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When I was in Australia this August, most waiters were "Stunned" that I didn't need a pin to buy things. It doesn't take much to "Stun" a waiter when it comes t

When I was in Australia this August, most waiters were "Stunned" that I didn't need a pin to buy things. It doesn't take much to "Stun" a waiter when it comes to tech.

hug 7y ago
Where in Australia were you? I ask this because, as an Australian, I pay for essentially every single purchase on Apple Pay. Everyone I know uses mostly their phones to pay. Everyone I know has been using contactless payments on their credit cards (or visa/mastercard debit cards) for the past 5 years. No one enters their pins on transactions under $150. Depending on the payment method, that number can be a lot higher.
- mmcallister 7y ago
  Yeah, I've lived in Australia all my life and for the past couple of years I've used my phone to pay for everything...even transport[1]. People don't look twice if you use contactless payments [1] https://transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/opal/contactless-payments https://transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/opal/contactless-paym...
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  If it was a tourist spot, it may have been surprising for someone with an American accent not needing a PIN.
  - threeseed 7y ago
    Which would imply that the waiter is in fact quite savvy since they understand the intricacies of credit card authorisations for different countries.
    - NamTaf 7y ago
      Not particularly, anyone here who deals with sales for any amount of Americans will quickly see that they're the odd one out with contactless. It's not that there's heaps of different scenarios, it's that there's America and the rest of the world.
  - grogenaut 7y ago
    to be clear, they were surprised that a chip reader worked WITHOUT a pin. and that I couldn't contactless. Everyone was saying "tap here" when I walked up to pay. "no tap". Pretty much every purchase. They didn't know all the bells and whistles on their machine. It'd be about as surprising as if I whipped out a personal check and they found their machine had a reader for that.
- grogenaut 7y ago
  Melbourne: 9 days (near chinatown, the G, The Espy) Sydney: 9 days (Circle Quay, Barangaroo, Blue Mountains) Cairns, Airlie Beach, Yeppoon, Hervey Bay, Brisbane (2-3 days each). I'm American, my card doesn't do contactless, nor chip and pin. I also used old straight swipe cards while there for fun. I used cards for most purchases except at the melbourne market and a few other places where cash was required.
  - hug 7y ago
    Ah. I must have misunderstood your point, that they were stunned at just how anachronistic American payment tech is.
    - grogenaut 7y ago
      that and that their machine supported it.
threeseed 7y ago
This is an odd comment. We haven't needed a PIN to buy anything like dinner in Australia for close to a decade now. Only exception is if you are going for a more expensive dinner where you might be. But then I doubt your credit card company is overriding that security precaution.
- kylorhall 7y ago
  In AU/NZ think the default limit is like $75–$150, depending on the type of shop? With Apple/Google/etc Pay in AU/NZ, the same limit seems to apply as with chips. Above the limit, with Apple/etc Pay, I usually need to sign and have the card physically on you if the merchant asks for it. I think even my Paywave card requires a signature if used via Google Pay, but a Pin without, but I almost never use that one for large transactions. Above the limit with Paywave/Chip/etc would make you enter your pin (and you already have the card on you). If you're paying for expensive things, Apple/Google/etc Pay is a bit worse UX in my experience.
  - hug 7y ago
    Your comment is unclear, and I can't tell if you're talking about any of the above happening in Australia or elsewhere. In Australia signatures are not considered a valid form of identification for transactions. It's PIN or nothing.
    - fphhotchips 7y ago
      That's actually not true either. It depends on the card and the issuer. In particular, contactless Amex cards will occasionally fall back to signature.
NamTaf 7y ago
Honestly, this runs so counter to the experience that not only I but everyone I know has experienced here, that it almost sounds made-up (though I'm not accusing you of that). We use contact for everything, with the limit being (for me) $100. Signature is explicitly not allowed any more (overseas cards excepted), with anything over $100 requiring chip + PIN instead. When I say everything, I mean that I don't recall the last time I saw someone use cash to buy a coffee, and the one mate I have who uses cash when he's out at the pub is a unique anomaly to me. Even our public transport systems are (slowly) moving towards augmenting existing NFC transit cards with just allowing you to tap your CC on the reader and charging you a ticket fee directly. I generally don't even bother carrying cash any more, and the biggest payment issue I encounter is whether AmEx is supported (since contactless terminals don't necessarily display that during the payment process). I would be taken aback if one waiter here was "stunned" by you not needing a PIN to buy things. For "most" to be so beggars belief. As a sibling comment said, the only explanation I can think of is that if you're clearly American due to your accent, then many service staff will be used to Americans being the single different group who can't use contactless and thus prepare to hand over a pen for signature whenever they hear the accent.

When I was in Australia this August, most waiters were "Stunned" that I didn't need a pin to buy things. It doesn't take much to "Stun" a waiter when it comes to tech.

hug 7y ago

Where in Australia were you? I ask this because, as an Australian, I pay for essentially every single purchase on Apple Pay. Everyone I know uses mostly their phones to pay. Everyone I know has been using contactless payments on their credit cards (or visa/mastercard debit cards) for the past 5 years. No one enters their pins on transactions under $150. Depending on the payment method, that number can be a lot higher.

mmcallister 7y ago
Yeah, I've lived in Australia all my life and for the past couple of years I've used my phone to pay for everything...even transport[1]. People don't look twice if you use contactless payments [1] https://transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/opal/contactless-payments https://transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/opal/contactless-paym...
ceejayoz 7y ago
If it was a tourist spot, it may have been surprising for someone with an American accent not needing a PIN.
- threeseed 7y ago
  Which would imply that the waiter is in fact quite savvy since they understand the intricacies of credit card authorisations for different countries.
  - NamTaf 7y ago
    Not particularly, anyone here who deals with sales for any amount of Americans will quickly see that they're the odd one out with contactless. It's not that there's heaps of different scenarios, it's that there's America and the rest of the world.
- grogenaut 7y ago
  to be clear, they were surprised that a chip reader worked WITHOUT a pin. and that I couldn't contactless. Everyone was saying "tap here" when I walked up to pay. "no tap". Pretty much every purchase. They didn't know all the bells and whistles on their machine. It'd be about as surprising as if I whipped out a personal check and they found their machine had a reader for that.
grogenaut 7y ago
Melbourne: 9 days (near chinatown, the G, The Espy) Sydney: 9 days (Circle Quay, Barangaroo, Blue Mountains) Cairns, Airlie Beach, Yeppoon, Hervey Bay, Brisbane (2-3 days each). I'm American, my card doesn't do contactless, nor chip and pin. I also used old straight swipe cards while there for fun. I used cards for most purchases except at the melbourne market and a few other places where cash was required.
- hug 7y ago
  Ah. I must have misunderstood your point, that they were stunned at just how anachronistic American payment tech is.
  - grogenaut 7y ago
    that and that their machine supported it.

threeseed 7y ago

This is an odd comment. We haven't needed a PIN to buy anything like dinner in Australia for close to a decade now. Only exception is if you are going for a more expensive dinner where you might be. But then I doubt your credit card company is overriding that security precaution.

kylorhall 7y ago
In AU/NZ think the default limit is like $75–$150, depending on the type of shop? With Apple/Google/etc Pay in AU/NZ, the same limit seems to apply as with chips. Above the limit, with Apple/etc Pay, I usually need to sign and have the card physically on you if the merchant asks for it. I think even my Paywave card requires a signature if used via Google Pay, but a Pin without, but I almost never use that one for large transactions. Above the limit with Paywave/Chip/etc would make you enter your pin (and you already have the card on you). If you're paying for expensive things, Apple/Google/etc Pay is a bit worse UX in my experience.
- hug 7y ago
  Your comment is unclear, and I can't tell if you're talking about any of the above happening in Australia or elsewhere. In Australia signatures are not considered a valid form of identification for transactions. It's PIN or nothing.
  - fphhotchips 7y ago
    That's actually not true either. It depends on the card and the issuer. In particular, contactless Amex cards will occasionally fall back to signature.

NamTaf 7y ago

Honestly, this runs so counter to the experience that not only I but everyone I know has experienced here, that it almost sounds made-up (though I'm not accusing you of that). We use contact for everything, with the limit being (for me) $100. Signature is explicitly not allowed any more (overseas cards excepted), with anything over $100 requiring chip + PIN instead. When I say everything, I mean that I don't recall the last time I saw someone use cash to buy a coffee, and the one mate I have who uses cash when he's out at the pub is a unique anomaly to me. Even our public transport systems are (slowly) moving towards augmenting existing NFC transit cards with just allowing you to tap your CC on the reader and charging you a ticket fee directly. I generally don't even bother carrying cash any more, and the biggest payment issue I encounter is whether AmEx is supported (since contactless terminals don't necessarily display that during the payment process). I would be taken aback if one waiter here was "stunned" by you not needing a PIN to buy things. For "most" to be so beggars belief. As a sibling comment said, the only explanation I can think of is that if you're clearly American due to your accent, then many service staff will be used to Americans being the single different group who can't use contactless and thus prepare to hand over a pen for signature whenever they hear the accent.