It's totally insane. Just a few years ago, if the lights went out, they could write a manual receipt and run your card through a manual imprinter and get a phone authorization, so things still moved along, only slower. Now, most stores are stuck when the power runs out. I am in Costa Rica and sometimes one network or other goes down. I remember the day when the largest network of ATM's went down. Luckily, I was near the bank so could take out cash the old fashioned way, but if not, I would have just been stuck. The world is becoming every more insane.