News

The embossed card lives on. And on.

May 4, 2012

If you think future generations won't have the foggiest idea what those "click-clack" card machines were for, think again. Despite wireless technology, EMV and dongles, the major card companies aren't ready to retire embossed card numbers and old-time imprinters just yet.

According to an item in the UK publication, The Register, as long as there are mobile dead spots, global interoperability issues and power outages, the major card brands will keep low-tech card processing methods around for non-electronic transactions — however few and far between.

There are still taxis and micro-merchants without card readers, the article said, and for their transaction imprints, the card brands would prefer a click-clack to a ball-point pen for two reasons: 1) it's faster, 2) it's generally more legible.

And one more: Merchants who use click-clacks cant take prepaid cards because they're not embossed. This difference from standard cards serves as a reminder that unless they have electronic processing, they can't be sure a prepaid has a sufficient balance — or for that matter, any balance — to cover a transaction.

For more on this topic, visit our transaction processing research center.