As the deadline for EMV adoption loomed last month, MasterCard said they were ready, with 40% of their consumer credit cards already equipped with EMV chip technology.

The increased security of chip technology is something consumers have looked forward to, as high-profile data breaches occurred in retail chains across the country during the past year. Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus, and other retailers all scrambled to reassure consumers that their payment information was safe and they could use credit or debit cards with confidence in their stores, after cyber thieves hacked their way into payment systems.

Higher security with chips than stripes

The old-style magnetic stripe credit cards are not able to send encrypted information to payment processing plants in the same safe way as chip cards can. EMV chip cards send a payment code that expires after a certain amount of time, like a stamped receipt, so it cannot be taken and used by fraudsters later on.

The United States has been rather slow to catch on to EMV cards, with Europe, Asia, Canada, and the rest of the world using EMV chip cards long before the U.S. They are standard in other parts of the world, while in the U.S., some consumers still don’t have an EMV card at all—or even know what one is.

New moves to learn in the checkout line

People will have to get used to dipping, tapping, or waving their payment cards, instead of swiping them, as EMV adoption grows more widespread. The different motion is not hard, but may take some adjustment for cardholders used to swiping.

Some machines use a dipping motion, which many people are already used to doing. The payment machines that require a tap or a wave of the card may be a little trickier to learn to use, but if retailers and card issuers press forward with EMV adoption, soon everyone will have the hang of the new way to pay.

Not all retailers are ready

Not all merchants are ready for the shift, but most big stores are now equipped with EMV enabled card readers. And those that aren’t have plenty of opportunity to get free readers, if they sign up for payment processing services. This is mostly targeted to small businesses, which can get not only payment processing services, but also receipt printers and card processers when they sign up.