US payment industry switching to chip-enabled cards

New York

AMID the hustle and rush of New York, some diners at the Stage Door Deli in Manhattan may not even notice the extra three or four seconds it takes to buy their lunch.

To pay for their Reuben sandwiches and tuna melts, customers with a small metallic square on the front of their charge cards - an increasingly common fraud-prevention chip - will have to dip instead of swipe. For several seconds, slightly longer than most people may be used to, cards are inserted and left in the cashier's payment terminal, which uses the chip to determine whether the card is legitimate.