I just got back from the grocery store, after waiting in line for five minutes behind an elderly couple that was struggling with the new chip system. To be clear, newer credit cards contain a little piece of electronic circuitry (the "chip"), which is designed to replace the magnetic strip that is used for swiping. Cards are now inserted into a little slot for payment processing. I'm not a fan, for several reasons: 1. User must let go of their card. With a swipe system, User never lets go of the card. It's easier to leave it behind. 2. The card must be left in the machine for a moment, while the payment processes. It's intuitive to yank it back out within a few seconds of insertion, which causes the transaction to fail, with a "Card not Approved" message. This misleads the cashier and customer into thinking that something is wrong with the card, or the account. 3. It's harder for older people. Unfortunately, the gentleman in front of me had shaky hands, and had a lot of trouble inserting the card. At first, he tried swiping the card, which he had no trouble with. What do you think?
I like putting my card and wallet away while the machine is approving the card. So it creates an akward order of operations for me and it takes longer.
Yes. Perhaps because swiping is what we're used to, but it seems that this chip technology also slows down the transactions. I'll add that to the list.