[Reason077]

> "Swiping pressure-sensitive paper over the raised numbers (the original method) is still possible, though I haven't seen a merchant actually do this since maybe the mid-2000's."

I've noticed all the UK-issued cards I've received in the last year or two no longer have the raised numbers. Just the same details printed in ink on the card. Quite an improvement as the card details are easier to read now!

Still seem to have the traditional (but almost never used) magnetic stripe, however.

[labster]

The numbers are no longer raised on my US Amazon card, but due to gray-on-gray the numbers are much harder to read. Smaller numbers give more white space for a very clean design. So I get to see much better modern UX as I squint to read my card.

[profmonocle]

Not sure about Europe, but here in the US you can use the magstripe if your chip is broken. After three failed scans with the chip it lets you use the magstripe. I've always felt like it defeats the purpose - if the idea is that the chip is harder to clone, couldn't scammers just make fake cards with phony chips, and do that when they use it?

I'd say maybe it raises fraud alerts faster, but I had a friend who did this for every credit payment for like two months before she finally had them replace her broken card. (No idea why, since it was free.)

[Reason077]

> "Not sure about Europe, but here in the US you can use the magstripe if your chip is broken."

Yeah, this used to be the case (years ago) in the UK too. But now days, most card readers no longer have magstripe readers on them. The chip is the backup now in case contactless fails!