Shopping and spending with plastic is going to change a lot, as the new "chip and pin" cards started into use yesterday. They are in wide use in Canada and much of the rest of the world but are coming late to the U.S.
The cards carry a tiny computer chip so shopping means pushing the card into a reader and leaving it there for the process. Susan Hugill is an administrative vice president at M&T Bank and business manager for merchant services. Hugill says it's not mandatory for merchants.
"You're a jewelry store. You're a furrier or you sell electronics as a merchant, you ought to be ready because it's all about face-to-face counterfeit cards or fraud and that's where the liability shift is going to change," Hugill said.
"But if you are a small mom and pop, a cafe, something of that nature and you have a small average ticket. If you're not ready today, you don't need to panic, as long as you eventually get ready."
Most card carriers and most merchants aren't ready since the system hasn't been able to make new cards for everyone and new card readers for merchants but they are on the way. Hugill says in Europe, the chip and pin cards cut deeply into fraud, forcing fraudsters to shift to on-line theft.
