I don't think I've ever used my HSA card in person--only online--but probably.
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Major Retailers that Support NFC Payments
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I don't think I've ever used my HSA card in person--only online--but probably.
Walmart is almost a monopoly. No pressure from the consumers will ever be enough to make them accept contactless. Only a mandate from the card networks will make them budge. Walmart will only start accepting contactless when they have to choose between that or not accepting cards at all, as was the case in Canada.
Walmart is not even close to a monopoly. A lot of people shop at Target, other retailers, and Amazon. Kroger will soon be a big competitor when they aquire Albertsons, they will have almost as many stores as Wal-mart.
It’s large enough and has enough customers to be able to afford the luxury of not caring about the competition. In many small towns it’s the only option for people to do their shopping. They won’t accept any contactless payments unless they’re cornered between that or not taking cards at all. It already happened in Canada: right in the middle of the pandemic they were the only retailer in the whole country not accepting contactless payments. Then the network mandate went into effect and they had no choice but to accept them. The same will happen in the US, but the mandate isn’t expected to happen there before 2030.
No matter how many customers walmart loses for not taking contactless, they’ll never be enough to maje them budge.
Walmart USA will most likely the last biggest retailer in the US to accept contactless payments before 2030 or even 2040. It would be a very weird situation for Walmart USA to survive to the 2030s to the 2040s for not accepting contactless payments.
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Walmart in the United States WILL NOT open Apple Pay and other contactless payments in 2030 or 2040. Remember, you are talking about Walmart, the#1 retailer in the US, in the US economy, and in the WHOLE WORLD! They have almost FULL CONTROL of the US people to buy their products!
For card payments by mobile phone to pay in a Walmart US store, all Walmart has to do is promote their Walmart Pay. Walmart Pay has positive support from most US consumers.
Walmart US can stop the support of Apple Pay and other contactless payments all the way they want to if it is 2030, 2040, or 2050! They STILL WILL NOT lose support from US consumers!
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They have no control of the card networks, though. At some point around 2030 the card networks will mandate acceptance of contactless payments in the US, and when that happens Walmart will need to choose between allowing contactless payments or not taking any cards at all (i.e., go cash only). Only then they might budge and start accepting them like they had to in Canada.
Currently in the UK, everything here is contactless payment. Meaning Ive yet to use any other methods.
I don't think there'll be any kind of mandate. The best time to do it was back in 2015 when places were swapping out hardware in the first place, why wait until 2030 or beyond?
They can’t mandate contactless until every single merchant in the US has replaced the old magstripe-only readers with chip readers, which also support contactless, and that’s not expected to happen before 2030. But there will definitely be a mandate for contactless. The card networks are already doing it in other regions, the US will simply come later because it’s lagging in chip and nfc adoption by merchants.
I mean, the vast majority are already enabling contactless on their own (or at least not purposely disabling it), so a mandate doesn't seem like it'd do much now. It might be a different story if most of the new devices didn't have the hardware at all and/or if it was being disabled as a matter of course.
That said, a mandate much earlier on would probably have gotten us wide acceptance a lot more quickly.
A mandate is the only thing that would ever make holdouts such as walmart start accepting contactless (it would be that or not taking cards at all). If there is no mandate, then the current holdouts will remain forever and things won’t move on from where they are now, as those holdouts clearly don’t care how many customers they lose to not taking contactless. It’s as simple as that.
Over the past year I’ve taken 4 trips up to Canada (Toronto, Quebec City, Montreal, and Ottawa) and pleasantly surprised to see waiters all have mobile terminals. Would love to see that adopted fully in the US or at the least let me pay at the register on the way out like most diners do. The ability to pay at the table like many chain restaurants do is a step but I still dine at places where your card is gone for moments at a time.
A few years ago when I used to carry my Palladium card from JPMorgan around I would see it being handed around the wait staff. Got to the point where I requested a plastic version of the card to be used then eventually stopped using it if it had to leave my hands. Had more than a few conversations with restaurant managers when I saw a few taking pictures of it. I’m surprised my card number didn’t get comprised or ever ended up on instagram.
That's a suspicion but we don't know for sure. There's still the possibility that Walmart et al will support it on their own at some point without a mandate. I will admit that the available evidence isn't good, though (e.g. only enabling it in Canada because Visa/MC made them).
Every year several big merchants are juping on board. Last year it was Michaels, Arbys, USPS, & Wendys. This year it will be AMC, HEB, Lowes, and Kroger. so your theory that the reamaining holdouts are hoding on forever doesn't hold water.
All the major holdouts have already replaced their magstripe only readers with chip readers, that also support NFC. Tjeu just turn it off with their POS software. So their could be a mandate in 2024 and they would be able to comply without changing hardware. They would just have to turn on a setting in the software, or possible upgrade their POS software to a version that supports it. The only places that I have seen that still have magstripe only readers are some resturaunts.
Walmart & Sams Club: Has new readers
HD: Has new readers
Lowes: Has new readers
Kroger: Has new readers
HEB: Has new readers
Winco: Not sure, haven't been.
Hobby Lobby: Has new readers
Graybar: does not have new readers
Fleet Farm: Not sure, Havent' been
Paper Source: Not sure, haven't been
Guitar Center: Not sure, haven't been
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Yeah, correct. I wasn’t talking about the big retailers, though. There are still places in the US where magnetic stripe is the only way to pay with a card. Magstripe still hasn’t been completely abandoned in the US.
Walmart won’t do that. If they were willing to go to the ridiculous extreme of even blocking Samsung Pay via magnetic stripe, they’re certainly willing to hold out of NFC forever unless the networks force them to enable it. Customer demand certainly won’t do the trick. Not with Walmart.
Indeed Walmart has new readers, but I’ve seen more than one comment here in macrumors claiming that Walmart either ordered those readers without the NFC hardware or removed that hardware themselves. If so, they won’t be able to enable the contactless just through software.
I wouldn’t doubt that they did that, knowing that they were the only ones who did even block the use of Samsung Pay through magnetic stripe.
Those are likely just rumors, or people guessing that they ordered readers without NFC, just because they don't see the capability. Did anyone of those posters claim to have worked at Wal-mart, or Ingenico and have firsthand knowledge?
Maybe they blocked Samsung Pay for secuirty reasons, because it uses a less secure method than chip?
Maybe they blocked Samsung Pay for secuirty reasons, because it uses a less secure method than chip?
If it’s for security reasons then how come no other retailer did the same?
It could be some other setting in the terminal that coincidentally broke Samsung Pay, too. Regardless, even Samsung themselves think that MST is no longer needed for the US, so the hardware isn't in their newer devices anymore.
New card readers have chip and contactless functions. Mastercard said that they will remove the magnetic stripe from their cards in 2030. This means that US restaurants which have card readers accepting only cards of magnetic stripe will buy and use the new card readers with chip and contactless payments by 2030.
I would imagine that these US restaurants will not disable the function of contactless payments of the new card readers when they start to use them.
Can you still use MST of Samsung Pay from old Samsung phones except in Walmart USA?
Maybe, but I can also see them effectively only supporting physical cards for contactless thanks to still not making them customer facing. That may very well be good enough for the card networks, unfortunately.
There are still other places that don't have NFC such as Home Depot, so if your device still lets you use MST you presumably can.