Have we posted this pin number/grocery confrontation in Oregon yet?

[Josh Runkle]

Most Visa/MC debit cards can be run as credit cards w/signature instead of PIN. A lot of people don't realize it and just answer "Debit" when they're asked "Debit or Credit?" Also, when run as a credit, it debits the account like a credit card (usually on the 1st & 15th of the month) which can be awkward for people who keep minimal balances in the associated account and just rely on the card being declined to tell them when they're low on dough.

Tam...my experience locally is that my small world ran that way until about 2 weeks ago.

ETA: I can still select between debit and credit at some places, like I always could. But that's going away. I've had cards with the chip for almost a year. This is a brand new thing.

[Josh Runkle]

Yeah at my local Kroger so far I can insert the chipped card and then bypass the PIN number entry to use credit. I assume that store will go the same way as the others though.

I used to be able to do that until recently.

[Tamara]

Tam...my experience locally is that my small world ran that way until about 2 weeks ago.

ETA: I can still select between debit and credit at some places, like I always could. But that's going away. I've had cards with the chip for almost a year. This is a brand new thing.

Actually, most places I use my watch instead of my card now, but it still asks, even when I use the chip card instead of the watch. Huh. A lot of this is going to depend on the third party card processor the retailer is using, of course...