Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S • Hacker News Board

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#221

Post by khedoros1 » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:21 AM UTC

skookumchuck wrote: post #189

repiret wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just last November I miswrote a check where the digits and written amount differed, and it was processed for the written amount, which has traditionally been the controlling value.

I was taught to write the number as $400 23/100 One day about 3 years ago, all such checks started coming through as $4.00, and I wound up with late fees and such. Although the bank denied it, it was pretty obvious they'd just changed their OCR software. I now write the checks as $400.23

You weren't taught to write it as "Four-hundred and 23/100", and then "$400.23" in the little box?

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#222

Post by scbrg » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:21 AM UTC

marssaxman wrote: post #124

Mindless2112 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For Visa, the merchant should require your card to be signed because a card with no signature is invalid. Other credit card companies are probably the same. > Unsigned Cards > While checking card security features, you should also make sure that the card is signed. An unsigned card is considered invalid and should not be accepted. If a customer gives you an unsigned card, the following steps must be taken: > • Check…

I stopped signing credit cards several years ago, as an experiment; how long will it take someone to notice? I'm still waiting.

They check in certain countries. I live in Sweden, but recently started to travel to Taiwan regularly. I never signed my card in Sweden, but I've been asked to sign it in Taiwan.

Funnily enough, I have been refused to pay a hotel bill with my unsigned card, since the clerk couldn't verify the signature. So he had me - in front of his eyes - first sign my card, then sign the bill, and then he double checked that the signatures were identical (which they're not - my signatures always come out different).

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#223

Post by craftyguy » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:24 AM UTC

post_break wrote: post #141

Can we also standardize the noise the machine makes when the transaction is a success? You know that sound "ENGHH ENGHH ENGHH" that is somehow a positive sound? It's like an alarm clock sound. Why is it not a positive "Ding!" And some will say well it's to remember your card. Well if that's the case, how about force the POS system not to print the receipt until the card is pulled? Or better yet, why does the card hav…

This is dependent on the machine reading the card, not the card, or technology, itself. This horrid noise is not present on machines used by many vendors..

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#224

Post by gst » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:26 AM UTC

rav wrote: post #206

gst wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most European cards use Chip & PIN with pin preference: If the terminal supports it the card will ask for a chip instead of a signature. Chip-based signature transactions are only used as fallback if the terminal doesn't support pins (which is very uncommon). Unfortunately most US cards don't use a pin code at all. There are a few issuers that provide you with a pin code, but even in those cases there's typically a s…

> Those cards work great in Europe, but are sometimes a pain to use in the US. E.g., if you're paying at a restaurant and you have to go with the waiter to the terminal in some backroom, because the terminal asks for the pin. Huh? I have a European card (chip & PIN, PIN preference), and at restaurants in the US I've always signed and never had to go to the terminal in some backroom.

Depends on the restaurant. Most of the times the terminal doesn't support PINs and so it falls back to signatures. But some restaurants use PIN-capable terminals in which case that issue occurs.

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#225

Post by joe_fishfish » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:31 AM UTC

ag56 wrote: post #202

sitepodmatt wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tipping still happens in Europe and SE Asia it's just not silly like North America. In the UK we'd leave a few pounds typically, let's say table bill was 47gbp, you have be a shameless mingebag to collect the 3gbp change if you were happy with the meal and service. But we don't subscribe to the non sense of 10% tip if unhappy, 15-20% if happy, if crap you don't leave a tip or pay service charge.

Most places in the UK now have an "optional" service fee of 12% on the bill.

This is much more common in London than in the rest of the country. Thankfully.

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#226

Post by paulie_a » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:33 AM UTC

It's not like the signature actually mattered. I've literally wrote "blah blah"

That is when the signature pad actually works.

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#227

Post by bambax » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:34 AM UTC

> For nearly a decade, Doug Taylor, a sales manager who travels often for work, has signed credit card receipts with a doodle of a dog wagging its tail.

Well, this story/hoax/experiment from the late 90s was at the time the funniest thing I had ever read online:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130120184305/http://www.zug.co...

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#228

Post by alkonaut » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:36 AM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #210

justinator wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May a livable wage working an industry job happen right before.

For cheap restaurants, where servers are likely earning minimum wage, the tips are a gift to the employer, not to them, since the employer can discount the tips from the wage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_Stat...

Maybe at the same time as the US lives through the 20th centurty revolution of livable wages, something could be enacted that prevents employers from stealing from employees?

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#229

Post by jwdunne » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:38 AM UTC

paulie_a wrote: post #226

It's not like the signature actually mattered. I've literally wrote "blah blah" That is when the signature pad actually works.

I've left one unsigned and another had the strip wear off to the point the card says "VOID VOID VOID".

Never once stopped me using them. I'm glad for it because my signature isn't exactly consistent.

In fact, I don't think the swipe and signature method is generally allowed in the UK.

Re: Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

#230

Post by alkonaut » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 6:38 AM UTC

I once saw a cashier compare the signature on the back of the card (There is a little field for "signature" on the back of credit cards) - to the one I signed.

When I noticed I hadn't signed my card he said he couldn't accept my purchase, so I had to sign the card first, then he could compare the signature...