It's a small act — only taking you a few seconds, unless the credit-card machine freezes up — but when the six people in front of you at Target are taking that same pause, those seconds add up. That's a whopping half a minute of your life you've spent staring at the bubblegum and gift cards, debating whether you really need those three tubs of Unicorn Magic ice cream. That's why major retailers, like the bullseye'd brand and Walmart, are getting rid of the practice of signing your receipt at checkout altogether.
Most major credit card companies are phasing out the requirement that you scrawl out your signature to verify that it's truly you ordering all that fantastical, limited-edition ice cream (or whatever your vices may be). EMV chips in cards have made the practice less necessary, the New York Times reported, with one Walmart spokesman deeming it "worthless." MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover have all announced plans to cut out this step in the checkout process, so it makes sense big brands would follow suit.
You won't have to sign for credit card purchases starting this month at Target, though Business Insider reports that it may take a while for the change to trickle down to mom-and-pop shops. Payment companies ShopKeep and Square have said they don't have any immediate plans to change their systems to cut out this step.
It's hard to say just how much of an impact this will ultimately have on wait times at the checkout, though it should shave off a few floundering seconds. As long as the people in front of you don't zone out as the credit card machine chimes at them to remove their card.
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