Wall St. Journal: The New Menu Option at McDonald's - Plastic

Shirley Leung and Ron Lieber report on McDonald's plans to finally accept credit cards.

If all goes according to plan, with the latest systems, a McDonald's customer will be able to place an order at a counter or drive-through, swipe his or her credit card, and get an approval in under five seconds -- no signature required -- in the same way that customers pay for gas at the pump. Cash, by contrast, can take eight to 10 seconds, says Jim Sappington, McDonald's vice president of U.S. information technology. The typical credit-card transaction takes 25 to 30 seconds from swipe to signature, according to The Nilson Report, a payment-card newsletter.