In my area most restaurants with table service don't have an easy way to do tap-to-pay (a few chains have something at the table for you to pay at that supports it). Also two of my most common retailers do not (Kroger and Home Depot). Very few gas stations support it, though the one closest to me recently added it.
Yep, Kroger and Home Depot are the biggest stores I've been to recently that don't take tap-to-pay, but there are some other national chains.
Also recently: my neighborhood florist, doughnut shop, parking garage, and hamburger stand don't take tap-to-pay. I've never been to a gas pump that does, though they all have the logo for it on the front. Every time I've inquired, the people inside say it's not enabled.
Record stores are about 50%. The one I went to most recently, I had to show them how to do it.
But interestingly, my shoeshine guy does take tap-to-pay.
I always keep at least one backup card and some cash in my wallet. I recently had to make an emergency trip to the Walgreens at 5am, and its credit card/tap system was down. It was cash-only for about a week. Glad I had cash backup so my family member's health wasn't held hostage by a technology glitch.
In the UK, they bring the card reader to your table and the transaction completes wirelessly. If you want to add a tip, you type the amount into the reader before you tap.
Increasingly public transport supports contactless instead of tickets or proprietary NFC systems - notably the whole of London supports contactless and I've not used an Oyster card in years now.
I've also not seen a card reader that doesn't support contactless since at least 2015, possibly longer. I'm not sure, but based on how quickly contactless rolled out from 2007, I suspect they'd been adding support to the hardware a well before it was enabled.
I know everyone says it but USA really needs to do better. It doesn't make sense that this is so uniquely difficult to rollout there.
Many gas stations are still magnetic strip only. It was the majority as of a couple of years ago, but it's shifting quickly. That said, I still very frequently encounter gas stations that don't accept chip or tap, only strip.
