They like putting it in early; annoying!

[Becks]

Whose mind also went to the gutter after reading the title?

I have nothing else to say.

[Dreamstalker]

Ditto I've become the unofficial dogsitter at my store...non-service dogs can't enter the store past the registers, but if we see a dog outside in inclement weather someone will bring them in--after paging for the owner--and I'll stay with them up front.

[depechemodefan]

They do it because other stores' systems can handle that. The card can be inserted any time after I scan the first item. I'm sure it's confusing for them, but I understand your frustration. It's one of those lose/lose things.

Ok, I can see that. Thanks, though I'm a person who waits for the cashier to tell me what to do, so I see most of my customers as being to impatient, besides the ones who have swiped/insert ahead of time and had no problems.

Although, to be fair, our internet connection is far from wonderful, and breathing at the card machine can cause it to throw a paddy, so it's not always the customers' fault!

I guess the store had the chip readers installed beggining of June. I understand the registers are crashing when they never crashed before. We have one now that can't be used at all for the past week; it was fine before the chip reader was installed.

Whose mind also went to the gutter after reading the title?

My mind is always in the gutter . It does sound dirty at work, " ok, insert the card into the chip reader. Ok, it didn't read it, insert it again. Is it all the way in?Do it harder, it can't be read if it's not in." One of these days a customer is going to say something

[BrenDAnn]

This happens more often than not at C-Store. Do you know how hard it is to keep a friendly tone and smile, while pointing out someone's stupidity? Well, of course you all do. I'm just saying, it gets hard to smile after about the fourth or fifth "you swiped your card too soon" in a row. I get that other stores let you swipe/insert your card whenever, but we don't. Read the screen, people!

[Minflick]

"Don't swipe your card until you see the sparkly lights!"
WHAT sparkly lights?!
Transaction progresses to the point that sparkly blue lights show up....
"Those sparkly lights!"
Oh! That's what those mean?! ... ... ...

[dalesys]

...WHAT sparkly lights?!...

The ones when I bonk you on the head!

[Kit-Ginevra]

If you're bonking on the head,you've got lost somewhere on the anatomy....

[wolfie]

Depends on whether they're getting bonked on the big head or the little head.

[Nunavut Pants]

Or if it's bonking or boinking you're talking about.

[wordgirl]

Honestly, what OP describes sounds a lot more like a stupid POS setup than really stupid customers.

My view is usually this: If half or close to half of the users of a particular system are making mistakes, the fault is in the system, not the users. Plus, I've seen POS systems that say "INSERT CARD" ... or have no instructions at all ... and when I go to insert my card the cashier snaps "NOT YET!" I understand their irritation but I can't read directions that aren't given.... and the original post doesn't mention any instructions to wait. The far more common default seems to be "Swipe at will, we want your money as fast we can get it."

[Deserted]

I'd make that percentage rather lower. 10%, 5%, or even smaller. 1 in 10 or 20 could still be a largish group.