Why do restaurants in the US take your credit card, instead of simply bringing the machine to the table for payment?

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In Canada, I haven’t seen a credit card taken by the waiter for payment since maybe the late 90s. However, the dozens of times that I’ve gone to a sit-down restaurant in the States, I have not once had a waiter bring the machine to the table. Having the machine brought over is much faster and convenient, and allows the customer to be sure of what is charged, so why hasn’t this caught on?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Q: Why don’t they bring the machine to my table?

A: The machine is tethered to the wall.

Q: Why don’t they buy the wireless version?

A: It’s more expensive. You wanna pay for it?

Q: No.

A: Ok then.

In the next episode of ELI5: Why do restaurants in countries outside of US use wireless credit card readers when they’re more expensive?

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