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I hope this takes off solely so I can pay with a credit card directly at my table at restaurants instead of having them take it to back of house. Much of Europe
by bpicolo 8y ago
I hope this takes off solely so I can pay with a credit card directly at my table at restaurants instead of having them take it to back of house. Much of Europe has been doing this correctly for a long time now
- techsupporter 8y agoI'd even be happy if the United States can go one step prior to this and actually have the customer-facing portion of the terminal (the bit with the slot, keypad, and NFC reader) actually face the customer. I'd use tap-to-pay and such far more often if I could reliably use the part of the terminal that's supposed to be for my use and if it said up front if tap and insert are supported. Instead, right now we get this madness, especially at a lot of smaller shops, where the clerk is using the merchant side box to enter the payment amount then fumbles around with the customer side pad to insert the card and complete the transaction for me. Just let me tap or enter my PIN, please. (I have two cards that are PIN primary. I've put stickers on both that read, in large letters, "THIS CARD USES A PIN PLEASE ALLOW ME TO ENTER IT." On one of them, it has, in smaller letters, "THE TRANSACTION WILL DECLINE IF YOU DON'T.")
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- seba_dos1 8y agoThat's exactly how it usually works everywhere here in Poland. The terminal faces me, I tap the card to it and enter the PIN. At least in my bank, PIN is needed for every transaction above 50 PLN, so I can't imagine it any different.
- mikepurvis 8y agoWhat you want is also how it works in Canada, pretty much universally.
- atombender 8y agoI'm on the East Coast, and I find that lots of stores have the user-facing terminals now. Either the are tablets that flip or turn, or they are a permanently outward-facing screen like the Square one. The latter type is definitely preferable.
- flamtap 8y agoIn Canada, the server generally just brings a terminal to my table with the bill. They put in the amount owed, and I use the terminal to add tip and complete the transaction.
- harryh 8y agoSpeaking as an American, I've always found at-the-table swiping to be kind of strange, at least for higher end meals. It puts the commerce part of the evening a little too front and center for me. Or maybe I'm just not used to it.
- adamtulinius 8y agoYou prefer strangers running away with your credit card?
- techsupporter 8y agoI suspect a lot of comfort with what happens with credit cards in the United States comes from people believing that their card issuer will simply handle the problem if any fraudulent or merely unauthorized charges appear. There's no risk from the card going out of sight if the card is useless because the card issuer will reverse charges upon request. (Moving to chips, even with signature, is supposed to alleviate the main source of fraud here, that being cloning the card.) That said, I'm with you; I much prefer to have my card handled just once and within sight. It is faster, safer, and, to my mind, simply more convenient.
- Slartie 8y agoYou are probably right, but that comfort comes at a price, and the price can be seen right there in the original article: 2.6% + 10 cent credit card payment overhead. And that is considered "cheap"! By contrast, in the European Union there's a cap of 0.3% on credit card interchange rates and 0.2% on debit. Of course that's just the raw interchange fee; a small merchant has to pay more than that to its card processor, but there are all-inclusive, Square-like offers for debit card processing fees below 1% for small merchants, and larger ones manage to keep both debit and credit processing cost way below 1%. So the "comfort" of being able to hand over your credit card to someone who takes it out of view and possibly does unauthorized stuff with it increases prices of all the stuff you buy by roughly 2-3%.
- 8y ago
- mynameisvlad 8y agoCanada switched to that sort of system when chip+PIN was introduced many years ago, so the hardware is available in North America as well from major providers like Verifone. It's just that you need more terminals for concurrency with such a system, and it's not integrated into the full POS system so the waiter/clerk has to actually input the amount. Nobody wants to pay extra if they don't have to, which is why it's not as quick to rollout in the US. Chip+signature in the US still doesn't require the customer to interact with the payment terminal, so I doubt US restaurants and other businesses will be quick to switch to this or other handheld terminals.
- BorisMelnik 8y agoI prefer the privacy of the waiter going and coming back - there are a lot of social norms involved in "getting the check" and bringing the terminal to the table would really disrupt that, possibly for the better but who knows. Imagine going out with some clients and getting "insufficient funds" notice what an embarrassment that would be...the waiter acts as a buffer or could in some cases get your attention. But your definitely right from a security perspective and privacy this is much better...other than the insane fees they collect :)
- sleet 8y agoYou can always go to the cashier to pay in private.
- lotophage 8y ago> I prefer the privacy of the waiter going and coming back I don't. I creates an opportunity for credit card skimming.
- BorisMelnik 8y agothey could skim right in front of you and you wouldnt know..or maybe you if your an engineer but the other 99% would not
- thetinguy 8y agoWhat do I care if they skim my credit card? It’s not my money until I pay my bank. I can report a fraudulent transaction and request a new card right from my bank’s app.
- user9182031 8y ago..and then be forced add the new card to every service you have set to auto-pay like Amazon, Steam, Audible, Verizon, etc.
- gbear605 8y ago
- rhizome 8y agoI don't think all restaurants should emulate the Chili's experience.
- bpicolo 8y agoThey DO already in much of Europe. Every single restaurant in Norway operates this way. It's fantastic. You pay and go on your own time and you don't worry about your card getting skimmed. Nothing not to love.
- spc476 8y agoAt Chili's (an American chain restaurant) they have these payment devices on each table. I can't stand them. First, they take up space on the table that can get quite crowded with all the plates and glasses that tend to accumulate during the meal. Second, they play constant ads (great, now each table can have a TV! What a wonderful distraction). Third, I've experienced about a third of the time, the device isn't working properly, or breaks down partway through paying (my coworkers and I now treat the device as if it'll shatter if you so much as look at it wrong). And fourth, it seems to take longer to pay when the check is being split vs. the waitron [1] taking our cards and processing the payments given the verbose nature of the UI. And finally, I don't know if a skimmer has been added to the device by previous customers. It is left on the table. [1] General neutral term for waiter/waitress.
- dragonwriter 8y ago> waitron [1] Or, if you don't want to sound like you are describing a robot using a term Merriam-Webster describes as “vaguely disparaging” [0], you could use the gender neutral term almost universally used in the industry, “server”. [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waitron https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waitron
- spc476 8y agoThank you! I knew there was another term but I couldn't remember it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- dangerboysteve 8y agoMany places already have this in the US. They have longer range table side machines or cellular based. These have been around for years. Its up to the establishments to choose the terminal they want to use. https://merchantservices.chase.com/payment-solutions https://merchantservices.chase.com/payment-solutions
- cco 8y agoAlmost, but go further. QR code on your table, open Square Cash app and pay directly from your phone and automatically divvy up bills between guests.