Major Retailers that Support NFC Payments

[lartola]

Boycotts help in this competitive market environment in USA.

When one store does not offer one thing and the other does, that gives the other store an advantage over the other in this competition. Then, the first store will look why this is and evaluate based on customer complaints. Later, the first store offers the one thing that started the advantage by the second store.

Well competition is good for the consumers because they can choose where to go, but it should be clear to everyone by now that personal boycott (i.e., vote with your wallet) will never, ever, make companies such as Walmart, HEB or Home Depot budge and start allowing contactless payments simply because those boycotting are and will always be a tiny minority, while the overwhelming rest couldn’t care less about the lack of contactless.

In other words, contactless is never enough of an advantage for one competitor over another (Walmart still has more customers than its competitors that accept contactless despite walmart not accepting it, for example). At least not in countries that arrived the latest to the party of contactless payments such as the US or Mexico.

 

[garyjones027]

Well competition is good for the consumers because they can choose where to go, but it should be clear to everyone by now that personal boycott (i.e., vote with your wallet) will never, ever, make companies such as Walmart, HEB or Home Depot budge and start allowing contactless payments simply because those boycotting are and will always be a tiny minority, while the overwhelming rest couldn’t care less about the lack of contactless.

In other words, contactless is never enough of an advantage for one competitor over another (Walmart still has more customers than its competitors that accept contactless despite walmart not accepting it, for example). At least not in countries that arrived the latest to the party of contactless payments such as the US or Mexico.

The reason is that card payment by physical card is high in USA than card payment by digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay).

15% of USA consumers use digital wallets for card payments in major retailers of USA that allow tap to pay. This is not enough to break a major retailer like Home Depot stores in USA but it will need to. The use of digital wallet is growing with USA consumers every year. Major retailers of USA that resist tap to pay will see the increasing number of complaints of no tap to pay from USA consumers to customer service as the years go. If these retailers still resist, then other major retailers of USA that do tap to pay will take advantage of this and do advertising of other major retailers being in the past.

 

[AZhappyjack]

this.

the cashiers are just parroting what theyve been told to say.

as far as choosing to boycott over tap/applr pay... that seems a little extreme.

it's good to be educated when you dont have other forms of payment with you, obviously you would need to select a store w contactless payments. but to vow to never go back because you had to slide the chip in... ? oookay.

kinda seems the inverse of the cashiers spouting nonsense to save face. instead cutting off your nose to spite your face by refusing to go there

Boycotting over an issue like tap to pay/Apple Pay is exactly how to deal with this. Be vocal about why you are no longer shopping there, and then move on. Of course, it helps when there are viable alternatives nearby (Ace Hardware and Lowes).

 

[AZhappyjack]

But if it’s the top complaint then why the heck aren’t they listening? clearly they’re not losing enough customers due to the lack of contactless. And they’ll never be enough. Clearly for americans (and also for people in Mexico, where home depot and walmart also lack contactless) contactless acceptance still isn’t a decisive factor. The overwhelming majority of the people couldn’t care less about it.

And this is why boycotting over the issue is important... but you have to let them know WHY you are no longer shopping there, or it's all for naught.

 

[AZhappyjack]

It is baffling. Here in Mexico I’ve heard of people being told that if contactless is used then the money might not get to the merchant’s account or even that contactless is illegal. Not by Home Depot cashiers (HD Mexico cashiers just say they don’t not why it’s disabled), but certainly by cashiers at other places such as small mom&pop stores and restaurants.

I got a song and dance similar to that from Red Lobster the last time we were there... they said that the manager told them they were removing the Ziosk table top devices because RL wasn't getting paid. That was 4 or 5 months ago and I will not be going back.

 

[lartola]

And this is why boycotting over the issue is important... but you have to let them know WHY you are no longer shopping there, or it's all for naught.

Many people have done it for years and nothing has changed at those stores. Those merchants will only budge if the card networks or some authority force their hand into it by means of a mandate (i.e., only if they are cornered to choose between allowing contactless or not taking any cards at all then they’ll likely budge). Nothing else will make them budge.

 

[lartola]

Boycotting over an issue like tap to pay/Apple Pay is exactly how to deal with this. Be vocal about why you are no longer shopping there, and then move on. Of course, it helps when there are viable alternatives nearby (Ace Hardware and Lowes).

I’ve been doing it for years, and like me probably others. Nothing has changed. At this point, the only thing that will make those merchants budge would be a mandate from the card networks or some authority. If they’re forced to choose between allowing contactless or not taking any cards at all (cash only) then they would likely budge. Otherwise, no way no matter how many people are complaining. That should be clear to everyone by now. After almost a decade, the boycott has proven not to work at all in these cases.

 

[tmiw]

Many people have done it for years and nothing has changed at those stores. Those merchants will only budge if the card networks or some authority force their hand into it by means of a mandate (i.e., only if they are cornered to choose between allowing contactless or not taking any cards at all then they’ll likely budge). Nothing else will make them budge.

How many is "many", exactly? I suspect the number of people who actually care about Apple Pay (at least in the US) is pretty low, which would explain why the supposed boycotts haven't worked.

Meanwhile, tapping physical cards seems way more common in my experience, and with those it's not a huge deal to just insert if you run into one of the few places that has NFC turned off. It's no wonder why contactless only really started increasing in usage once banks started issuing those en masse (not to mention COVID helping supercharge contactless growth).

BTW, on an somewhat unrelated note, I suspect if actual card authentication was mandated by law like it is in Europe, the US might have a lot more Apple Pay use. For example, pretty much everyone we saw in Ireland a few months ago tapped their phones instead of cards to avoid having to occasionally enter PIN.

 

[amajum0073]

The reason is that card payment by physical card is high in USA than card payment by digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay).

15% of USA consumers use digital wallets for card payments in major retailers of USA that allow tap to pay. This is not enough to break a major retailer like Home Depot stores in USA but it will need to. The use of digital wallet is growing with USA consumers every year. Major retailers of USA that resist tap to pay will see the increasing number of complaints of no tap to pay from USA consumers to customer service as the years go. If these retailers still resist, then other major retailers of USA that do tap to pay will take advantage of this and do advertising of other major retailers being in the past.

Yes.

The use of digital wallets in stores like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay is growing every year in USA.

It was 15% use in 2023. It will be 30% use in 2027.

www.statista.com/statistics/568523/preferred-payment-methods-usa/#:~:text=Cards%20was%20still%20a%20popular,payment%20method%2C%20followed%20by%20cash

 

[lartola]

How many is "many", exactly? I suspect the number of people who actually care about Apple Pay (at least in the US) is pretty low, which would explain why the supposed boycotts haven't worked.

Exactly my point, if you read my previous posts. And it’s never going to change.

As I said before, at this point companies such as Walmart or Home Depot will only allow contactless payments if there were a mandate by the card networks or some authority that forced them to choose between either complying with the mandate or not accepting any cards at all (i.e., go cash only, which is really not very feasible for large retailers in the US). Otherwise, no way Jose. There is nothing at all that customers can do that will make those holdouts budge. Which means we might all die before they budge, since such a mandate that gets them cornered is extremely unlikely to happen in the US (or even Mexico, where those retailers also have a presence and also refuse to allow contactless payments).

 

[echopulse]

Exactly my point, if you read my previous posts. And it’s never going to change.

As I said before, at this point companies such as Walmart or Home Depot will only allow contactless payments if there were a mandate by the card networks or some authority that forced them to choose between either complying with the mandate or not accepting any cards at all (i.e., go cash only, which is really not very feasible for large retailers in the US). Otherwise, no way Jose. There is nothing at all that customers can do that will make those holdouts budge. Which means we might all die before they budge, since such a mandate that gets them cornered is extremely unlikely to happen in the US (or even Mexico, where those retailers also have a presence and also refuse to allow contactless payments).

The usage is increasing every year. As more people learn about tap to pay, more people will demand it. When it reaches critigal mass, the holdouts will finally turn it on. a few years ago there were 10 major companies not accepting it. Now there are 5. Wal-mart, Home Depot, HEB, Winco, and Hobby Lobby. Rumors are HEB and Home Depot will enable it by 2025.

 

[tmiw]

The usage is increasing every year. As more people learn about tap to pay, more people will demand it. When it reaches critigal mass, the holdouts will finally turn it on. a few years ago there were 10 major companies not accepting it. Now there are 5. Wal-mart, Home Depot, HEB, Winco, and Hobby Lobby. Rumors are HEB and Home Depot will enable it by 2025.

I would say that's being driven more by tapping physical cards than phones. I'm not sure we'd have nearly as many supporting merchants today if Apple Pay was still the only contactless option and/or if COVID didn't happen.

BTW where did you hear the rumor about Home Depot? Weird that they're waiting until 2025 when the Canadian locations supposedly accept contactless today.

 

[amajum0073]

The usage is increasing every year. As more people learn about tap to pay, more people will demand it. When it reaches critigal mass, the holdouts will finally turn it on. a few years ago there were 10 major companies not accepting it. Now there are 5. Wal-mart, Home Depot, HEB, Winco, and Hobby Lobby. Rumors are HEB and Home Depot will enable it by 2025.

Yes.

The use of digital wallets in stores like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay is growing every year in USA.

It was 15% use in 2023. It will be 30% use in 2027.

www.statista.com/statistics/568523/preferred-payment-methods-usa/#:~:text=Cards%20was%20still%20a%20popular,payment%20method%2C%20followed%20by%20cash.

 

[garyjones027]

I would say that's being driven more by tapping physical cards than phones. I'm not sure we'd have nearly as many supporting merchants today if Apple Pay was still the only contactless option and/or if COVID didn't happen.

BTW where did you hear the rumor about Home Depot? Weird that they're waiting until 2025 when the Canadian locations supposedly accept contactless today.

Home Depot stores of USA will need to turn it on.

It is because Home Depot stores of USA receive customer complaints and posts on social media because Lowe’s stores of USA started to accept contactless card payments in December 2023.

 

[lartola]

The usage is increasing every year. As more people learn about tap to pay, more people will demand it. When it reaches critigal mass, the holdouts will finally turn it on. a few years ago there were 10 major companies not accepting it. Now there are 5. Wal-mart, Home Depot, HEB, Winco, and Hobby Lobby. Rumors are HEB and Home Depot will enable it by 2025.

The usage of contactless via physical cards maybe, but not so much the use of digital wallets (someone said above that one still no more than 15%). People tapping with a physical card are very unlikely to actually demand contactless: they really don’t care much if they have to insert instead of tapping at a few places since they already pulled out their card anyway. Perhaps it would help increase mobile wallet usage if there were a cap for contactless with physical cards (which other countries do have for security, but just not the US).

Furthermore, precisely because a lot of other holdouts already relented, the ones that persist in holding out are less likely to ever relent as time passes. Especially Walmart: they have gone to great lengths and did things that no other merchants have ever done such as taking the time to find a way to block Samsung Pay via magnetic stripe at all their US stores, or purchasing their own wireless card readers for deliveries and disabling contactless on them at all their Mexico stores.

 

[dontwalkhand]

The usage of contactless via physical cards maybe, but not so much the use of digital wallets (someone said above that one still no more than 15%). People tapping with a physical card are very unlikely to actually demand contactless: they really don’t care much if they have to insert instead of tapping at a few places since they already pulled out their card anyway. Perhaps it would help increase mobile wallet usage if there were a cap for contactless with physical cards (which other countries do have for security, but just not the US).

Furthermore, precisely because a lot of other holdouts already relented, the ones that persist in holding out are less likely to ever relent as time passes. Especially Walmart: they have gone to great lengths and did things that no other merchants have ever done such as taking the time to find a way to block Samsung Pay via magnetic stripe at all their US stores, or purchasing their own wireless card readers for deliveries and disabling contactless on them at all their Mexico stores.

Walmart admitted that they keep it disabled as well as removing price scanners to drive the adoption of their mobile app.

 

[lartola]

Walmart admitted that they keep it disabled as well as removing price scanners to drive the adoption of their mobile app.

Then it’s even more likely that they won’t ever enable it unless they were somehow cornered and must choose between enabling contactless or not accepting any debit and credit cards at all (cash-only). And since that scenario extremely unlikely to ever happen…

 

[Tagbert]

For me, it's really just Home Depot and Walmart that don't at this point out of the majors. And the latter I don't even go to that much. YMMV of course.

Our local Home Depot’s got new POS systems this past spring and now support NFC payments. I haven’t been to Walmart but I assume they still don’t as they really want to promote their own digital payment system.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Our local Home Depot’s got new POS systems this past spring and now support NFC payments. I haven’t been to Walmart but I assume they still don’t as they really want to promote their own digital payment system.

They "support" it but do they actually work when you tap? If so, this is exciting news.

 

[garyjones027]

Our local Home Depot’s got new POS systems this past spring and now support NFC payments. I haven’t been to Walmart but I assume they still don’t as they really want to promote their own digital payment system.

Can you show evidence by photo or video?

 

[Tagbert]

They "support" it but do they actually work when you tap? If so, this is exciting news.

It’s been a couple of months since I was there but I’m pretty sure that I used tap to pay with my card. Didn’t try my phone. This was in Renton, WA near Seattle.

Now, I’m thinking I need to go back and do a proper test. I was in a hurry last time I was there. I usually prefer Lowe’s.

Edit: Damn! I went back there and Home Depot accepted neither tapped chip or Apple Pay. I guess I was just dreaming that it has worked before. I’d rather shop at Lowes anyway.

 

[lartola]

Our local Home Depot’s got new POS systems this past spring and now support NFC payments. I haven’t been to Walmart but I assume they still don’t as they really want to promote their own digital payment system.

Home Depot has had NFC compatible card readers since very long ago. Supporting it didn’t actually require this recent upgrade, though it’s welcome.

 

[tmiw]

My local HD still doesn't support it as of a few days ago, unfortunately. That update could still be rolling out but considering the last report was from a couple of months ago, I doubt it.

 

[amajum0073]

The usage of contactless via physical cards maybe, but not so much the use of digital wallets (someone said above that one still no more than 15%). People tapping with a physical card are very unlikely to actually demand contactless: they really don’t care much if they have to insert instead of tapping at a few places since they already pulled out their card anyway. Perhaps it would help increase mobile wallet usage if there were a cap for contactless with physical cards (which other countries do have for security, but just not the US).

Furthermore, precisely because a lot of other holdouts already relented, the ones that persist in holding out are less likely to ever relent as time passes. Especially Walmart: they have gone to great lengths and did things that no other merchants have ever done such as taking the time to find a way to block Samsung Pay via magnetic stripe at all their US stores, or purchasing their own wireless card readers for deliveries and disabling contactless on them at all their Mexico stores.

The use of digital wallets in stores like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay is growing every year in USA.

It was 15% use in 2023. It will be 30% use in 2027.

www.statista.com/statistics/568523/preferred-payment-methods-usa/#:~:text=Cards%20was%20still%20a%20popular,payment%20method%2C%20followed%20by%20cash

 

[garyjones027]

The test site for contactless payment and Apple Pay that Central Market did in Dallas, Texas, by HEB now support it according to Apple Maps.

Other Central Market locations in Dallas, Texas, do not have contactless payment and Apple Pay according to Apple Maps.