Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in U.S. Despite Many Customer Requests

[tmiw]

They will eventually mandate payment services providers to ensure that their merchants have contactless enabled on the card readers, but for the US it will take at least another decade because the EMV transition is far from complete. They are still using magnetic stripes a lot.

Swiping doesn't happen that much anymore, at least in my experience. Maybe once every couple of months? Last time it was at Home Depot of all places because their terminals couldn't read my card.

Also, the few places remaining are probably going to install terminals by 2028ish that have contactless anyway.

 

[monstermash]

"However, I didn't say that Walmart was the reason he caught COVID; I said that he caught COVID from being AT WALMART."

Same difference really.

I am sorry but that is NOT science. Everyone he knows that he came in contact with (at home, etc) could have had it, and had no symptoms, and gave it to him, including you. Unless he lived in a bunker for a year and had no contact with ANYONE, until he came out of the bunker and went to Walmart, without any contact with anyone until he entered the store, then came back to his bunker and then had COVID....is the only way you can say that.

Short of that, it is just random opinion.

If he was worried about catching COVID he should have stayed home.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

One reason I try not to shop there. Pay cash or dont shop there.

 

[Dovahkiing]

And I'm sure the droid phones are 'cheaper', and their friends tell them to not buy Apple.
Just because they sell iPhones does not mean tons of people are buying them, and of those people, know how to use Apple Pay.

I know 'rich' people that can't figure out Apple Pay, so no classism implied here...

Holy cow 19 pages here…

I just want to jump in and point out that probably more than 99% of iPhones in circulation support Apple Pay (you need a phone that’s almost 10 years old to be unsupported)

The idea that low income people don’t use iPhones is just completely detached from reality. No matter what income level you live in, you basically NEED a modern smartphone to live life in the USA. For many low income folks, a decent phone is their primary computer and therefore still a sensible area to invest in.

So, setting all other erroneous thoughts aside (like that *only* low income people shop at Walmart), I hope we’ve put an end to this “poor people don’t use iPhones” BS in this thread.

 

[JoEw]

Do people on these forums even know a poor person? Based on these comments I’d bet not. Even homeless people in my city have iPhones…

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Do people on these forums even know a poor person? Based on these comments I’d bet not. Even homeless people in my city have iPhones…

It is some ancient belief of some that the iPhone is a status symbol. It really isn't. Having an iPhone doesn't make you better than someone else, and yes your crap stinks just the same. Hard to convince some people of that though.

 

[iBreatheApple]

Right now, no. And seeing the card readers and POS systems they have, they never will. I worked at a company that provisioned those devices, and none of them support contactless payment.

That, and lack of Apple Pay, while cosmetic reasons, are among the many reasons to not ever shop at Walmart, with the exception on if you are in a small town, and the only store for the entire town's needs is Walmart.

BL.

Totally irrational IMO. It’s super annoying and stupid they don’t accept Apple Pay. But I can’t imagine anyone feeling so strongly about Apple Pay it would cause them to not shop there. Maybe I can imagine it but I would find it a bit extreme.

 

[SFjohn]

CVS does take Apple Pay now, though. They do since 2018. Unlike Walmart, they finally budged.

Yes, they changed after having to close some stores, but it was too late for the large CVS near me. Business that don’t take contactless payments are really shooting themselves in the foot. Physical cards slow checkouts down & require more staff to deal with them.

 

[Tagbert]

That’s partly Apple’s fault. They’re so arrogant that in their advertising they implied that NFC was only used for Apple Pay. And millions of ignorant americans fell for it.

Very few companies talk about their competitors when they advertise. Very few consumers know anything about NFC, what they do know is that they can use an app on their phone to pay for things, whether that is ApplePay or GooglePay. Some also know that they can use the chip in their credit card to do the same thing. Again, Citi bank isn’t promoting NFC, they just promote their credit card as an easy way to pay. No arrogance and no need to accuse anyone of being ignorant.

 

[lartola]

Swiping doesn't happen that much anymore, at least in my experience. Maybe once every couple of months? Last time it was at Home Depot of all places because their terminals couldn't read my card.

Also, the few places remaining are probably going to install terminals by 2028ish that have contactless anyway.

Probably Swiping is done mostly only at places that take longer to upgrade restaurants, bars or hotels, and at gas stations (on the pumps they often still don’t even have chip).

 

[Allyance]

I haven’t read all the posts, so this might have been said. The reason Walmart (and other retailers) don’t want to use AP is that they do not get any customer information, all they get is a transaction number. They have no idea who you are.

 

[Kabeyun]

Apple nor the US Gov't can force Walmart to accept Apple Pay, especially when it's competing against their own payment system. I don't see Apple accepting Walmart Pay.

I didn't say anything about any government forcing anyone to do anything.

 

[lartola]

Very few companies talk about their competitors when they advertise. Very few consumers know anything about NFC, what they do know is that they can use an app on their phone to pay for things, whether that is ApplePay or GooglePay. Some also know that they can use the chip in their credit card to do the same thing. Again, Citi bank isn’t promoting NFC, they just promote their credit card as an easy way to pay. No arrogance and no need to accuse anyone of being ignorant.

But this isn’t about mentioning competitors or not. Apple has misled the public, especially the american public, into believing that NFC is their own proprietary tech, which it’s not.

 

[dontwalkhand]

HEB in Texas doesn’t accept Apple Pay either. It sucks.

This one I don’t get. They also were featured on Apple’s business page about how they’re very far invested in Apple’s ecosystem. But yet they don’t accept Apple Pay.

 

[SFjohn]

deleted

 

[Tagbert]

Yes, they changed after having to close some stores, but it was too late for the large CVS near me. Business that don’t take contactless payments are really shooting themselves in the foot. Physical cards slow checkouts down & require more staff to deal with them.

I get tired of the card readers in my local grocery store that beep and announce my card has a bad chip forcing me to use the magnetic stripe. It’s just that the chip reader is getting worn out. If it were contactless like ApplePay they would be more reliable.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I don't see Apple accepting Walmart Pay.

Walmart Pay is exclusive to Walmart. How could Apple accept it even if they wanted to? It literally can't be used anywhere else.

It's like saying Burger King should use my Starbucks Rewards points.

 

[Dazamcc]

I'm from the UK and can't imagine a shop not accepting contactless payments. America seems so backwards sometimes.

 

[Tagbert]

When did they block the Samsung pay thing. I had a friend that used to use it at Walmart. It’s kind of moot now because Samsung abandoned the technology.

I think the point is that Walmart is trying to steer their customers to use their own, proprietary QRcode-based payment system. They seem to block anyone else’s system. I’m sure that, if they could get away with it, they would block regular credit cards, too, since that bypasses their payment system, but those are too entrenched.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I'm from the UK and can't imagine a shop not accepting contactless payments. America seems so backwards sometimes.

They accept contactless payments, just their own. This isn't an "America" issue, as much as it is a "Walmart" issue but don't let that stop you from trying to get a dig in at America. Because your country is totally perfect and all.

 

[monstermash]

Isn’t it though? Everywhere in the UK and Aus has contactless which all works with Apple Pay.
Didn’t America only get chip and pin in the past 5 years? Seems very much like a national issue.

There is no "national policy". Individual retailers do what they want. Fortunately, the govt isn't requiring them to update their terminals and shoppers are free to decide whether that impacts their buying decisions.

 

[Tagbert]

Living in the UK this is hard to imagine. I’ve used Apple Pay for 99.9% of all transactions everywhere for the last 3/4 years or more.

(Obviously we have our own far bigger problems at the moment 😂😭)

At this point it seems like a majority of US businesses do support NCF/contactless payments but some big players like Walmart and Kroger are holding out, probably to promote their own proprietary payment systems. Even small shops do NFC, but gas stations seem to be holdouts. That last is annying because gas stations are the most likely place to run into a card scanner that steals your card information.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I’ll admit… I’m more of a fan of Walmart after getting Walmart+ as part of AMEX’s benefits. they have a lot of good stuff and shipping is very quick.

Speaking of which, actual platinum card holders are getting Walmart+ as a benefit.

All of you wannabe rich people saying you’re above Walmart when actual rich people are shopping at….Walmart.

 

[Tagbert]

There is no "national policy". Individual retailers do what they want. Fortunately, the govt isn't requiring them to update their terminals and shoppers are free to decide whether that impacts their buying decisions.

“Fortunately”!!! This is not a freedom issue.

 

[dontwalkhand]

At this point it seems like a majority of US businesses do support NCF/contactless payments but some big players like Walmart and Kroger are holding out, probably to promote their own proprietary payment systems. Even small shops do NFC, but gas stations seem to be holdouts. That last is annying because gas stations are the most likely place to run into a card scanner that steals your card information.

To be fair though most gas stations have an app you can use Apple Pay in, and it’s more convenient as you can just do the whole screen prompts for the pump, sitting in the car instead.