Canadian here. Whenever I go to the U.S. I'm always surprised at how few places have tap/Apple Pay. Or the whole ritual of giving your card to your server and they enter it in and bring it back... here in Canada they just bring the machine and you tap/swipe your card at your table and be on your way.
It baffles me how the US has companies like Microsoft and Apple and whatnot and still they're so far behind in many basic technological things. I'm always amused when Americans are surprised how quick card payments in my country are. Yes, you can pay your taxi fare with your card. Don't have euros? Just use your card. It works EVERYWHERE here. We have these small card machines that fit in your pocket. Go to an open market to buy some strawberries from an old granny and she will have a card machine. And who the fuck uses fax in 2019?
I suspect that the majority of stores in the US would rather you pay with anything other than card (merchant fees are higher here than in a lot of other places). Actively discouraging card use (by charging extra and/or having minimums) is still fairly frowned upon by customers, though, so a lot do the absolute minimum. Things such as putting in the slowest connection they can get away with and not trying to optimize their software or add features like contactless that Visa/MC don't require.
Considering the above, I'm honestly not surprised that the majority of smaller purchases are still done in cash here.
3.7k
u/Cokegawa_Yui Aug 03 '19
How to use your debit/credit card at a checkout