Why so small?

Size

Why is it that the area on the back of credit cards and debit cards, where you are supposed to put your signature, is so small? Especially the height is insufficient. Live measurements: 10.5 mm by 54.5, and in another case 10.5 by 48 mm.

Most signatures I’ve ever seen, including my own, are much larger than that, more specifically: taller.

Material

Moreover, the material you’re supposed to write on isn’t suitable for that. The area suggests being made or paper, but it’s actually a kind of plastic on which the average ballpoint pen produces very thin, hardly visible lines.


Copyright ©2012 by R. Harmsen. All rights reserved.