Dear Mr. Fisher, I hear that you have a Target problem

[Guest Derek L]

Well, I've only been in one Target, and I certainly wouldn't compare it to the Sears stores I know, nor even Wal-Mart. Its selection is extremely limited. I think I wrote once that the store had precisely three racks of coats in the mens section. I was recently at several stores looking for coats, including Sears. I'd say the Sears I went to had perhaps thirty racks, though I didn't count them. I'd compare this Target to the old Woolworth stores (if you ignore all the grocery aisles and the fact it has a cold, institutional atmosphere the old Woolworths certainly didn't have.

Like I said, I have yet to go into a Target, and aside from cutting through a Sears, probably haven’t bought something there since the late 90s……..Remember Woodward’s, or was that just a West Coast thing? Now that was a true one-stop shop......

[Wilber]

The chip and pin won't prevent someone from hacking into a company server and getting all that information. Once they have that info, they have your number and PIN. I would guess that they could use the credit cards online where you do not need the chip or pin. And all of the information about expiry data, and user would be in the data that was hacked.

No credit card system will be fraud proof but chip and pin has drastically reduced it in places where it is used. After chip and pin became standard in 92, France reported a 80% reduction in credit card fraud.

I don't believe the PIN is stored on the card but even if someone did get your card number and pin, the chips are almost impossible to duplicate. I keep my cards in little RFID proof envelopes so they can't be scanned by anyone walking by. When they give you a NEXUS card, it comes in one. I've got so I don't like dealing with merchants that don't use this technology (listening some of you American retailers?) and am amazed the US is so late coming to the table.

[bush_cheney2004]

...I've got so I don't like dealing with merchants that don't use this technology (listening some of you American retailers?) and am amazed the US is so late coming to the table.

I worked a contract gig at one of the big credit card machine manufacturers about eight years ago (Datacard Group). Moving everybody to embedded RFID was deemed too expensive at the time for the banks and other card issuers in the U.S. Cardholders in the U.S. are only responsible for the first $50 in fraudulent charges, and most banks will even waive that, because the profit margins for credit/debit card accounts is just huge. Banks don't even like to have such stories publicized because it's cheaper to just cover the losses than implement new technology.

I'll bet a lot of young people here don't know how we used to complete credit card point-of-sale (POS) transactions:

[Wilber]

They will have to eventually. Some US banks are now issuing their more affluent customers with chip and pin cards. Increasingly, foreign merchants will be reluctant to take non chip cards, machines won't take them and magnetic strips will as extinct as cassette tapes.

[bush_cheney2004]

They will have to eventually. ...

Maybe.....and some people still use cassette tapes for radio checks and demos. I can fit an entire baseball game on one side of a C90 at 1/4 speed !

Edited December 26, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[Wilber]

I think I have a few kicking around as well and still have a player. Probably at least ten years since I last used it. Should try it out some time and see if it still works.