This was how it was until places put in new terminals that refuse swipes from chip cards. Instead, you have to insert the chip portion of your card into a slot

This was how it was until places put in new terminals that refuse swipes from chip cards. Instead, you have to insert the chip portion of your card into a slot (after waiting 10s for the prompt to appear [or it will error out]). Then, you must leave your card in the slot, untouched, for about 20s. The tap terminals have existed in the US for years. Usability was pretty much the same as the swipe method: fast and easy.