The Chip Card Transition In the US Has Been a Disaster (qz.com)

Ian Kar, writing for Quartz: Over the last year or so in the U.S., a lot of the plastic credit cards we carry around every day have been replaced by new one with chips embedded in them. The chips are supposed to make your credit and debit cards more secure -- a good thing! -- but there's one little secret no one wants to admit: The U.S.'s transition to chip cards has been an utter disaster. They're confusing to use, painstakingly slow, less secure than the alternatives, and aren't even the best solution for consumers. If you've shopped in a store and used a credit card, you've noticed the change. Retailers have likely asked you to insert the chip into the card reader, instead of swiping. But reading the chip seems to take much longer than just swiping. And on top of that, even though many retailers now have chip reading machines, some of them ask us just the opposite -- they say not to insert the card, and just swipe. It seems like there's no rhyme or reason to the whole thing.

Comments

Re: What's the big problem?

[Yvan256]

Is your family name "Matrix", by any chance?

yo playa

[lucm]

My bank recently replaced its ATM cards with chip/pin. Where I used to step up to an ATM, swipe the card, and put it and my wallet away while the machine woke up. The rest of the transaction, I have my hands free, and I'm gone in 30 seconds.

if you put your wallet away after swiping your card, what did you do with the cash (which certainly doesn't come out before "the machine wakes up")? Put it in a gold clip so you can stylishly flip out one bill at a time at the strip club?

Re:What's the big problem?

[Known Nutter]

AND my PIN is 12 digits long.

That's amazing! So is the combination to my luggage!