That’s what we’re saying - the restaurant or wherever will ‘pretend’ that you’re using a credit card and run it as such, adding the tip and all after the receipt is completed. It doesn’t matter that on your end it is set up to be a debit card because the restaurant is NOT set up to handle it that way themselves, so they have to do it the other way.
As for the actual question, I’ve never seen a portable reader in use other than Square, and those are not even portable when they’re not at craft fairs - they instead are tablets with a swiper on the side and the tablet is attached to a counter or stand.
The closest i’ve seen to what you describe is a Chili’s? - a fast casual restaurant in our nearest city has installed readers into the tables - but again, these are touch screen tablets attached to the table. Still, you can pay there rather than having to wait for a server to get to you.
Everyone around here calls truly portable readers ‘squares’ because that’s the only game in town. They’re little white … well, squares - about an inch to a side, that port into a phone or tablet (or i suppose computer?) and they’re practically required for craft fairs and farmers markets. The cheap ones only can swipe mag-stripes, but the more expensive ones can read an inserted chip. The customer signs with a finger on the phone/tablet screen, and options pop up with pre-selected tip amounts and a button for picking a custom tip amount, then a final screen asking if you’d prefer emailed, texted, or printed receipt (depending on what the vendor can do) and then you’re all done!
I think the biggest difference in Credit/Debit, at least Canada vs. US, is that there are very few Canadian banks and early on they put together a non-profit called the Interac Association to handle debit transactions. Since there are orders of magnitude more banks in the US, I think it just fell to the incumbent credit card companies to handle the back end processing.
Our debit transactions are always secured by PIN and are finalized at transaction time. Credit transactions in the swipe days were only a pre-authorization and then finalized once the tip was added for restaurant type transactions. With the switch to Chip and PIN, all transactions are finalized and the amount can’t be changed post-processing without repeating the process.
And to answer the OP, I just call it “the Machine”. In case anyone is wondering, a typical wireless reader looks like this
Out here in the boonies of South Dakota, I’ve been to one restaurant that had them. It looked just like a little POS machine. We didn’t have to ask for it as the waitress had it clamped to her uniform and, when she saw we were using a credit/debit card, just whipped it out and used it.
Thus the name of the machine is animprinter.
At the store I work at part-time, we do not use a PIN for a debit card but when I run one it will say for example: ‘Visa Debit’ on the receipt. So it must be encoded on the chip somehow. I haven’t checked one where we had to use the magnetic stripe. We do ask that everyone sign the receipt though.
Well, my debit card is not set up to be a credit card.
So I guess I won’t be using my debit card in May.
That’s really odd to me. Does it not have a VISA or Mastercard logo on it? (or Barclaycard, or Discover) If it does, then you can use it as a credit card, even if you never usually do. If not… who is insuring the transactions on that card? Your own individual bank?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a card that isn’t backed by one of the big credit agencies, even if it’s a debit card from Ma Shucks Cornpone Bank of the Outer West Boonies.
Leaffan is Canadian, and his debit cards run on the Interac network in Canada, even if they also have Visa or MC branding.
Re tips…
At the local Indian place where I sometimes have lunch, I can tip and pay by tapping my Interac débit card as follows:
- Merchant puts in the amount and hands the terminal to me. (Actually, it’s in a little pivoting stand bolted to the counter, but same diff.)
- I push the OK button.
- The terminal asks me whether and how much I would like to tip.
- I put in the tip amount.
- The terminal presents the total amount and displays the ‘insert, swipe, or tap’ message, plus the tap icon.
- I tap my debit card.
- The transaction is processed immediately. I can open my phone and check my bank balance and the transaction will already be there.
Interac debit is online and takes place immediately. This means, of course, that if the communications goes down, debit cards will not be available at all. I don’t think you can key in the debit-card info and have the transaction take place later.
If I’m tapping, I don’t usually have to put in the PIN. (Sometimes the tap requests me to insert the card and enter the PIN as a check). I think tapping is only enabled for amounts under $50 or $100 (not sure whether the merchant or the bank sets that).
If I insert the card for any amount, I have to enter the PIN. But I had to enter the PIN in the swipe days as well.
You can, or could, use an Interac debit card in the US at merchants whose terminals are on the Nyce network.
I’ve seen a couple of portable card readers in the USA here in Chicago. In fact, had one just last night at a restaurant. The funny thing is, the two times I’ve seen them, I’ve been with friends who travel to Europe and so we’re both familiar with them. Yet, the server still went through his entire monologue about what they are and how they’re used.
If the Interac card is Cobranded with Visa Debit logo it can be used in the US as if it were a credit card, and it will debit your bank account directly. To the store, it’s a credit transaction. To you, it’s a normal debit. But if the clerk asks you, “Debit or Credit?” for the love of god, tell them CREDIT! If you don’t have a co-branded Interac, call your bank and see if they offer one.
My debit cards both have the Visa logo on them, but the only options I see when inserting my card is a withdrawal from “Chequings” or “Savings.”
So, if I tell a US merchant to use “Credit” it will go through but come out of my bank account three days later. 
Up to three days later. It’s as if you used your credit card, where charges might not show up for a day or two or three. Here’s the info. That’s from 2015, so it’s possible things have changed in the interim, but I know my credit card purchases, especially at restaurants, often don’t post for a day or two.
^ Thanks. Although it is rather weird, and I’m not convinced it will work seamlessly.
The last time I was in the US I drove to Port Huron, MI from Sarnia, ON.
I bought shoes, some groceries, and stopped for a couple of pints at a chain restaurant. This was in about 2012 and I don’t recall feeling confused at either of these three places.
I wonder though…hmmm perhaps I used my chipless corporate Amex card at the time. Actually that’s probably exactly what I did. Corporate Amex cards have since been chipped.
I do have a prepaid Visa with no chip. I think I’ll just load lots of money onto that and use it in Oregon in May.
US retailers are almost all equipped to handled chip cards. What you won’t see much is the portable bank card reader that is popular in Canada (and Europe, I guess).
Honestly that’s probably better anyway. Having some restaurant cook or server ‘skim’ your card is enough of a nightmare when it’s a credit card. If it’s your actual bank account? Yeesh.
I think that’s part of the disconnect - no one my age or younger uses actual debit cards for anything anymore because the fraud protections on the credit cards are much better and easier on the customer, and because at least in the states, you know your card is gonna physically go off with the server for a while and who knows what they do with it in the back. There’s no alternative, so you’ve got to protect yourself as best you can.
They may be equipped for chip, but that doesn’t mean they’ll work with a Canadian debit card. The last time I was in the States (about 6 weeks in 2016), the POS card readers wouldn’t take my debit card, only my credit card.
I could use either credit card or debit card at US banks.
So if I made a purchase by credit card, at the end of the day I totted up my credit purchases and transferred that total amount from my bank account to my credit card account on my phone.
Unlike Leaffan, my debit card isn’t linked to Visa or MasterCard. It just has my bank’s logo on it.
As mentioned above, we don’t have those much in the US. I was recently in London and they were often slightly annoyed that they had to print out the receipt for me to sign. The other thing we don’t have much of, but it’s everywhere over there, are those smart cards that you just have to hold close to the machine, like Apple Pay.
I’m confused about the reluctance to use a credit card, and if you use it, to pay it off immediately. Do you not get a 30-day period where you don’t have to pay and no interest is charged? Or, is that an American thing? As long as I pay my bill off each month, I never pay any interest. I don’t have to pay it off as I charge to it.
Yeah, credit card interests work the same here, but when everyone has a wireless reader that will instantly take the money from your account, then what’s the point?
They even calculate the percentage tip for you, if you’re mathematically challenged.
Of course we do use credit cards too, but in my experience very rarely, and especially not for a meal.
Airline miles!