<story><title>Home Depot Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Visa, MasterCard</title><url>http://www.wsj.com/articles/home-depot-u-s-credit-card-firms-slow-to-upgrade-security-1466000734</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nacs</author><text>How is this an issue? Most people don&amp;#x27;t have issues keeping their phone&amp;#x27;s out of water or keeping it charged.</text></item><item><author>dec0dedab0de</author><text>&lt;i&gt;It seems to me that these alternatives (Chip &amp;amp; sign, chip and pin, carrying a credit card at all) all compete poorly with the &amp;quot;tap my phone to pay&amp;quot; offerings.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cards are waterproof, and don&amp;#x27;t require being charged.</text></item><item><author>kylecordes</author><text>It seems to me that these alternatives (Chip &amp;amp; sign, chip and pin, carrying a credit card at all) all compete poorly with the &amp;quot;tap my phone to pay&amp;quot; offerings. I use the latter whenever and wherever it is offered. As I understand it offers greater security than any of the above, and more importantly (life is short) it is much faster. (Though there is one wrinkle. Most point-of-sale systems process phone payments with just the tap. A few of them seem to instead treat it as equivalent to a swipe, and then launch you into a legacy multistep handshake thereafter.)&lt;p&gt;For reasons I don&amp;#x27;t understand, the credit card makers have spent many years bringing the new chip cards to market, they include much higher technology than ever offered before, yet the payment process takes much longer. Of course these few seconds don&amp;#x27;t matter that much per transaction, but think it might be enough to actually make a meaningful difference in staffing levels and line lengths at big stores in December.&lt;p&gt;I do understand the fees though. The credit card brands and banks have worked themselves, through years of diligent effort, into a business where they can impose a kind of &amp;quot;tax&amp;quot; of 3% on most of the retail economy across the entire US. This is obviously of immense economic value to them, and they will work very hard at every level to maintain it for as long as possible. On the other hand, paying these companies a 3% tax on every retail transaction is... rather surprising in the grand scheme of things, and seems unlikely to persist for that much longer.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Spooks</author><text>We obviously don&amp;#x27;t hang around the same people&amp;#x2F;age group.  There is always at least one person in my circle of friends that needs a charger.&lt;p&gt;Obviously 90% of the time a phone could be used (though I don&amp;#x27;t agree it&amp;#x27;s faster than credit card tap, roughly the same speed) and a card can be used as backup, but it makes ditching a credit card completely not really an option.</text></comment>
<story><title>Home Depot Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Visa, MasterCard</title><url>http://www.wsj.com/articles/home-depot-u-s-credit-card-firms-slow-to-upgrade-security-1466000734</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nacs</author><text>How is this an issue? Most people don&amp;#x27;t have issues keeping their phone&amp;#x27;s out of water or keeping it charged.</text></item><item><author>dec0dedab0de</author><text>&lt;i&gt;It seems to me that these alternatives (Chip &amp;amp; sign, chip and pin, carrying a credit card at all) all compete poorly with the &amp;quot;tap my phone to pay&amp;quot; offerings.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cards are waterproof, and don&amp;#x27;t require being charged.</text></item><item><author>kylecordes</author><text>It seems to me that these alternatives (Chip &amp;amp; sign, chip and pin, carrying a credit card at all) all compete poorly with the &amp;quot;tap my phone to pay&amp;quot; offerings. I use the latter whenever and wherever it is offered. As I understand it offers greater security than any of the above, and more importantly (life is short) it is much faster. (Though there is one wrinkle. Most point-of-sale systems process phone payments with just the tap. A few of them seem to instead treat it as equivalent to a swipe, and then launch you into a legacy multistep handshake thereafter.)&lt;p&gt;For reasons I don&amp;#x27;t understand, the credit card makers have spent many years bringing the new chip cards to market, they include much higher technology than ever offered before, yet the payment process takes much longer. Of course these few seconds don&amp;#x27;t matter that much per transaction, but think it might be enough to actually make a meaningful difference in staffing levels and line lengths at big stores in December.&lt;p&gt;I do understand the fees though. The credit card brands and banks have worked themselves, through years of diligent effort, into a business where they can impose a kind of &amp;quot;tax&amp;quot; of 3% on most of the retail economy across the entire US. This is obviously of immense economic value to them, and they will work very hard at every level to maintain it for as long as possible. On the other hand, paying these companies a 3% tax on every retail transaction is... rather surprising in the grand scheme of things, and seems unlikely to persist for that much longer.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dec0dedab0de</author><text>Well it would probably push me back to cash. I don&amp;#x27;t bring my phone if I&amp;#x27;m going to be wet, or theres a chance of it getting damaged (swimming, moshpits)  but I still might want or need to buy something. I also find it a chore to keep my phone charged all day, and will regularly have it die, and leave it somewhere to be charged while I go out.</text></comment>