It seems like they are very badly made. Why wouldn’t these be standardized by now? Like, a lot of them have the chip reading slot but it is taped over and you must swipe? I also feel like cashiers are constantly complaining about them not cooperating. Why do they operate so poorly?
In: Technology
It is mostly a problem because there are a lot of different standards, and the people making the products are slow to update their products, even as regulations expect them to move quickly. Also, once stores have a system that satisfies the requirements, they may be hesitant to upgrade their systems to function better.
Most TVs only take a set of specific inputs, like HDMI, composite, etc. If a new type of input comes out, then old TVs will still work fine and most people will wait to upgrade until their current TV needs replacing for some reason. Old inputs are slowly phased out over time as newer TVs don’t have them.
However, the **EMV** compliance law required most storefronts to switch their payment acceptance system on a strict schedule. Many of the newer POS systems didn’t really have all the kinks worked out at the time, and the chip reading system was still advancing. Contactless payment was also in the works. So stores were forced to adopt a new system with its technology rushing to keep up with the changes in the law. Once they had a system that was compliant with the new law, they decided not to spend more money to update again later. Now, newer POS have everything functioning properly, but the old versions that were rushed and have errors are still largely in use because they don’t -need- to be replaced yet. Stores are unwilling to invest the money to replace them again because of how recently they were replaced already.
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