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Comment by petercooper | Hacker News Reader

Most cards in the UK are contactless now but I can genuinely say I've never seen anyone ever make a contactless transaction. I have tried myself a few times but it failed the first time (operator had no idea why) and the other times it felt more awkward and took more time than doing it the "standard" way.

I think we'll get there with it, but socially it's currently about as popular as the self-check out line back in 2001 or the self-ordering kiosk at KFC now (which I always use to jump the line while everyone else is standing around.. seriously, why?)

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I'm struggling to recall if I've seen anyone else use them, but I make perhaps one contactless payment a week. The convenience shops and fast-food places in train stations seemed to be the first adopters, and now even my local pub has the facility.

Having them in pubs can be quite dangerous -- the payment part of the transaction is so insignificant I'm sure the whole process fires off my 'free beer?!' neurons every time I walk away from the bar.

And this is another in a list of things that drive me batty about US banking. I had a contactless debit card, issued by Chase Bank, years ago. They renewed it with the non-NFC version and won't give anyone (apart from accounts opened in 4 states, even if you now live in one of those states) an NFC card.

Chip and PIN is even worse. My employer gives me a company American Express that has a chip and I got a PIN. Because Amex marks their cards as "signature priority," most places ask for a signature and a lot of unattended kiosks break, even in Europe. I can't even get a chip/PIN debit card.

Why does banking here have to suck so bad compared to every other developed banking system?

It's definitely a matter of getting used to it. I moved from Canada where contactless has been standard for a couple of years now and being unable to get a contactless UK card for now I'm super annoyed every time I have to punch in PINs to pay £1 - £3 for something small. The extra 30 seconds just feel totally unnecessary.

Why not just use cash? Unlike in the US and Canada, the coinage is actually worth enough to buy real things with pocket change.

A few coins are much heavier and thicker than a card, for one. Just tapping a card is faster than picking out coins then waiting for change. And when paying with card I know I won't get any two pence coins back.

> seriously, why?

Well, you are at KFC. Half the people are putting off the torture for as long as possible, and the other half... well, they're about to willingly eat KFC :-)

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