"upgraded the computer systems attached to credit card chip readers"
A quarter century ago the way grocery retailers implemented credit and debit card payment was a physically separate unconnected terminal, you swiped and entered the amount on the separate terminal, and the only modification to the cash registers or workflow was hitting the "credit" button instead of "cash" when recording a transaction (there was already functionality for a "check" button). So there was no connection. Before credit/debit terminals you'd balance your register at the end of a shift using data from the "check" or "cash" button, afterwards you had a third column the "credit" button transactions, and that figure should match the terminal printout.
Its possible that connecting the systems results in slower speeds for an end user, although not having the cashier hand enter charge amounts saves enough cashier time that the overall system is faster although the end user feels its slower. What I don't understand is beyond some manner of witchcraft why connecting the register to the terminal would be assumed to slow down the process. Unless architecture has staggeringly changed in the last quarter century, the CPU in the cash register is not doing the crypto or running some kind of dialup winmodem, its in sleep mode awaiting an "Ack" or "Nack" while the terminal is doing whatever crypto magic that terminals do.
A quarter century ago the way grocery retailers implemented credit and debit card payment was a physically separate unconnected terminal, you swiped and entered the amount on the separate terminal, and the only modification to the cash registers or workflow was hitting the "credit" button instead of "cash" when recording a transaction (there was already functionality for a "check" button). So there was no connection. Before credit/debit terminals you'd balance your register at the end of a shift using data from the "check" or "cash" button, afterwards you had a third column the "credit" button transactions, and that figure should match the terminal printout.
Its possible that connecting the systems results in slower speeds for an end user, although not having the cashier hand enter charge amounts saves enough cashier time that the overall system is faster although the end user feels its slower. What I don't understand is beyond some manner of witchcraft why connecting the register to the terminal would be assumed to slow down the process. Unless architecture has staggeringly changed in the last quarter century, the CPU in the cash register is not doing the crypto or running some kind of dialup winmodem, its in sleep mode awaiting an "Ack" or "Nack" while the terminal is doing whatever crypto magic that terminals do.