Out of curiosity, where are you located?

Edmonton I'd say > 95% of retailers are chip-and-pin. Every other place I've been is about the same. Which given that there's two years until they turn the legacy swipe system off entirely, is about where you'd expect everywhere to be in the transition.

Nashville, TN (I realize this thread is about Canada, just didn't think swipe had gone the way of the dodo)

Ah. Payment systems in Canada are significantly different than in the US. Swipe has been on the way out for years, here.

why the downvotes? I was surprised that swipe isn't in other places, asked where he was located, and then said where I'm located. What's the problem with that?

I downvoted because the answer to your initial question is in the title of this post, and your wording was terribly provincial while not really contributing to the discussion. Just since you asked.

I was asking a question, and "Canada" is a big place. That is not the answer to the question. Also, just because the article is about Canada, doesn't mean we can't discuss payment processing around the world. There are people in this thread asking for support in Europe and Australia, there is no reason for me to expect every comment is pertaining to Canada.

Edit: also, while I'm not from Canada, I was there this summer and I had no problems getting my card swiped. Everywhere I needed to buy something took my card and swiped it. Hence my surprise.

Here in Vancouver, practically all retailers use chip and PIN.

But they all support swipe as well, if there's an issue with the chip (or if you put the card in backwards so it can't read the chip, and repeat until it gives up on you).

Personally, I'm hoping Square adds a new dongle with tap-to-pay (Paywave/Paypass/Interac Flash), which would be even more convenient.

> But they all support swipe as well, if there's an issue with the chip (or if you put the card in backwards so it can't read the chip, and repeat until it gives up on you).

For the time being, as a temporary measure while peoples cards are replaced with chip cards. Swipe is being fazed out entirely by 2015. You're already far more likely to get a rejected transaction or trip anti-fraud heuristics if your transaction is not chip-auth'd.

A lot of retailers I've been to require you to show government issued ID to prove your identity when your chip fails. Some downright refuse to accept your credit card.