Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, it was very confusing the first time I went to the US for more than a couple of days. When getting some cash, I was used to putting the card in ATMs and leave it there during the operation. In the US, the ATM did nothing before I took the card out. When I came back I kept pulling the card early.
That is to help you so you don't forget your card in the ATM after you finish your business.
Swiping left on magnetic stripes
151–160 of 325 posts
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#152Why 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:…
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Especially in a pandemic, why why why require a signature for anything? This is one of the few things that would reduce exposure that we already have a technical solution for. Turns out infection from surfaces is basically a non-issue. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-hygien...
Got any non-paywalled sources handy?
You can bypass the paywall with scripts disabled, but the key excerpts are:
>But the era of “hygiene theater” may have come to an unofficial end this week, when the C.D.C. updated its surface cleaning guidelines (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/disinfec...) and noted that the risk of contracting the virus from touching a contaminated surface was less than 1 in 10,000 (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-r...).
>“People can be affected with the virus that causes Covid-19 through contact with contaminated surfaces and objects,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the C.D.C., said at a White House briefing on Monday. “However, evidence has demonstrated that the risk by this route of infection of transmission is actually low.”
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been in a retailer within the last two years that still used paper and and imprint machine to process credit cards.
I last had this happen 4 years ago at a pharmacy that was having network issues. But now I no longer have any cards with embossed letters so the imprinting fallback would not longer work for me. I supposed they could fill in the slip manually which seems equivalent to a card-not-present transaction but without the instant confirmation?
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#155Earlier 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…
It can be done, and is being successfully done in many places.
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#156Why 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:…
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…
That's a shockingly high number. I'm in Canada, and I'd take a rough guess that maybe 1-2% of taps fail on first try. Most of the time it works on a second try -- and I actually think that usually happens when the POS system is slow and you tap too early.
And in cases where it really is just not working, the fallback is chip + PIN, which is 100% success rate. I'm sure there's cases where a card gets damaged and it wouldn't work, but it's not like the magnetic strip will survive that.
I don't think I've used the actual magnetic strip in at least a decade, except when I've been travelling in the US.
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#157Earlier 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…
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#158Here's to hoping the next "upgrade" isn't a nightmare.
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
How could NFC payment fail? Is payment terminal rotten?
Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes
#160Why 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:…
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.
But the bank doesn't pay me for my inconvenience in noticing and reporting the fraud, and then the time to move my recurring payments to a new card.
I wish contactless payments worked with my card more places, especially gas stations.