Robert Neville wrote:
That may have been true 10 years ago. Current terminals handle credit card
transactions far faster than cash and in most cases, don't even require a
signature if the value is under a certain threshold.

Depends on the terminal.

I remember the first time I used an always-online terminal in a fast
food place. I couldn't believe it when I swiped the card and the
screen immediately said, "Thank you, your transaction is complete."

But the CVS pharmacy self-checkout machines are very slow to process a
credit card, usually about 15 seconds. And half the time something
goes wrong, and it makes you swipe again.

Getting back to rail, a certain manufacturer's ticket machines which
have been appearing around the U.S. (and UK, from what I hear) are
terrible at reading magstripes. With some machines, you're lucky if
it reads the stripe in the 3 chances it gives you before it cancels
the whole transaction.

Jimmy