Next up, I think, are regular payment numbers which can be applied to recurring charges — you set an amount and a regularity and they allow that charge amount to go through on roughly that schedule from that one company which initially places it (having gotten the CC number from you). If the amount changes or they attempt to make the charge outside the proper regularity, it’s held for confirmation or rejected, an e-mail is sent advising of the problem. (I also think that most of the financial companies make vastly inadequate usage of the notification power of e-mail, even if that’s only to say “please visit us, we have something which requires your attention”)

One thing I’m REALLY surprised no one has figured out is specialty deposit numbers — i.e., if you give someone a number they can, via CC, make a deposit directly into your account. This could be of particular use for landlords and so on, anyone who regularly gets checks and has to pick them up and deposit them.

The late Dr Michael Hammer advised executives to “staple yourself to an invoice” (or an order, or whatever the particular business transaction may be) and observe how it flows through the business system and where the delays, wasted effort, and bottlenecks might be. Pretty clear that wasn’t done in this case.