The card associations (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) had a three-year plan to phase in EMV-compliant POS terminals -- retail in October 2015, ATMs in October 2016, and gas pumps in October 2017. The "stick" to be used was that liability for fraudulent transactions would fall upon merchants who didn't install such equipment by the deadlines, and no longer be borne by the cards.
It hasn't gone entirely smoothly, and at the end of last year, gas station owners were granted a three-year extension to fulfill the requirements, owing to the cost of the replacements above and beyond what the other two categories already suffered. And it still may not be enough time.
More than a year later, and there is still confusion among customers as to how to interact with the new machines (Do I "swipe" or "dip?"), and it hasn't been helped by the fact that the new transactions take more time to process, as software bugs have needed to be worked out.
Even worse, some stores initially opted not to activate those features, even though the hardware was in place (see same question above).
Adding to the fustercluck has been some merchants' (Walmart, Target, CVS) reluctance to fully embrace these new methods (including contactless NFC payments) as they see an opening to try to circumvent the established cards' transactions fees. Walmart led other retailers in creating a rather complicated and lame electronic payment system (which deservedly met an unceremonious death) so it wouldn't have to pay Visa/MC/AMEX any fees. Despite the failure of that consortium's effort, they still haven't given up individually on creating their own "XXX Pay" systems.
In many ways, it's SNAFU, and ironically, a U.S.-only problem. Much of the rest of the civilized world transitioned to chipped, EMV systems long ago, and the way theirs is implemented, with a PIN requirement, is more secure than the half-baked implementation here.
Me? I try to use cash, unless it's a very large amount, or an online transaction.
