Today as I stopped at the local drive-thru for a little grub, I paid (as usual) with my debit card.
The girl who was working the register flipped my card over – glanced at it – and ran it through the stripe reader.
The only reason it really caught my eye was because back in the days when I worked retail (ancient history), I did the same thing.
What does it actually mean though – to check the signature part of the card? Way, WAAAY back in the day before my time, I know that merchants were instructed to check for a signature – to verify that the card was legit. Throughout the 90’s I never signed any of my cards, and was only stopped from using my card ONCE. They politely asked me to sign the card and then they would accept it.
These days, more often than not, I’m asked for my driver’s license aloing with the card – obviously as a means to prevent fraud.
But, for some reason, the habit of flipping the card and checking for a signature still exists. I use my debit card so often that the signature area is worn off. I often wonder if that ever makes merchants pause when I whip it out? If I were working in retail, I know I would flip the card over, but would I give it a second thought if it wasn’t signed?
There’s always the long running sitcom joke where you hand the card to someone, they make a phone call, and cut it up (or refuse to return it to you) – but I’ve never actually heard of that actually happening in real life.