some special way the customer can swipe the card (pulling it out too quickly or something). When chip cards were introduced here, the cards and the readers wer

some special way the customer can swipe the card (pulling it out too quickly or something). When chip cards were introduced here, the cards and the readers weren't very reliable, so the rule was "if the reader can't talk to the chip, you swipe the card instead". This would happen if the card wasn't fully inserted, if the contacts were dirty or corroded, etc. That lasted maybe two years before the fraud increased and the reliability improved to the point that the fallback wasn't worthwhile. Now if a chip doesn't read the answer is "try it again" followed by "do you have a different card?"