You can use swipe in some places in the UK, but then you have to wait for the receipt to print, the cashier to find a pen, you have to sign it and the cashier has to verify it, click on the terminal that they did, and get a final receipt printed. It's even more hassle than typing in a pin.

But then you usually have to sign as well. Chip and PIN transactions don't need a signature, and in my experience the total time to swipe+sign is about the same same as insert+pin.

Contactless payments don't need a signature or a PIN, so they're significantly quicker.

I rarely if ever have to sign for a purchase under $25.

We stopped using that for lack of security, plus I think signing the receipt (and carbon copy) is time consuming, right?

I don't do much legacy brick and mortar CC shopping anymore, but it seems completely random at Home Depot and Target if they want my signature or not. Maybe after X transactions in the last Y days they no longer need a sig. With a possible side dish of Z percent or lower of transactions are fraudulent from this store.