That's easily done with a writing pad with carbon paper between each sheet. You write the items, prices and tax, rip off one sheet to give to the customer and another sheet for the books. I checked, these seem to still be sold at office supply places, so there is no excuse.

Some EU countries don't issue credit/debit cards by default but they have their own system. The Netherlands is one of them. Such cards don't have embossing. You can get a MasterCard/Visa compatible card but it's not standard, though I believe this will change soon.

But of course the imprinting system is ancient and extremely prone to fraud. As is the magstripe. I wish we had a choice not to have the latter anymore. I'd gladly give up the ability to pay in places where magstripes are still used in return for more security against skimming. Here in Europe the magstripe is just not used anymore except for supporting foreign cards.

I like the embossing because it gives my thumb something to grip when I'm pulling the card out of my wallet.

My lastest debit card (issued last year) was the first one I got without embossed numbers. I guess retrocompatibility is no longer a priority. Not that it changes anything for me, virtually every shop has already phased out even the magstripes and use either chip cards or NFCs.

I've seen an imprinter used in Germany I think, but that was more than 30 years ago.

> Most credit or debit cards support offline transactions, so a shop can keep a battery powered terminal that reconciles when it comes online.

Almost....

Its been a while since I have been involved in POS payments, but IIRC there is a clear protocol which goes something like this:

     1. If the card machine is online and working, use that
     2. If the card machine is not working *AND* the business is willing to take on the risk, record an offline transaction for later reconciliation
     3. If the card machine is not working *AND* the business *IS NOT* willing to take on the risk, call bank $phone_number for manual transaction validation and record the validation code provided at the end of the call.

There are a lot of different cultural practices in Europe, and unification is a slow process. I for one have seen many imprinters in use in Europe, although it has been years since I last saw one. An online terminal used to be significantly more expensive than an imprinter, so small shops would prefer the imprinter, especially in rural locations with bad connectivity.

My employer has (or had) one. They used it a couple of years ago when they sold some stuff to staff (old furniture etc).

The usual fraud risks don't really apply in this case. Other than that, it must be over 20 years since I saw my parents pay using one, and that was unusual enough that I remember it.

Same in Norway. I used to go out for beers to this one bar that had an imprinter when my bank account were empty in the early 2000s. good times.

UK too, which is arguably still part of Europe. I remember them being used at less professionally organised events (street parties, church outings etc.).

We had one at work as well 15 years ago as part of a contingency strategy in case of a power outage, but don't remember it ever being used. I left retail so no idea if they still have it.