Are credit/debit machines making people dumber?

[drjonah]

What's going to make things worse is now some banks are requiring a PIN number even if you run it as credit.

[TheSHAD0W]

When you swipe (or insert if you have a chip), the screen immediately gives you 4 options on what kind of card you have (credit, atm/debit, gift card, ebt) sounds simple right? Nope! Customers stand there blankly and then look at me and ask what to do next.

This is actually a symptom of the illiteracy and aliteracy that's been spreading among the population. People just don't *read*.

[Mental_Mouse]

For a more sympathetic POV: Anxiety turns off people's higher brain functions. My very first paid job was teaching a bunch of elderly workers at a non-profit how to use their new PC. There was one woman in particular, where I'd say "press this button to start the form", she'd do so, and consistently ask "now what do I do?" without looking at the screen. Or rather, she was looking at the screen, but not into it, because the computer was a scary thing that she couldn't engage with.

[Jay 2K Winger]

For a more sympathetic POV: Anxiety turns off people's higher brain functions. My very first paid job was teaching a bunch of elderly workers at a non-profit how to use their new PC. There was one woman in particular, where I'd say "press this button to start the form", she'd do so, and consistently ask "now what do I do?" without looking at the screen. Or rather, she was looking at the screen, but not into it, because the computer was a scary thing that she couldn't engage with.

Another case of an RTFS Error.

[Racket_Man]

For a more sympathetic POV: Anxiety turns off people's higher brain functions. My very first paid job was teaching a bunch of elderly workers at a non-profit how to use their new PC. There was one woman in particular, where I'd say "press this button to start the form", she'd do so, and consistently ask "now what do I do?" without looking at the screen. Or rather, she was looking at the screen, but not into it, because the computer was a scary thing that she couldn't engage with.

WAAAAYYYY back when I was in college the last time (25 years ago) I was a TA (Teaching Assistant) for 4 semesters for an intro level business school computer class that included both PC AND Mainframe. the last 2 semesters I had the night classes/labs.

We covered things on the PC like basic spreadsheeting, word processing and dabbled a bit in databases. One the Mainframe side they had to input a basic program (print the word HELLO) into a terminal and run the program.

Some of my student were non-traditional (like me at age 30+) and had really NEVER encountered computers before. To say some were timid and scared was an understatement. some were actually afraid to touch either the terminal or the PCs.

[Dreamstalker]

Our old swipe readers used to automatically detect payment type when a card was swiped--didn't need to press anything on the payment screen. The new ones don't do this at all, even for swiped cards (in a way understandable). Result is you have people standing there holding up the line; the register doesn't notify me that help is needed because for all it knows the customer is digging out change.

Sometime our pinpads will have the option screen as well--except that means it's frozen. Not a hard fix, just hit Cancel on the register screen and reselect payment. I haven't figured out what triggers it.

We apparently have contactless payment, but so far I've only seen Apple Pay work properly. If someone tries to tap an actual card, it's "Cannot complete".

[Captain Neon]

I just think that, if all stores who had non-working chip readers would do what some have (put something in the slot to block it, with a sign saying only to swipe), it would make the whole transaction easier.

Granted, you'd still have people yanking it out to shove their card in, but those of us with working brains would be saved the embarrassment of not knowing what's up/having to ask the clerk for their 10,000th time that day.

You would be surprised how many people still try to shove their EMV cards into the slot despite there already being a spent gift card with a polite "Please Slide" note attached.

I had one guy tell me that all of the stores should have to use the same card reader so that customers wouldn't be confused. I informed him that that is what they call a monopoly. He then spouted, "Well, you could at least have it marked which buttons to push."

Really, which language do I use? English is not the 1st language of all of my customers. I have Spanish, Russian, Laosan, and languages I can't identify in my store. Only the English speaking customers seem to have trouble with the colored buttons with pictograms.

[Captain Neon]

What's going to make things worse is now some banks are requiring a PIN number even if you run it as credit.

Oh, please, no! I don't know how many people with debit cards that claim they "Don't have a PIN."

There's a PIN. They just never bothered to learn it or have it changed to something they could remember.

They are going to freak out if they have to enter a PIN! "It's never been that way before..."