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Swiping left on magnetic stripes

mastercard.com

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Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#71

Post by Kiro »

hamburgerwah wrote: post #37

Still a LOT of merchants that need to upgrade equipment to do chip cards including some large franchises. There is a real problem that chip reading devices do not yet have anywhere near the longevity that magswipe use does. Machines go out of service for repair and cleaning after as little as a month of use in busy locations. Magstripe machines typically lasted 12 months plus before needing attention.

Where do you live? I haven't seen a card terminal that can't do chip in like 15 years. The old terminals that need to be upgraded are the ones that can't do contactless but even those are rare. A card terminal that can only do magnetic seems really alien and ancient.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#73

Post by jmharvey »

stingraycharles wrote: post #34
drclau wrote: post #12

Why does it take so long? Where’s the bottleneck? Where I lived over the last years (two countries in Europe), I don’t even have to use the physical card. I just use contactless payments with the phone. Prior to that, it was contactless with card. Even ATMs work with contactless (not all, yet). Prior to that, it was chip. I honestly don’t even recall the time when the magnetic stripe was needed. (edit) Think of this:…

There’s always that old book shop that doesn’t have the latest and greatest yet. And this type of support is typically enforced by contracts; eg if you buy some device that accepts MasterCard, they promise it will be supported for at least 10 years.

I've been trying to shift to contactless payments recently, and my anecdotal experience has been the opposite: mom-and-pop shops usually have some kind of terminal from a dedicated payments company (verifone, square, etc) that's been updated in the last few years, while big behemoths (e.g. Lowe's, Fedex, USPS) are the holdouts clinging to bespoke antiquated payments hardware.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#74

Post by [deleted] »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #61
poopypoopington wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To play devil's advocate – who cares? We've had magnetic strips for decades and they work fine. Yes, they're insecure but anti-fraud measures taken by the bank can mitigate that. If this helps more stores accept payments without having a painful transition isn't that worth it? I use Apple Pay most places but I don't mind having to use a strip once in a while or if others do.

>painful transition How painful could it possibly be to go and buy a new card reader? Why doesn't the payments provider offer them as part of the service? They are not so expensive.

[deleted]

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#75

Post by anakaine »

hamburgerwah wrote: post #37

Still a LOT of merchants that need to upgrade equipment to do chip cards including some large franchises. There is a real problem that chip reading devices do not yet have anywhere near the longevity that magswipe use does. Machines go out of service for repair and cleaning after as little as a month of use in busy locations. Magstripe machines typically lasted 12 months plus before needing attention.

This is just not true. It is even less true for readers that support contactless payment.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#76

Post by jwineinger »

xahrepap wrote: post #67
throwawayboise wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The holdouts have long been the gas station fuel pumps. Though that is finally changing at least where I am many stations now support chip and tap card payments.

Gas stations around me (Utah) have all replaced their magstripe with a dual magstripe/chip reader. It drives me nuts though, because you still have to insert your card ALL THE WAY IN as if you're using the mag stripe, and then it decides which one to use. Are gas stations not a big target for skimmers? Why didn't they design it to avoid the magstripe-skimmers? have two inserts or something, I don't care. But now we'r…

In my area (Minneapolis), Costco is the only fuel station I've seen with actual tap to pay (and it handles the Costco membership check as well).

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#77

Post by JoshTriplett »

In recent years, I've had more transactions using the embossed numbers than I've had using the magnetic stripe. I've had a few taxis in various countries dig out and use one of the slide-across carbon-paper impression machines, once they got through the second or third round of "are you sure you won't pay with cash?". I've had fewer cases of "our chip reader doesn't work, please swipe the card instead".

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#78

Post by djhworld »

bryanthompson wrote: post #25
modeless wrote: post #2

I'll believe it when I see it. I heard signatures were going away years ago and yet I keep getting asked for signatures.

There are some reasons it still exists, however, it is no longer required and merchants/POS systems ought to start phasing it out. In the US, the way we do tip on receipt is a lot more natural if you're asking for a signature. Without a signature, you're just handing someone a tip option, which is awkward with our current way of doing things. Some merchants opt to keep signature enabled because it gives them a fuzzy…

When I was over there I constantly got confused around the tipping system and how some bars keep a tab open for you (by take your card and putting it in a little book at the back and then you pay/tip at the end)

I didn't trust that so I ended up just signing the receipt and adding the tip to the bottom and keeping my card in my wallet. Needless to say I think the bar staff got a lot of tips that night!

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#79

Post by whimsicalism »

judge2020 wrote: post #59
dane-pgp wrote: post #36

> By 2033, no Mastercard credit and debit cards will have magnetic stripes I wouldn't be surprised if, by 2033, people will be identified using biometrics everywhere, so you can pay with your hand print or face scan.

Maybe FedNow could take over the mobile payment industry depending on how truly instant it is, and become similar the role WePay takes in China. https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about....

WePay and Alipay have their dual in CashApp and Venmo. The only difference being that Alipay has a lot more institutional support, ie. you can scan your QR code at the grocery store - not the case with Venmo (yet).

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#80

Post by bovermyer »

ryandrake wrote: post #65
aidenn0 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA is a big holdup. I just traveled across the country and there are still filling (petrol) stations where the only card reader is stripe. See also other comments about the stripe being a fallback for chip as chip readers on POS terminals seem to be more fragile than magnetic stripe readers. FWIW, Contactless is very hit-or-miss for me in the US; about 1/3 the time it just doesn't work at all (even with multiple…

Yea, the Achilles Heel of contactless (or phone/NFC) in the USA is the uncertainty that it's supported and the terrible UX for failure cases. How many times have you had this happen? Your groceries are all rung up and the POS terminal is waiting. You dig out your phone or contactless card and try to invoke the contactless payment system. Nothing's happening. You wave it around a little. Still nothing. Grocery cashier…

I dunno, I've had plenty of instances where swiping a card doesn't work. Sometimes I'd have to put a plastic bag around the card and _then_ swipe it.
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