Tue 3 June 2008 - Pen, or PIN?
There was some discussion on this recently in the comments, and now it’s become reality: From tomorrow, most Australian credit cards will offer you the choice of using the PIN instead of signing, at most shops. Details on the Pen Or Pin web site.
Wouldn’t surprise me if it had been pushed by those retailers experimenting with self-serve checkouts, but it makes sense anyway, since it probably takes longer to find a pen and sign the slip than it does to enter a PIN, and half the time nobody checks the signature anyway. (Not that this change will fix that problem, since — for now — you’ll still be able to sign.)