Comment by xianshou | Hacker News Reader

Comment by xianshou | Hacker News Reader

I've paid with Apple Pay, and it feels much more pleasant in comparison.

Cash: Get out wallet, count out cash, get change that I'll probably lose anyway. I hate small denominations.

Card: Get out wallet, put card in machine, wait 10 seconds for authorization (I'm in Switzerland - their terminals take longer), sign receipt. I hate signing.

Apple Pay: See prompt on phone, which I'm already holding, with price and card info. Press thumb to button. Wait 1 second. Done. And I like thumb presses.

Not only does it save half the time on every purchase, but it obeys my arbitrarily finicky preferences on how I would like to pay. But you know what? Even if it seems like such a tiny detail, many people share those preferences, and the difference is more than enough to tip the scales of habit for those who do.

> Card: Get out wallet, put card in machine, wait 10 seconds for authorization (I'm in Switzerland - their terminals take longer), sign receipt. I hate signing.

For me in the UK, assuming the payment is under £25 my process is

* Get out card

* Press card against machine

That's it.

If it's more, I need to put the card in the machine and type my PIN in.

Card: Get out wallet, put card in machine, wait 10 seconds for authorization (I'm in Switzerland - their terminals take longer), sign receipt. I hate signing.

I am finding more and more that I don't have to actually sign anything when paying with a credit card. It is funny how removing that small interaction seems to make the entire process much simpler and faster.

I can't remember the last time I signed for something. These days (UK / Australia) its annoying when I can't just hold my wallet against the reader and have to enter my PIN

It is now about 4 years that I signed a payment receipt last time. In Europe. What card was you using? Even the AmEx cards have a chip now.

In the US I still have to sign things daily. Even the cafeteria where I work (Well under $10 for every purchase). Fast food you don't have to sign (or at least you don't have to sign under some limit which I've never hit) but every store I go to I have to sign (more and more on digital signing pads).

Europe must be ahead of the US in terms of card reading. I can't buy lunch without having to sign a receipt.

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