For signatures, the writing is on the wall.
The competition regulator has announced it will not block a joint bid by Visa and MasterCard to ban customers signing for credit-card purchases.
The companies want all in-store credit card sales requiring identity verification to be made via personal identification number (PIN) by July 2014.
Nearly half of their cardholders - about seven million Australians - currently use signatures, according to a joint application lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in July.
The companies need the ACCC to approve the joint initiative because such cooperation breaches cartel provisions in competition laws.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
In a draft determination on Friday, the ACCC said it plans to authorise the companies - together with American Express and some banks - to go ahead with the plan.
Commissioner Dr Jill Walker said there was nothing to stop the companies from working to ban signatures individually, and that working together would likely make the process quicker and less confusing for the public.
Visa and MasterCard argue that abolishing signatures will prevent millions of dollars in credit card fraud.
"It is much more difficult for a fraud perpetrator to ascertain a PIN than to forge a signature," they wrote in their application.
Salespeople have become "increasingly lax" in checking that signatures on transaction receipts match those on credit cards, they said.
The abolition of signatures in Britain in 2006 led to substantially less fraud on lost and stolen cards, according to their application.
Most parties who filed submissions with the ACCC were supportive, including the Reserve Bank and the Australian Retailers Association, Dr Walker told AAP.
But there was "a little bit of concern for small business", mainly around cost.
Restaurant & Catering Australia said in a submission that restaurants and cafes may have to buy portable eftpos machines to replace signature slips sent to tables, or ask diners to walk to the counter to pay.
Bill Lang, the executive director of Small Business Australia, was "broadly supportive" of the move away from signatures.
"Anything that reduces administration compliance paperwork for small business owners is a positive," he said.
But he flagged the possibility that some people - particularly the elderly - may be deterred from shopping if they can't sign for purchases.
A spokesman for consumer group Choice said the signature ban shouldn't trouble consumers, "as long as the card companies communicate the changes well and consumers who may have special needs are looked after".
The ACCC will continue to accept submissions on the proposal, and is expected to make a final decision in December.
