Credit Cards without lifted numbers on card?

[C_DUBYA]

I received a Playstation Sony Capital One Visa today.  And the card has a chip but all the data is printed on the card, first the raised textured numbers Im used to.  Is this new?  

[simplynoir]

It's not new but not all cards have that feature. Most have the card information printed on the back are "clean" so to speak but a lot of the cards still have the raise printed lettering on the front.

[UpperNwGuy]

The raised lettering was for the old-fashioned carbon copy credit card imprinters, but none of the merchants have those machines anymore, so there really hasn't been a need for the raised lettering in about 20 years.  I'm glad it's disappeared from most credit cards.

[Anonymous]

Discover has been doing this for some years already. Then I remember Citi started doing this since 2014 when the new Expedia and Double cash cards came out and then eventually rolled out to almost all their cards. Not uncommon to have the flat card number nowadays.

[SunriseEarth]

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@C_DUBYAwrote:

I received a Playstation Sony Capital One Visa today.  And the card has a chip but all the data is printed on the card, first the raised textured numbers Im used to.  Is this new?  

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The trend these days is moving away from embossed cards vs simply printing the card numbers.   I believe there is a cost benefit to printing numbers, and many consumers prefer them, as they stack more thinly within one's wallet.  

Of the cards listed in my signature, the majority are still embossed.   However, SYNC has been issuing more printed cards these days, so I suspect its a matter of time before printed numbers take over

[K-in-Boston]

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@UpperNwGuywrote:

The raised lettering was for the old-fashioned carbon copy credit card imprinters, but none of the merchants have those machines anymore, so there really hasn't been a need for the raised lettering in about 20 years.  I'm glad it's disappeared from most credit cards.

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Merchants are usually still issued the carbon sheets but not the actual "knuckle grinders" (that's the technical name for the imprinters).  Happened with one of my merchant accounts as recently as a few months ago.  I only recall having a merchant do it once in decades, and that was at an amusement park in Canada a few years ago.  I was trying to force a CapOne CLI, so used my VentureOne for that trip and of course the card numbers are printed instead of embossed so it was amusing watching the teenager at the counter try to CC it.

[iv]

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@UpperNwGuywrote:

The raised lettering was for the old-fashioned carbon copy credit card imprinters, but none of the merchants have those machines anymore, so there really hasn't been a need for the raised lettering in about 20 years.  I'm glad it's disappeared from most credit cards.

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Believe it or not, I actually saw one still in use just last year!  

And not in the middle of nowhere, either... it was at a gas station 20 miles west of NYC (along Route 46 in NJ).

I think that the last time prior to that I'd seen one being operated was the mid-90s, though.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, early to mid 90s is probably the last time I have seen one as well. I was working retail going through school and always had a knuckle grinder (although I didn't know the name until now) under the counter for when networks were down. I can only remember having to use it a handful of times.

[Anonymous]

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@ivwrote:

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@UpperNwGuywrote:

The raised lettering was for the old-fashioned carbon copy credit card imprinters, but none of the merchants have those machines anymore, so there really hasn't been a need for the raised lettering in about 20 years.  I'm glad it's disappeared from most credit cards.

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Believe it or not, I actually saw one still in use just last year!  

And not in the middle of nowhere, either... it was at a gas station 20 miles west of NYC (along Route 46 in NJ).

I think that the last time prior to that I'd seen one being operated was the mid-90s, though.

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Same here, first time in almost 20 years id seen one used was when my usual gas stations card machines were down from an overnight power outage or so i heard

Im like crap, can I pay you tomorrow, im here every day man... hes like, here ill use this *clunks up on counter*

Good thing I had my debit card on me, its the only one I was carrying at the time with raised numbers x.x

[Anonymous]

My Golden1 debit card has printed numbers. And my Venture, Disco, and Chase Amazon Prime. I like the look.