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Old Oct 22, 2019, 5:59 pm
  #28  
tmiw
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
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Originally Posted by CodeAdam10
That is an infinite argument. So many job sectors (even some so-called 'salaried' jobs where a person is working 40+ hours) make minimum wage...where do they fit in the ''tipping is mandatory' culture? I realize this (art of tipping) is a never-ending debate.
It's already culturally accepted that non-service workers don't get tips, for better or worse.

Speaking of culture, it may be more accurate to say that it's a cultural expectation to tip service workers (with a lack of a "living wage"--whatever that entails--as rationalization). As people know, it's difficult and challenging to change cultural norms, especially if there's a group that benefits from the status quo.

Originally Posted by closecover
I must preface what I am about to write by saying that so far I have been lucky in that I have never been the victim of credit card theft in the US due to handing the wait staff my credit card to pay the bill (I'm sure if that ever happened to me, my feelings would change).
I haven't had fraud happen due to the US system, but I have had my written-down tip improperly entered before (including once when the server didn't enter an entire digit of the tip amount at the end of the night and ended up with a $0.50 tip instead of something more like $5). Being able to enter the tip on a device would eliminate those issues.

BTW, there are devices that implement pay at the table that are more like what Americans are used to. They aren't all that common, though, at least not yet. A possibly cheaper solution would be to just leave the device on the table while you're serving other customers, but I get staff/owners being concerned about loss/damage by doing that. In addition, tip adjust is still allowed by card network rules in the US, so a fair number of pay at the table restaurants just have people write tip amounts on receipts anyway.

Originally Posted by closecover
One last thing, I have been told by a banker friend of mine that the Durbin Amendment is the reason why there is not widespread acceptance of the chip and pin cards in the U.S. as there is in other countries. So it does not appear to be an issue of Americans not being able to handle emerging payment technologies. Since the Durbin Amendment is so highly regarded in other areas, I don't see the US joining the rest of the world on this matter anytime soon.
Why would an interchange cap (that only applies to large issuers, mind you) impact what kinds of debit cards they go with? A bunch of smaller banks and credit unions also went the chip and signature route despite not being subject to those caps. Not to mention that credit cards are almost all chip and signature despite interchange still being uncapped.

IMO, it was more that the existing lost/stolen fraud levels weren't high enough to justify it, especially since there was already awareness that the US was two generations behind in payment technology by the time we transitioned. Completely catching up (by adopting contactless cards/mobile wallets) would mean that PIN ideally wouldn't be asked for with smaller transactions anyway (and likely never will thanks to not supporting PIN for transactions in the first place and/or having the role of PIN be replaced by biometrics).
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