Trouble in the Checkout Line: Which Way to Pay? | Hacker News Reader

Trouble in the Checkout Line: Which Way to Pay?

wsj.com

16 pointssergeant311 comments

I will always use Apple Pay if available, since it prevents tracking by evil merchants and leaks by hackers via unique credit card numbers.

I do not understand why the US uses these terrible chip and signature cards, which were a repeated source of frustration for me in Europe this year, since they don't work anywhere.

Maybe they think Americans are too dumb to comprehend a PIN, despite having used them for years on ATMs? If so, why add the time-wasting signature? If we're not doing chip and pin (we should), why not chip and nothing? My signature is a different squiggle every time, there's no way they're doing computer vision on that in time to verify the transaction (if they could even decode it at all).

As an American living overseas, it's already become ritualized for me: I hand over my chipped card, cashier plugs it into the machine and hands me the keypad, I politely shake my head and make the universal hand symbol for signing a check, cashier nods politely and pushes a couple more buttons to print the receipt, then I sign it.

It's like living in the future!

I have one atm card, and six credit cards. It's easy to remember one pin, but not seven. Also, typing a pin on a merchant controlled device seems like a terrible idea. (I try to only use the ATMs controlled by the institution that issued my card)

Change your PIN? The problem with bank cards is when you swipe then, not if you dip them. Interestingly, the NFC bank cards are practically more safe because (at least in my country) you don't need to enter your PIN below 25 EUR. With the average transaction 10-12 EUR, there's way less options to capture the PIN.

A signature can easily be faked. The cost of fraud is passed on so best to have it secure.

Being from australia, when i purchase something it could potentially be cash only, swipe CC, insert CC or use paypass/paywave (nfc).

Not once have I ever considered this to be 'dizzying'

I mean, if you insert the card and it needs you to swipe, it tells you to swipe the card right there on the terminal (or just doesnt have the chip slot on it).

Why dont people just throw their wallets at the register and start curling up into a ball when it doesnt work

In Netherlands they coordinated it. Any machine which switched from swipe to dip has their swipe covered with sticky tape. Before that they replaced the bank cards with one with both chip and magnetic strip on it. There was a deadline for merchants to switch and advertisements to inform the public. Dip is slower than swiping. NFC is fastest (because often you don't enter a PIN).

Abroad is fun. Some places want my PIN and my signature! Others just one of them, a few nothing.

Easy solution: stick. to. cash.

Side benefit: authorities, tracking companies, banks, "big data analysts" and friends cannot use the information about your shopping behaviour to profile you.

I would not be so sure about the authorities. Consider:

1) Get cash out of bank. At this point, it is possible to record which bills you received from the bank.

2) Spend cash at store.

3) Store deposits cash at bank.

Because of how little a lot of cash tends to circulate before being returned to the banks, it is possible for the authorities to get a fair idea of how you spend your cash. This is still better then cards, but not nearly as good as it looks.

Sure government or bank tracking could know where you spent that money but less so on what. Spending it in a supermarket will tell them food but not brands or habits or diet.

If you also have other people getting cashback at the same register the notes are then spread to someone else before collection.

May be I'm old fashioned, but unless I'm buying something expensive I stick to just cash. Always works. Ironically, now I consider cash more 'secure' than plastic.

I'm calling it now: at least one major US retailer will miss their holiday sales projections and blame it squarely on EMV card transaction times.

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