🔒The foibles of new technology

The first time I observed just how frustrating new technology can be to consumers unfamiliar with it was in the lobby of a bank in Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Mass.

I had stopped with my roommate to get cash for Chinese takeout, and as we ducked out of the rain and into the lobby, we saw an elderly gentleman bending over, looking into the ATM card slot and simultaneously punching the machine and yelling “give me my card back.”

With no card forthcoming, he took his well-constructed umbrella and began whacking the machine. A bank teller quickly emerged from the locked main bank, held the umbrella still and calmly told him hitting the machine wouldn't help. She then showed him the steps he missed to get his card and receipt to eject.

He begrudgingly thanked her, but made it clear it all was too complicated and impersonal and he only would do business with the bank in the future during open hours.

Awkward introductions

But new technology can promise better features, performance and even safer transactions. Unfortunately, the initial meeting between consumer and machine often is awkward, with one side or the other not ready, not willing to be flexible or simply not seeing the benefit.

And so it is with the new EMV chips that started appearing in credit cards and bank cards starting last Oct. 1, when liability for certain types of fraud shifted from credit card issuers, which can include banks, to merchants if they don't have the new machinery installed to handle the card transactions at checkout lines.

EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, which initiated a technical standard for smart payment cards that store data on integrated circuits embedded into the credit or bank card instead of using magnetic stripes. The idea is that each time a consumer sticks his or her card into the machine that can read the chip, a new code is generated each time, for each transaction, making it far more difficult for card thieves to steal information. Magnetic stripes have the same code for each transaction and are easier to copy.

The reason this is such a big deal is not only the October deadline, but also the fact that ATMs, cash registers, hotel card readers and other readers throughout Europe and Canada have already adopted the cards. Some have even completely eliminated the stripe on the card, making it difficult for tourists and business people to use their EMV-only cards in the United States and for Americans to try to use cards with stripes in EMV-only readers abroad.

So far U.S. cards tend to have both the chip and the stripe, and for good reason. Some 70% of Americans surveyed by CreditCards.com said they have at least one EMV card, which means 30 million Americans got the cards within the past six months.

But the new cards are more expensive for banks and credit card holders to make. And retailers are far behind, with fewer than 40% of them having readers for the EMV cards. That's a generous estimate. The Strawhecker Group found 37% of retailers are ready to process smart chip payments. Boston Retail Partners is less generous, estimating only 22% of retailers are ready.

Mixed reviews

From this reporter's experience, only one of my cards has a chip, with the others saying they'll send out a new card with an embedded chip when my old card expires. Using my one smart card has been a mixed bag. Most stores I go to in Maine don't use the chip reader. Of the handful that have the reader, three have them taped shut, one has stopped using the reader because customers complained the EMV transaction is much slower than just sliding the card, and one uses the chip cards easily, but still has a slide function for customers without smart cards.

With this evolution in financial security technology, consumers and retailers need to adjust soon. The Strawhecker Group estimates that half of retailers will be able to handle the cards by this June, and adoption could be 90% by 2017. It will take more than an umbrella to stop this technology momentum.