[ShadowFaxSam]

>That's because German vendors are hopeless at processing cards.

I could not agree more with the process you described every time I pay with a card in Germany. Germans point to this inefficient process for the reason cash is faster.

However, when I lived in the US, Australia, and NZ you literally tap your card with paywave and the transaction is complete. It is impossible for a cash transaction to be faster than this.