Credit cards and PINs

It seems that PINs will be required to be used for all credit card transactions from 1 August.  Apparently, signatures will no longer be accepted.  Since the opportunity for fraud will be lessened, this certainly appears unobjectionable.

I suppose most of us already use PINs much of the time.    However, the exception seems to be in restaurants, where the custom, particularly in Victoria, is still to place your credit card with the bill and allow the merchant to process it away from the table.

I got out of the habit of allowing this as long ago in the early 2000s, when we were living in Perth.  There, even at that time, it was the custom to pay the bill at the cash desk, so that  your credit card was always within your sight.  However, returning to Victoria, I lapsed into the more "traditional" ways.

The use of PINs will require either payment of bills at the cash desk or restaurants to bring a portable machine to the table.

On the window of a local shop

It will also require the customer to state how much is to be added to the bill by way of tip, instead of the more discreet practice of adding an amount when signing.  This will make the practice of telling the restaurant to "split the bill" a little more complex, because the total amount, including tip, will have to be nominated.   I suppose another option would be to leave a cash tip instead, but I can't see this taking off. 

All this reminded me that we've come quite a way since Bankcard appeared (in 1974).    It was withdrawn in 2006 but occasionally you see still see the symbol, such as in a local shop.

On a slightly different note, I wonder if travellers from overseas will be inconvenienced?  So long as they know their PIN, they should be OK.  I understand that in the US, chip technology is only now being introduced, but this is a different issue.  Even with the change, presumably card readers will continue to accept magnetic strip cards, so that they can process debit cards.