Embossed numbers on credit cards; why are we still using them? I have never had my credit card "ironed", and embossed numbers add bulk. Is there any reason why they do still exist?
You're probably living in a city? Outside the city limits, where connectivity can be marginal, it's not uncommon to need to run a card through the carbon copy imprinting thingy. Seems to happen most frequently at old gas stations.
Imprinters are always on-hand as backups in case the phone lines go down.