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The cards are all chip now. Just not chip and pin. Some banks decided that Americans were too stupid to remember a pin code for our credit cards. Yet debit cards all have pins, and there isn't a major problem remembering those.
Right?! Yeah...befuddling.

There is another possible reason stores are not enabling contactless. Some retailers have customized software that does not recognize contactless. I know, I have worked on POS systems. If they are old systems, they may need to be totally replaced, and that does cost money.
Ok, that's interesting information. I believe the credit card processors (whatever you call them) could as some point levy additional fees to stores that are not enabling contactless, just like I think how they were able to make POS readers all eventually be chip enabled.

Ralphs and King Soopers are enabling NFC this week. I really Want Harris Teeter and Fred Meyers next. Here is a list of the number of stores for each banner under Kroger. https://www.scrapehero.com/kroger-store-locations/

I am really hoping Harris Teeter too will get NFC. All major shops I go to (except for my local ethnic grocers and Harris Teeter) accept NFC.
 
That sounds absurd to me. Is the idea to live a completely wallet-less life? I am assuming at the very least most are carrying around their driver's license. At that point what does an extra 1-2 debit/credit cards do? Generally, even most wallet cases can fit 3 cards comfortably.

Maybe swiping the card at the terminal is too much work at this point.

Makes perfect sense to me. It's a feature I want to use and if a competitor is offering to accept Apple Pay I would definitely make it a factor for choosing them.

It may sound absurd to you, but different strokes for different folks, right? People evaluate things differently. To me, being able to check out in (literally) 2 seconds with my Apple Watch rather than getting out my wallet, taking out my card, swiping it, putting my card back, and pocketing my wallet makes a big difference. You may be someone who places zero value on convenience, but I think for most people it's not as absurd as you imagine.

EXACTLY. I have gotten some nasty comments on here for daring to suggest that double tapping a button on my Apple Watch to pay is way faster and more convenient than getting out my wallet and getting the card out. It's absurd to me that people try to argue otherwise.
 
Makes perfect sense to me. It's a feature I want to use and if a competitor is offering to accept Apple Pay I would definitely make it a factor for choosing them.



EXACTLY. I have gotten some nasty comments on here for daring to suggest that double tapping a button on my Apple Watch to pay is way faster and more convenient than getting out my wallet and getting the card out. It's absurd to me that people try to argue otherwise.
I know. I long for the day when I can totally ditch my wallet. It's so much easier to lose than a phone, which I can call and make it ring. Also, I hate sitting on my fat wallet. Most of the time I just leave it in the car. And I can't even fit all of the cards I need in my wallet. I wish all store/gift cards could be on my phone too.
 
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The cards are all chip now. Just not chip and pin. Some banks decided that Americans were too stupid to remember a pin code for our credit cards. Yet debit cards all have pins, and there isn't a major problem remembering those.

IMO that's not the real reason. It's more that the amount of effort it'd take to get people to start using PIN for a payment method where it's never been a thing far outweighs the amount of fraud it'd prevent.

The downside, of course, is that decision made it much harder (if not impossible) for the US to ever reach 100% NFC/contactless use. For example, all the places that refuse to let customers run their own cards aren't necessarily going to let you tap a phone (but they may start tapping physical cards for customers eventually, which for the purposes of adoption is more than good enough for the likes of Visa and Mastercard).
 
Oh how I long for the bad old days when we’d stand in line behind someone checking out who, AFTER everything is rung up and bagged, THEN starts looking for their checkbook, finds it, opens it, asks to borrow a pen from the cashier, begins to fill it out, asks for the date, has the amount repeated a time or two, screws up the amount, begins anew with another check, then successfully fills out this second check, tears it off, and hands it to the cashier. The cashier then asks for the shopper’s driver’s license, the shopper has to find their wallet, pull out the driver’s license, hand it to the cashier who verifies the name and address against what’s printed on the check, manually writes down the driver’s license number on the check, THEN calls over a supervisor who checks the check vs. the driver’s license, initials the check, hands it back to the cashier who then completes the transaction handing the receipt, driver’s license, and some coupons back to the shopper. THEN the shopper puts the driver’s license back in the wallet, the wallet and checkbook back where they were, probably pockets the borrowed pen, THEN moves along to get out of the way for the next person checking out.

This check process is so much, much easier, faster, infinitely more secure (kidding) and an absolute delight to the three or four hundred shoppers in line behind.

Need to remember from whence we came to better appreciate ANY electronic check out.
 
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Oh how I long for the bad old days when we’d stand in line behind someone checking out who, AFTER everything is rung up and bagged, THEN starts looking for their checkbook, finds it, opens it, asks to borrow a pen from the cashier, begins to fill it out, asks for the date, has the amount repeated a time or two, screws up the amount, begins anew with another check, then successfully fills out this second check, tears it off, and hands it to the cashier. The cashier then asks for the shopper’s driver’s license, the shopper has to find their wallet, pull out the driver’s license, hand it to the cashier who verifies the name and address against what’s printed on the check, manually writes down the driver’s license number on the check, THEN calls over a supervisor who checks the check vs. the driver’s license, initials the check, hands it back to the cashier who then completes the transaction handing the receipt, driver’s license, and some coupons back to the shopper. THEN the shopper puts the driver’s license back in the wallet, the wallet and checkbook back where they were, probably pockets the borrowed pen, THEN moves along to get out of the way for the next person checking out.

This check process is so much, much easier, faster, infinitely more secure (kidding) and an absolute delight to the three or four hundred shoppers in line behind.

Need to remember from whence we came to better appreciate ANY electronic check out.
😂 I was behind someone like this last week at Target. I didn't know anyone still wrote checks. That's the grocery store version of going into a fast food restaurant, staring at the menu board for five minutes like you've never been there before, asking a ton of questions before ordering, and then paying with one dollar bills and pocket change. I was behind someone like that last week too. 😂
 
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In most of those places, if you don’t pay at the table you can pay at the cash register where they would have the payment terminal.

In many of those places there isn’t even a cash register per se, and the computer and card reader are located off-limits to customers in areas such as the back of the restaurant, the kitchen or the waiter’s stations. By not bringing a card reader to the table they make it extremely hard to pay other than by giving a card to the waiter/waitress.
 
IMO that's not the real reason. It's more that the amount of effort it'd take to get people to start using PIN for a payment method where it's never been a thing far outweighs the amount of fraud it'd prevent.

It shouldn’t be such an effort. When they did it in Mexico they made it mandatory for all cardholders. They had to activate a PIN on all their credit cards and once they did that was the only way to authorize purchases. No more signatures. People had no choice. Staff at most places have gotten used to it now, to the point that it even feels weird to them when the POS doesn’t ask for a PIN, such as when using a US card or a mobile wallet.
 
After Target's payment systems were compromised and all of our credit card information stolen, Target made a big deal about switching to new payment terminals that accept NFC/ApplePay as being more secure.

I keep one credit card around specifically to be used at low tech terminals where only chip or mag stripe payments are possible. That way, if it is compromised it doesn't disrupt my used of my main card.
This makes sense, but this idea that people are making notes to avoid places to shop still feels weird to me.

I can’t use Apple Pay? No big deal, swipe with a card. I’ll be damned if I pass by a place like Walmart as mentioned in this thread and think to myself, oh wait they don’t accept APPLE PAY! Let’s LEAVE, waste time driving to and potentially pay MORE elsewhere that lets me pay with my iPhone!
 
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It shouldn’t be such an effort. When they did it in Mexico they made it mandatory for all cardholders. They had to activate a PIN on all their credit cards and once they did that was the only way to authorize purchases. No more signatures. People had no choice. Staff at most places have gotten used to it now, to the point that it even feels weird to them when the POS doesn’t ask for a PIN, such as when using a US card or a mobile wallet.

Note that in a lot of places PIN had to be mandated. Without a mandate or an overwhelming amount of lost/stolen fraud, it simply wasn't going to happen here.
 
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I trust the digital wallet enough for credit and debit cards and that kind of thing. But I don't trust it enough for boarding passes and ID verification just yet mostly because: a) a phone can always run out of batteries, b) will the human individual who is the gatekeeper for the ID verification up-to-date and/or willing to accept digital ID?

When I travel, I always print 2 copies of my board passes. One is for safekeeping in case I need another copy. I feel much more comfortable juggling a piece of paper rather than trying to make sure an expensive phone isn't going to fall off my hands while I try to hold on to bags and be on the go.
 
I trust the digital wallet enough for credit and debit cards and that kind of thing. But I don't trust it enough for boarding passes and ID verification just yet mostly because: a) a phone can always run out of batteries, b) will the human individual who is the gatekeeper for the ID verification up-to-date and/or willing to accept digital ID?

When I travel, I always print 2 copies of my board passes. One is for safekeeping in case I need another copy. I feel much more comfortable juggling a piece of paper rather than trying to make sure an expensive phone isn't going to fall off my hands while I try to hold on to bags and be on the go.
Interesting and understandable. I’m just the reverse: far prefer boarding passes in my Apple Wallet, and have had no issues with TSA, baggage drop-off, gate agents, boarding agents, or European security checks. The only paper I carry is the passport. Same for attending ticketed theater and concert events. I gave up on printed boarding passes a few years ago. However, I do leave a printed copy of my boarding passes in my checked and carry-on luggage to help with lost bags.

All that said, my iPhone7 is pretty much welded to my hip, and I’m sensitive to battery levels at all times, so that’s just me.
 
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Interesting and understandable. I’m just the reverse: far prefer boarding passes in my Apple Wallet, and have had no issues with TSA, baggage drop-off, gate agents, boarding agents, or European security checks. The only paper I carry is the passport. Same for attending ticketed theater and concert events. I gave up on printed boarding passes a few years ago. However, I do leave a printed copy of my boarding passes in my checked and carry-on luggage to help with lost bags.

All that said, my iPhone7 is pretty much welded to my hip, and I’m sensitive to battery levels at all times, so that’s just me.
I definitely have the digital boarding pass also on my phone. I just don't use it and don't rely on it. But of course, if all my paper documents go missing, I do have the phone to take out and show them my boarding pass :)

I feel that having to be concerned about phone battery life while I'm travelling is something I do not want to be constantly monitoring or psychologically be worried about.

One thing I also like about paper boarding pass is I fold it up and put it in my trouser pocket and it's with me all the time. While the phone is with me most of the time, I can't say that I take my handbag with me to the airplane toilet (my phone lives in my handbag) so...
 
When I travel, I always print 2 copies of my board passes. One is for safekeeping in case I need another copy. I feel much more comfortable juggling a piece of paper rather than trying to make sure an expensive phone isn't going to fall off my hands while I try to hold on to bags and be on the go.

This is actually quite wise. I'm "all things digital" but I always make sure I have a paper boarding pass just in case. More than once I've been at a layover and some part of the airline's computer system goes down. Everyone that had a paper ticket could go on and everyone who didn't have one was asked to go get one.
 
This is actually quite wise. I'm "all things digital" but I always make sure I have a paper boarding pass just in case. More than once I've been at a layover and some part of the airline's computer system goes down. Everyone that had a paper ticket could go on and everyone who didn't have one was asked to go get one.
Aha yes! I didn't think something like this would happen in "developed" countries. I grew up in a developing country and know the benefits of having hard copies rather than be dependent on something digital that requires other contingencies in place to be valid (e.g. battery, or internet connection). Paper requires almost no contingency; I guess you need light to see hard copies...lol :)
 
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Most restaurants - in particular, chain restaurants (Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, etc. etc.) now have terminals sitting on each table, so the customer can check out and pay at their leisure instead of waiting for the server to come and take the card to process the payment. However, those terminals at the tables are NFC as well, so one can Apple Pay/Samsung Pay/Google Pay directly from that, or tap the card.

I'm not sure at other restaurants.

BL.
Don't know of many anymore where they take your card away. It's either

1. Kiosk
2. QR Code
3. Go to register and pay
 
This is actually quite wise. I'm "all things digital" but I always make sure I have a paper boarding pass just in case. More than once I've been at a layover and some part of the airline's computer system goes down. Everyone that had a paper ticket could go on and everyone who didn't have one was asked to go get one.
Or at least SS it. I always do both because I know Murphy.
 
Makes perfect sense to me. It's a feature I want to use and if a competitor is offering to accept Apple Pay I would definitely make it a factor for choosing them.



EXACTLY. I have gotten some nasty comments on here for daring to suggest that double tapping a button on my Apple Watch to pay is way faster and more convenient than getting out my wallet and getting the card out. It's absurd to me that people try to argue otherwise.
Especially if you are courteous and are ready to pay beforehand. If you were in line for like ten minutes, why is your payment not ready?!
 
Seems like you don't go to many mom and pop restaurants. None of those three options are common among those in my experience.

Every mom and pop shop I have been to has had me go to the register to pay, but even there they accept NFC, so I can either tap my card or use Apple Pay. Those that don't have NFC still go to Chip+PIN, because of the liabilities I mentioned before.

BL.
 
Seems like you don't go to many mom and pop restaurants. None of those three options are common among those in my experience.
We go to one we really like, and they do the traditonal check holder where you put the card and then they go run it and you sign
 
Every mom and pop shop I have been to has had me go to the register to pay, but even there they accept NFC, so I can either tap my card or use Apple Pay. Those that don't have NFC still go to Chip+PIN, because of the liabilities I mentioned before.

BL.

I was referring to restaurants with my last post. For regular stores, places do tend to let you run your own card more often than not (but the ones that don't are still more common than in e.g. Europe).
 
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