So, I lost my beloved credit card the other day.
The thing is, the credit cards in Denmark have recently been changed to a new type, with an embedded, more secure chip.
This change changes the usage pattern of the cards as a whole. Before, you’d swipe your card through the terminal, wait for acknowledgment, enter your 4-digit pin, and put your card back somewhere safe, then proceed to pack your groceries. When the cashier was done, you’d press “Accept” on the terminal, and if the machine gods willed it, the payment would be accepted. The chance of forgetting the card in the terminal was next to nothing. As an added bonus, you weren’t taking up space in the line to the cashier, waiting for your transaction to complete.

The new usage pattern, changed by the chip cards are, well, more intricate.
First, you place your card in the terminal, then wait for acknowledgment and acceptance of the card type, wait for the amount, then enter your pin code and press”Accept”. Wait for acknowledgment again, then remove the card and pack up your groceries.

The problem here is, while you could be packing up your groceries, candles, clothes or what ever, your are slowing the line down, waiting for the cashier to finish entering your items, so you can finish the credit card transaction.

Time is the most valuable resource we have, and every time I use my credit card, minutes are being wasted, unless I leave my credit card in the terminal, and go pack my stuff up. It’s a lose - lose situation, either I increase my chance of the forgetting the card / getting it stolen, or I waste everyones time.

Maybe I should just get better at remembering my credit card…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.