No More Credit Card Signing at Checkout

[MechAg94]

We rolled out EMV PIN pads a few years ago, right before the deadline but still before most, and the number of people dumbfounded that they now had a chip and PIN card was nutty.  They had no idea they had a PIN now.  Within days a customer showed one our cashiers that you can generally bypass the PIN entry just by pushing the green or OK button. Sure enough that worked with our pads.  So even though some banks went chip and PIN the card processors still put in a chip and signature backdoor.  Because people are stupid.

Both my credit cards have chips.  I don't recall ever being giving a pin number for purchases. 

[Ben]

Both my credit cards have chips.  I don't recall ever being giving a pin number for purchases. 

Same. Also, I still had to sign at Lowes this morning.

[KD5NRH]

Same. Also, I still had to sign at Lowes this morning.

The one advantage I can see to a signature is when it's a card that multiple people use; you might be able to tell which person signed.  Of course, that would be easy enough to work around by offering a multiple PIN option too.  If they're worried about the lower security (odds of guessing it become n:10,000 instead of 1:10,000) they could just add a digit and make anything n<=9 more secure than the current standard.  That would cover probably 95% of the "you need a card temporarily, but not often enough to get your own card issued" situations, and eliminate any risk that the guy you just fired cloned your card last month when you sent him for toilet paper, since you can deactivate his PIN faster than replacing the card.