4 ms·

It definitely feels like it takes forever and completely disrupts the motion I'm in by making me wait around to do nothing. I've never timed it but the 10 extra

It definitely feels like it takes forever and completely disrupts the motion I'm in by making me wait around to do nothing. I've never timed it but the 10 extra seconds I read [1] sounds pretty accurate. [1] https://www.cardfellow.com/quick-chip-slow-chip-card-transactions/ https://www.cardfellow.com/quick-chip-slow-chip-card-transac...

have_faith 9y ago
In the UK at least, chip takes about 2 - 3 seconds. 4 or 5 would feel long. Contactless is usually instantaneous; I assume there's more caching involved somewhere. I haven't seen anyone or myself swiped in about 10 years, and that was only because the chip reader wasn't working at the time.
- CyberMuz 9y ago
  Contactless transactions for smaller amounts are often offline approved without requesting approval from the bank/network. This takes off the 2-3 seconds of the transaction time.
csydas 9y ago
Because it's a different experience in the US versus EU. I'm a US expat and my experience at registers abroad is way different with my PIN+Chip card -most of the time I use contactless, but for the few shops that have held-off upgrading their terminal, it's still pretty fast. I barely have enough time to put groceries in a bag before I feel my phone notify me of the transaction completion and the terminal tells me to remove my card.
jdietrich 9y ago
It baffles me that the US is still struggling to get chip-and-pin working properly, when most of Europe has been using chip-and-pin for over a decade and is now transitioning to contactless. America seems weirdly bad at this sort of co-ordination problem.
- skykooler 9y ago
  America doesn't even have chip-and-pin at all; we have ship and signature, which is a security joke (I've never seen anyone check the signature).
  - tosstossy 9y ago
    This is not true. Maybe in your region of the USA chip and signature is prevalent but in my experience (SF bay area) every chip transaction has required a PIN. Or perhaps it's your card-issuing bank?
    - dmitrygr 9y ago
      Debit vs credit. AFAIK ALMOST NO US-based banks issue chip+pin credit cards. Only chip+signature. Debit cards are indeed chip+pin, but in USA you'd have to be careless to ever use a debit card anywhere but an ATM.
      - rconti 9y ago
        This. I'd NEVER give thieves access to my bank account, that's what credit cards are for. Chip transactions take ~5 seconds, it just feels slow because with a swipe you can put the card away in your wallet while the processing is happening. Chip+PIN doesn't really exist for US CCs. I've setup PINs on a few cards but they only work overseas where the terminal refuses signature.
      - inferiorhuman 9y ago
        Mastercard vs Visa. Visa issued cards do not typically support chip-and-pin. Mastercard issued credit cards often do.
- larkost 9y ago
  Because the U.S. does not have chip-and-pin, we have chip-and-sign. The main reason is that federal law in the U.S. limits the credit-card holder fraud liability to $50, and does so with language around signatures. Those same laws also set out fraud penalties for people fraudulently signing. Since all of the laws revolve around signing, we don't get PINs. There is a second wrinkle to this for Europe: because there is no equivalent to these laws, in many cases Europeans are the ones completely on the hook for fraudulent transactions as the correct PIN number is seen as evidence the consumer having leaked it. So in cases of fraud the U.S. chip-and-signiture winds up protecting the consumer much more.

have_faith 9y ago

In the UK at least, chip takes about 2 - 3 seconds. 4 or 5 would feel long. Contactless is usually instantaneous; I assume there's more caching involved somewhere. I haven't seen anyone or myself swiped in about 10 years, and that was only because the chip reader wasn't working at the time.

CyberMuz 9y ago
Contactless transactions for smaller amounts are often offline approved without requesting approval from the bank/network. This takes off the 2-3 seconds of the transaction time.

csydas 9y ago

Because it's a different experience in the US versus EU. I'm a US expat and my experience at registers abroad is way different with my PIN+Chip card -most of the time I use contactless, but for the few shops that have held-off upgrading their terminal, it's still pretty fast. I barely have enough time to put groceries in a bag before I feel my phone notify me of the transaction completion and the terminal tells me to remove my card.

jdietrich 9y ago

It baffles me that the US is still struggling to get chip-and-pin working properly, when most of Europe has been using chip-and-pin for over a decade and is now transitioning to contactless. America seems weirdly bad at this sort of co-ordination problem.

skykooler 9y ago
America doesn't even have chip-and-pin at all; we have ship and signature, which is a security joke (I've never seen anyone check the signature).
- tosstossy 9y ago
  This is not true. Maybe in your region of the USA chip and signature is prevalent but in my experience (SF bay area) every chip transaction has required a PIN. Or perhaps it's your card-issuing bank?
  - dmitrygr 9y ago
    Debit vs credit. AFAIK ALMOST NO US-based banks issue chip+pin credit cards. Only chip+signature. Debit cards are indeed chip+pin, but in USA you'd have to be careless to ever use a debit card anywhere but an ATM.
    - rconti 9y ago
      This. I'd NEVER give thieves access to my bank account, that's what credit cards are for. Chip transactions take ~5 seconds, it just feels slow because with a swipe you can put the card away in your wallet while the processing is happening. Chip+PIN doesn't really exist for US CCs. I've setup PINs on a few cards but they only work overseas where the terminal refuses signature.
    - inferiorhuman 9y ago
      Mastercard vs Visa. Visa issued cards do not typically support chip-and-pin. Mastercard issued credit cards often do.
larkost 9y ago
Because the U.S. does not have chip-and-pin, we have chip-and-sign. The main reason is that federal law in the U.S. limits the credit-card holder fraud liability to $50, and does so with language around signatures. Those same laws also set out fraud penalties for people fraudulently signing. Since all of the laws revolve around signing, we don't get PINs. There is a second wrinkle to this for Europe: because there is no equivalent to these laws, in many cases Europeans are the ones completely on the hook for fraudulent transactions as the correct PIN number is seen as evidence the consumer having leaked it. So in cases of fraud the U.S. chip-and-signiture winds up protecting the consumer much more.