FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Why are people so RUDE at the grocery store???

In article >,
says...
> Damsel > wrote in
> :
>
> >>> Then you have to wait for the receipt to print and then sign and
> >>> go.
> >>
> >>Sign? On a bank card? Or are you using a credit card? Maybe it
> >>works differently where you are, wherever that might be...
> >
> > The machines here will not accept bank debit cards as debit cards.
> > They treat them as credit cards only. Still faster than writing
> > a check and waiting for it to clear the screening process, or
> > finding the right change. Swipe, sign, and leave.
>
> One would think that the bastion of ideological kapitalyism would
> find a faster way to get money circulating. We input a PIN number
> rather than sign. Faster still.

Yes but the banks here make it disadvantageous to just enter the PIN and
go. The rule states that if you enter the pin, you're on the hook for
anywhere between .35 and .75 as a 'POS' fee that goes right to the bank.
But if you sign for it there isn't any additional charge. Funny how that
works.

> One of the national chains has installed self-checkout where you scan
> the barcode or weigh the produce/meat/seemly. It then requires you
> to place the item on a scale arrangement where it is matched against
> the purchase. At the end, you can use debit card, credit card or
> cash with no human intervention. For the credit card, one has to
> sign on an electronic pad which is always at the wrong angle for a
> human signature, so I'm always surprised that the credit card company
> has not asked me to stop using them because what they get is so far
> removed from my real signature that it's scary. Debit card is
> fastest, requiring only the acknowledgement of the amount (OK), the
> selection of account (Chequing, Savings, Other) to draw the money
> from and the four digit PIN number.

Your signature doesn't mean diddly squat on credit card receipts. Last I
new banks didn't keep scores of handwriting analysts in their employ.