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The extra few seconds or so for a chip transaction don't really matter, as long as I have the ability to insert the card whenever I want, such as before an item is scanned. It's really annoying and unnecessary for a POS to reject an inserted card just because it's too early in the transaction process.

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For me, the extra time isn't too much of a burden. It does take longer than a few seconds but that's not my beef with it. My beef is with the problem of "so, what do I do? Insert or swipe?"

Some places require inserting. Some places still use swiping. There's a swipe area and an insert slot. The cashier looks at you like you're new to using credit cards when you don't guess the right method, even though it's different everywhere you go. It's a mess and apparently the chip isn't even a requirement. Screw the chip.

Honestly, I thought things were a whole lot better (from a UX perspective) when you just handed the cashier the card and they operated the card reader for you. They know their system's idiosyncrasies; the customer doesn't.

I'm unhappy that stores have been pushing more and more cashier work onto the customer without adopting an industry standard UI for their payment systems.

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