Live data from Hacker News

Swiping left on magnetic stripes

mastercard.com

241–250 of 325 posts

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#241

I hope that means Home Depot and Target have to accept tap to pay…

Target, at least in the USA, supports tap & pay. Home Depot is still holding out, though.

Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart do not support tap to pay yet. They are the only major retailers I have been to recently that still do not.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#242
post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Partly that, and the USA's much higher car dependence in general. I'd wager the average adult in the USA spends more time in a petrol station than the average European.

Quick googling gave me average US car consumption 25 mpg vs 57 mpg in EU. Edit: Bad googling, sorry. 57 mpg was proposed for new cars.

Compound that with driving more and it's a lot more time spent filling up.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#243
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:…

Contactless on tbe is near impossible if you want to escape from google.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where’s the bottleneck? Gas stations. The gas station industry has been avoiding upgrading pumps. It's expensive. Retail checkouts usually just need a replacement of the desktop unit, but gas pumps require actual modification. They got a 3-year delay, until October 2020. Then April 17, 2021. Then they got hit by the coronavirus epidemic. The upgrade has to be done by a qualified installer; you don't want someone who…

In Europe (Scandinavia at least), Gas stations use contactless, and most gas/oil companies have a dedicated app (think loyalty card) that can also handle payment for you over the internet. It uses GPS, so when you open the app at a gas station it already knows where you are, and simply asks you which pump you want to unlock.

Installing gas station spyware sounds to fill up sounds like hell.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#245
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…

Not just US. Take for example Germany, the largest country in EU and most places are cash-only. Although due to coronavirus adoption of different payment methods (apple pay, contactless, card, etc) has been increasing.

In Switzerland we have both. You can pay cash nearly everywhere, or contact less, or using our own transaction system 'twint' usually over the phone linked to any bank account (or even prepaid kinda like PayPal)

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#246
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just US. Take for example Germany, the largest country in EU and most places are cash-only. Although due to coronavirus adoption of different payment methods (apple pay, contactless, card, etc) has been increasing.

I'd actually be curious about the numbers/actual ratio. I can't think of a single chain of stores that takes cash only, which will make up a huge percentage. On the other hand, restaurants, food stalls, ... are hit and miss.

I can't remember the last time I went to a restaurant or bar that didn't have Card payment and NFC options here in Germany.

Food stalls I agree are more hit or miss.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#247
post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Partly that, and the USA's much higher car dependence in general. I'd wager the average adult in the USA spends more time in a petrol station than the average European.

Quick googling gave me average US car consumption 25 mpg vs 57 mpg in EU. Edit: Bad googling, sorry. 57 mpg was proposed for new cars.

Wow! Average 57 mpg in Europe - really? Even for diesels, that sounds extremely optimistic; is that from manufacturer-supplied figures?

US gallons happen to be smaller too, fwiw

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Australia the magnetic stripe is already gone for all intents and purposes. I can't remember the last time I used it. The American schedule may be a little aggressive though, you guys still use cheques extensively.

Define extensively. Anybody who pays with checks in situations where credit cards or cash can be used is gonna get funny looks, unless they’re a little old lady.

Compare that to every single bank refusing to pay out my $150 check. Most banks even having no idea if this is actually still a thing, some had to get their boss to ask because they never had this situation before.

I still have that check because it's literally worth nothing around here.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Australia the magnetic stripe is already gone for all intents and purposes. I can't remember the last time I used it. The American schedule may be a little aggressive though, you guys still use cheques extensively.

Define extensively. Anybody who pays with checks in situations where credit cards or cash can be used is gonna get funny looks, unless they’re a little old lady.

In my mind the fact that checks are used in any situation is definitely "extensive" use.

I have never in my live used a check or seen one outside of movies.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't remember ever having paid using the magnetic stripe in Europe since 2010 (having been to Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, Romania and living in Germany), before I didn't use a credit card at all since it wasn't very popular here. Honestly curios: where (and when) did you make that observation?

It's a wonder if you can actually pay by card in Germany :D They're hardcore cash users for some weird reason.

And yet you can pay with card nearly everywhere but in small kiosks.
Post reply on HN