fair shot, but continue to carry my other cards until I can decide if it’s able to be trusted to the level needed to leave all other cards behind. I will report back when I have more info.
Update 2 – 2/17/2016: Coin 2.0 definitely worked better, but I still encountered issues with it not working on all systems, especially restaurants where servers took the card out of view. They will swipe too fast, it will time out, or a chip terminal wouldn’t understand it. I’m sad to say it’s just not a product that can be counted on and I no longer carry it.
In mid November 2013 I read about a new product coming to market called Coin.
Coin is a secure, connected device that can hold and behave like the cards you already carry. A single Coin can help lighten your wallet by consolidating your debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards, and membership cards. Multiple accounts and information – all in one place. — Coin
I had been waiting for a product like this to hit the market so I didn’t have any issue backing it after watching their nicely made video and reading all the info provided on the website. So on November 29, 2013 I put $55 towards the funding of Coin and my pre-order had been placed. The product was to be shipped in the summer of 2014. In the meantime I could refer the product to others and get a $5 credit for each user up to ten. By December 18, 2013 I had already reached my limit so my final out of pocket expense was $5 which covered the shipping. Seemed like a win win to me.
As someone who loves technology I already knew Coin would likely only have a few years before smart phone apps became the norm for payment processing, but what did I have to lose by trying this product? If it worked as good as they had advertised I’d have myself a nice solution until that day came, otherwise I spent $5 to give it a try.
Well fast forward to April 2015 and Coin is finally shipping after many delays. This is expected in a new crowdfunded product especially with all the technology involved and corporation with so many different banks, but they didn’t do a great job of keeping the backers in the loop of why it was taking so long. They had to test every type of terminal, point of sale system, gas station, etc. and a lot of security measures had to be met in order for them to begin shipping.
When I got mine in the mail I was excited to try it out. The day of not having to carry all your credit, debit and other cards was supposedly here. After getting all my main cards put on the Coin which didn’t work seamlessly I was ready to go. But I could say I wasn’t desperate for my credit card, as I’d already learnt What is an unsecured loan and how I could obtain it without having to put it up against a collateral.
After using it as much as possible for a six months here were some of my experiences.
- Swiping too fast is an issue. When you have to explain every time to not swipe the card too fast that gets annoying. If you forget to tell them and they walk away to their terminal like in a restaurant or bar they will likely come back and tell you “it wouldn’t work, it couldn’t be read, we can’t accept this type of card, what is this thing” along with some other reasons.
- Bluetooth Connectivity Issues. Since the product requires Bluetooth to work if you have any issues with your phones bluetooth your card will simply not work. This happened to me so many times I lost count. I don’t leave my bluetooth running all the time so when I knew I was going to use it I would turn it on and push the button to wake up the Coin. The problem though was sometimes the two just wouldn’t communicate with each other leaving me with no choice but to use one of my other cards. This became an issue of trust.
- Good luck at ATMs. It will not work on any ATM that sucks the card inside of it and it was inconsistent on the ones where you push in and pull out.
In order to only carry one card I have to know it’s going to work 100% of the time. I’m on the list for the updated 2.0 version which I’ve heard also has some of the same issues and new ones with Chip & Pin and NCF readers. I think the idea of Coin was great, but the execution just hasn’t panned out like they had hoped in my opinion. With all of the newer options coming to the market like Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay along with direct competitors like Plastc I think Coin has missed their opportunity to be “a single Coin to lighten your wallet”.
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