Aug 4, 2016 3 min read

This is how impatient we’ve become.

Customers are beginning to grumble about the new retail card readers that require a chip to be inserted into the machine instead of just swiping. We are grumbling because a transaction using the chip takes a bit more time than just swiping.

Stores are gradually coming on board with the new regulations that require the chips, which are designed to prevent hacking and fraud. The price customers pay for the added security is an extra 15 seconds or so each time we use the card.

Fifteen seconds.

I’ve noticed more businesses began using the chip this summer. Still, there are places I frequent – including grocery stores – that aren’t chip-ready; some of them save me the three seconds it takes to ask if they are by placing a bit of masking tape over the chip slot.

At those places, paying for my purchases takes about six seconds. I swipe, enter my password, say I don’t want cash back, and in another two seconds my card is back in my wallet. At Giant Eagle, where the goal is those gas discounts, I choose the “credit” option instead of debit, which gives me a bit more of the gas goodies. Even with that, I find myself getting annoyed because the credit option requires a signature for purchases over $50. I’ve actually watched my grocery totals adding up, hoping not to go over $50 so I don’t have to take the extra two seconds to sign my name.

We are a harried, spoiled bunch. Remember the card swipers that used the receipts with carbon paper? It would take awhile for the worker to line up the receipt with the card and jam that roller over it. And I don’t remember ever being annoyed about that.

While on vacation at the shore this week, I went looking for an inexpensive beach chair. I found a yellow one at CVS for $13.99, but to get that price, I had to be a loyalty card member. Otherwise, the price would be $21.99.

“I can get you the lower price if you sign up,” said the clerk.

“How long will that take?” I asked.

“About two minutes,” he said.

I hesitated. The woman in line behind me must have sensed this would take awhile; she rolled her eyes and headed for another register.

Was it worth two minutes of my time (and hers) to save the eight dollars?

I signed up, which took less than two minutes, and walked out with my new yellow chair.

As I waited at a red light outside the store, I did the math. Eight dollars in two minutes would equal $240 an hour, not that anyone would reach that kind of pay by signing up for customer loyalty cards, but still. I saved eight bucks.

Just then, the light turned green. And in the micro-millisecond it took for me to react and step on the gas pedal, the person in the car behind me honked his horn.

Beth Dolinar can be reached at cootiej@aol.com.