When merchants were required to support chip payments, most of the new terminals they purchased had NFC. Some just never enabled the feature.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Kroger Begins Accepting Apple Pay at All Ralphs Grocery Stores in California
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The home improvement. I’ve never heard of a Lowe’s grocery store.
Lowe’s Food is a grocery chain in the Carolinas. Lowe’s Market is a different grocery chain in TX, NM, CO, AZ and KS.
Am more of a WalMart guy now (strictly because of how close I am to a store), but this would be nice for the few times I occasionally visit Baker's (their chain in Nebraska) for something.
They didn’t even enable chip right away when they purchased those things. I remember back 5-6 years ago I saw many merchants that had the new devices, but for a long time they had the chip slot covered with a piece of tape and directed everyone to swipe instead. Fuddruckers was one such merchant, doing that at several of its locations (one location across the street from NASA, in TX, even had nfc working and a piece of tape on the chip slot to make everyone not using nfc swipe!).
Let them have fun being responsible for all fraud then. Long John Silver's still doesn't take chip!
Yes, I feel the same way about both Lowe’s and Home Depot. They are not big enough to build a competing system like Wal*Mart has.
NFC payments cost the same as chip and swipe. I don’t understand the rationale of disabling the feature when the terminals support NFC (especially when the merchant doesn’t have a competing payment platform). NFC is usually faster, too.
My bet is it is about access to the data. With chip and swipe they get more data and that might be their goal (many TV manufacturers make more money from selling our TV viewing data and from us watching via their platform than they do from the purchase price).
Kinda surprised that it’s been days since all Fred Meyer stores and Kroger stores around Cincinnati and Louisville started accepting contactless, including Apple Pay. (FINALLY!) And yet, hardly any mentions.
This is good news indeed for those of us who like and use ApplePay. Also, a couple of months ago, Harris Teeter, an approximately 200-store regional brand in my area of the Carolinas purchased by Kroger a few years ago, has not. But at least they now offer a mobile pay option in their app which presents a QR code at check out. This enables the affinity card discounts if any, but also pays for the purchase. It’s a little rough going as cashiers have to learn how to respond to the codes from their end, and it doesn’t always work. I’ve had 5 successes out of 9 tries so far though it’s getting better. If we can’t have ApplePay, and apparently we can’t, this is a decent option.
I also live in an area where we have Harris Teeter.
I don't like HT's implementation of mobile payment for the primary reason that I try not to have other companies store my credit card. Back in the early days of web shopping, it was not so unusual to have web merchants store your credit card. Some years later, I learnt that was a bad idea because, you know, web merchants can be hacked so the less sensitive information they have stored for you the better. So these days, I try to pay everything through Apple Pay or via PayPal in which the merchant won't have access to my credit card.
So...HT's method of mobile payment is a no go for me. Not keeping my cards on file with them. Have we not learnt any thing about web merchants not being the best at keeping up with internet security? After all, data security is not their primary expertise (even if they farm out such services to others).
HT to date does not take any tap-to-pay. I any store that takes tap-to-pay can take Apple Pay, as I understand.
I feel the same, but with Harris Teeter I find the mobile pay option far more convenient and accept the risk. I have my iPhone with me always, but occasionally forget my wallet. Previously I had to then go to Food Lion as they accepted ApplePay, and I shop there frequently anyway. Now I have the choice of no-wallet options.
Should HT’s data and my credit card number get compromised, the card company has me on the hook for zero dollars if I notify them of something fraudulent quickly. I do check my credit card banking info every few days for just such an issue as I’ve experienced data breaches before. In each of the three cases, there was some inconvenience, but absolutely no cost to me despite wild spending sprees by the perps.
But I agree, there is a risk greater than zero. And I wish HT had gone the route of ApplePay. Fortunately, my favorite shopping place does: the local ABC store.
yeah, I currently just use my physical card at HT. Totally unbelievable that in 2023 HT does not accept any form of tap-to-pay. I still do carry a physical wallet around with credit cards, I guess out of habit. Probably the main place, if not only one, where I really still use the physical card is at HT.
Update: I finally decided to use HT's contact info page and went them a web form email indicating how they should adopt tap-to-pay. I don't believe my voice will necessarily make a difference, but still at least I vocalized something
Kinda crazy that they decided to go for a Mobile app payment of their own. Like, how does any of that make it easier for the customer. Imagine each store having its own app that you use to pay. Nutty.
Last edited:
HT is on the list of 'most expensive grocery stores in America', so I would think they have the money to help their customers. Just a guess...
I would agree with you in the past, but since the Kroger takeover, HT pricing has actually gone down a bit. They’re still higher than Food Lion in my area, and a great deal higher on some items. That said, I’d suggest other chains for winning the “most expensive grocery stores in America” award: Fresh Market, Whole Foods both come to mind immediately and far outpace HT costs for nearly every comparable item I’ve shopped. I do think the higher prices at FM and WF actually get you a better product though for everything but packaged items. So I shop FM/WF for those items only, typically fresh meats and seafood, get dairy from Aldi’s, produce and as much other stuff as I can from Food Lion, and deli cheeses and meats from HT as they carry Boar’s Head at a better price than others, and HT again for items Food Lion doesn’t carry especially international and some gourmet items (black truffles, for example, actually priced less than FM and WF). But that’s me.
HT occasionally has an online survey you can take, listed on your check-out receipt with a long cumbersome code number. Whenever I get one of those, I always bitch about the lack of ApplePay in any open comment text field. Obviously hasn’t worked.yeah, I currently just use my physical card at HT. Totally unbelievable that in 2023 HT does not accept any form of tap-to-pay. I still do carry a physical wallet around with credit cards, I guess out of habit. Probably the main place, if not only one, where I really still use the physical card is at HT.
Update: I finally decided to use HT's contact info page and went them a web form email indicating how they should adopt tap-to-pay. I don't believe my voice will necessarily make a difference, but still at least I vocalized something
And the ones you mention were nigher on the list than HT. I just recognized the name and posted on that recognition and people commenting on 'cost' of supporting Apple Pay.
To me, and accountants I'm sure, the cost of a merchant account, and any cost for Apple Pay (if any) would go into the nebulous term 'cost of goods sold'. (I'm not an accountant and whatever)
