EMV Lack of Preparedness

EMV is … the … bane … of … our … existence these days! For those brick-and-mortar merchants that are affected by the migration of the card industry from mag swipe technology to chip-embedded cards, Dharma is flabbergasted by the lack of preparedness of our industry to make a smooth transition. Mainly that the POS terminal manufacturers were totally unprepared for the volume of merchants that would like to make an immediate change, so terminals have been backordered without clear shipping dates. In addition, some manufacturers have not yet been certified on the various processing networks, which further delays EMV acceptance. Please be patient and understanding as we navigate this frustrating terrain together; we’re doing the best we can on our end!

(EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, the three companies that originally created the standard. The standard is now managed by EMVCo, a consortium with control split equally among Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, China UnionPay, and Discover.)