Isn't this why you're supposed to be able to do the old hand-imprinted manual transactions? If they can't process the transaction, shouldn't they fall back to the manual option?
a) This isn't tested weekly
b) I doubt any store actually has the forms/equipment/etc for this
Some cards don't even have the raised, embossed printing anymore, so the imprint method wouldn't work.
And you can bet that even if they did, the staff wouldn't be trained in using it. Particularly true for large stores with high turnovers of young workers. Card machines going down is a one-in-a-million event.
It's not only the card network but also the infrastructure connecting the store to the card network. And the card readers themselves as well. I would say I am at least once a month in a store where, due to some incident, they can't accept electronic payments and have a sign 'card payments not working' on at least one checkout counter
This seems to have changed in the other direction. While I used to have flat, non-embossed cards in the past, all my cards today are embossed. That's despite never having a chance to make use of the embossing.
My bank stopped providing stationery for the imprinter many years back.
Was that a thing in Europe?
I've seen such machines only in the USA (e.g. on conferences where they wanted to sell stuff and didn't have connectivity).