3 ms·
I disagree - I'm in the UK where these have been standard for a long time (I've had cards for around 6 years or so, and I have only ever used the old swipe when
by Latty 11y ago
I disagree - I'm in the UK where these have been standard for a long time (I've had cards for around 6 years or so, and I have only ever used the old swipe when travelling).
My experience is that it takes way less time (I'd say 3-4s, maybe it's a connectivity issue?), and (comparing to what I have done travelling and memories from watching my parents in childhood) any time you did save with a swipe is instantly eaten up by signing taking far longer than tapping in a pin (not to mention the magstripes wearing out faster than the pins).
As to 'saving a handful of frauds' - I was shocked at the ease of fraud in the old system. When I was in the US, I felt uncomfortable with the staff taking my card (here in the UK, it's always in my hands) - often taking it out of my sight, and a colleague had 'Please ask for ID' rather than a signature on his card - he never once got asked for it, implying that the signature check is valueless, because apparently no one does it.
- paulmd 11y agoThe US doesn't have chip-and-pin, we have "chip-and-sign", plus the older magstripe system (and the CC number is still necessary for online purchases). As of this spring update I'd estimate vendor uptake is about 30-50%. So half the time you either swipe and wait 2 seconds for it to beep that you need to insert, or you insert and wait a couple seconds for nothing to happen and be told to swipe. The chip mode is poorly integrated into many POS systems - at most local groceries even if you tap "card" and insert the card it will make you go back to the screen and push "card" again, or take several seconds before it accepts it. Then it processes for ~5 seconds, then you need to sign. Some of this is teething issues with rollout and POS integration, but the signature is unfortunately not going away.