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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Mostly, the difference comes from the US implementing credit cards far more universally before things like chip+pin were around. This led to differences in regulations, processing standards, and in cultural practice.
For restaurants, it’s even more entrenched than most other places: the general patterns of how the US market handles charge cards in restaurants started solidifying shortly after the Diner’s Card came about in the 50s. This predates electronic processing, much less chip & pin.
***First, why isn’t the US consumer afraid to hand over their card?***
Answer: strong consumer fraud protections.
The fact that we use Chip+Signature instead of Chip+PIN means that there is a lower barrier for in-person fraud – but the consumer isn’t generally responsible for fraud in the US: the bank or the seller is. The consumer has little concern about giving the waiter their card because they’re not on the hook if the waiter is shifty.
The banks aren’t concerned about it because in-person fraud is fairly limited: while it would be inconvenient for any individual if they were impacted, it’s rare enough that the banks/payment networks would prefer to eat the cost to prevent pushing people back to cash (where they wouldn’t get a cut).
The restaurants and shops would have to be the ones rocking the boat, and they’re generally quite hesitant to do so: payment friction is a concern. American consumers have been using credit cards at restaurants using largely the same patterns for about 70 years at this point, and people dislike change. Still, they are doing it, bit by bit: payment terminals coming to the table isn’t a novelty for US consumers anymore, even though it’s far from highly adopted.
Broadly, the early adopters are primarily because it provides a convenience for younger customers and/or streamlining their staff. A terminal brought to the table can let a party more easily split the check without an intermediary. It avoids issues for people who use digital wallets on their phones. It often gets paired with digital menus/ordering platforms, which allows more frequent menu changes without print delays and even direct ordering to decrease staffing needs.
***2nd question: why does the US give that degree of consumer protection to charge cards?***
We’re not exactly known for our consumer friendly positions these days.
Answer: Because we standardized our credit card protections back when it was basically just a number. No chip, no pin. Just an account number and a signature. The banks wanted to make money off of credit cards, and they had to reasonable technical intervention better than signature matching and using using a specific pattern to assign the numbers. They had to assume the risk on their side to make people comfortable using the cards.
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