I have never understood why stores ask this question when their system prompts them that the consumer is using a debit card. I know why clerks ask it, because they’re told to, or because their not told to do otherwise. The costs a retailer incurs with a swiped transaction fall into two categories:
- Credit is a % of the total - usually in the 1.25 - 3% range.
- Debit is a fixed fee - usually about $.25 per ticket.
The consumer typically doesn’t care, to them the difference is either signing a ticket or typing in a pin number, the same amount is debited from their account regardless.
The only retailers who don’t benefit from requiring pin codes on debit transactions would be those whose average ticket is less than $20 (not many of those around). So, why don’t retailers just require pin codes for all debit transactions.
I would guess that many of those with average tickets less than $20 would be fast food restaurants. In Arizona, as I understand it, tickets under $25 do not require a signature or a PIN number, so why not run them all as credit cards and save the fees?
Seems like the only ones winning here are the credit card companies (as usual) and the processing firms.
