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DMSFCA

Just came back from two weeks in Australia and I didn't use cash or a regular credit card even once. Apple Pay, all the way, it was amazing! From the hotels to the guy selling cashews on the street. it really was awesome, it's the way I wish the States would be! Even China is ahead of us on this.

A woman was visiting here from China and said she was really disappointed. She thought since we invent all this stuff (Apple Pay, Android Pay, etc) that surely we can use that stuff everywhere in the US. She was shocked at how few places took electronic payments and how few people use it. She had to use her traditional credit card and said it had been years since she ever used it, didn't even know if it would work.

tmiw

If things had gone a bit differently, I fully suspect that the US would be a cash society like Germany or Japan. As it is, card use is as common as it is because we've had decades to get into the habit.

Anyway, the main issue is lack of standardization combined with a dislike (or at least ambivalence) towards the card networks. In other countries, chip was mandated a lot sooner and terminals are basically swapped out fairly frequently due to being owned/administered by the banks. Here, businesses own the terminals, and they typically don't bother upgrading unless they absolutely have to--and even then, they usually go with the minimum that they can get away with (which currently doesn't include contactless/mobile payment, at least in a form that customers can easily use).

Fortunately, it's slowly getting better, but it might be another 5-10 years before it's as commonly usable as it is in, say, Europe. Unfortunately I can think of some categories of merchants that might never commonly adopt it (such as restaurants), simply because customers using the terminal is still frowned upon at those.

BTW I can imagine the comments on various forums 5-10 years from now in response to an American using a contactless card for the first time. Think stuff along the lines of "oh, we've had that for a couple of decades now" and "you're still inserting cards?" Maybe we're always going to be doomed to be a minimum of a decade or two behind in anything banking related.

DYKWIA

This always gets me... In Europe, we'd never let the card out of our sight (it could get skimmed), but it seems normal in US restaurants for the wait staff to disappear with your card and then bring the final check.

Need

That's funny because a few years ago my cousin from UK came to visit. She insisted on paying for one of the meal, so we let her. When it was time to pay, we told her that in the US, they take your credit to to the back to charge, so she gave it to the waiter. But a minute later, he came back and ask "Does it have a pin? Can you tell me what it is?" She just looked at him funny, "You want me to tell you my pin? Really?" It was kind of funny. She ended up going to the back with him and punch in her pin.

tmiw

The restaurants that have adopted the chip later tend to disable PIN support on their terminals altogether to avoid them having to think about stuff like portable terminals. The rest with chip support seem to push Enter to bypass the PIN first and only have customers enter one if the card declines (if you're lucky; I've had a few demand alternate payment). At least in my experience with the Diners Club MC, anyway, which is PIN preferring and requires it if the terminal asks for one.

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docbert

That's a good thing, because US credit cards confuse them! If you hand your card to someone to dip/swipe, they will instead wave it over the reader. Then try again at a different angle. Then get frustrated that it's not working and try again. Eventually you'll realize what they are doing and tell them it doesn't have contactless and they'll look at you like you're trying to pay using rocks, and then eventually they'll stick it in the chip reader and it'll work, but prompt them for something called a "signature" which will then lead to a 30 second search for a pen in order to sign it with.

If you're unlucky they'll then try and compare the signature with the one on the back of the card, which will likely result in them claiming it doesn't match, or that the card itself isn't actually signed...

richarddd

In our last trip to the UK (primarily London), we used Google Pay everywhere other than at hotels. It was very convenient and avoided the find-a-pen-for-signature problem with US credit cards.

ckendall

I was around 19/20 in my recent Italy trip. In one place the connection didn't take and I had to hand over the card and sign the slip, but as you note it is so much better than the old days (last year) where you would give them a card and they would have to search their shop for the pen for Americans to sign.

wco81

Well I'm in Italy and most of the time it works.

But I've refilled the gas 3 or 4 times and never has it ever once worked. First of all the payment system at the pumps are old and do not have contactless at all.

I just filled up today where you fill up and pay inside but they said their contactless terminal wasn't working.


One thing I notice sometimes is that they hold up those portable terminals up to your phone and while I try to select the card I want to use before authenticating FingerID, they pull away the terminal, thinking I've already authenticated it when I was swiping to select the card I wanted to use.

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My experience with gas stations is similar, in that most do not support contactless. I hope that changes, but I don't expect it to. Probably not worth the cost to them.

In terms of Apple Pay, I didn't have that experience, but my suggestion is to just get the card ready in advance.

EDIT: Found this online for you to try. I don't have a Touch ID phone so can't confirm, but it sounds right

• Double-click the Home button (or open Wallet if you do not have that shortcut method enabled) > select your preferred card > place your finger on the Touch ID sensor until you see "Hold Near Reader to Pay"To enable the double-click shortcut, turn on the setting in Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay.
• You then have 60 seconds to pay using that card by holding the top of your iPhone near the contactless reader.
• During this time, you do not need to keep your finger on the Touch ID sensor or to place it there again.

TGarza

The ability to pay at the table convenience is one of the reasons I started going back to Chili's when dining alone.

tmiw

Visa and MC are requiring contactless to be supported by terminals in Europe. That said, it might require explanation to convince a cashier to let you try paying with a phone if it's somewhere that commonly has charges over the country's contactless limit (like gas stations) and Apple/Google Pay aren't supported by the banks in that country.

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