They did, however, find some way to specifically block the use Samsung Pay through the magnetic stripe readers. And no, they didn’t shut off the reader, physical cards still work fine, just not SPay.
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Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in U.S. Despite Many Customer Requests
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They did, however, find some way to specifically block the use Samsung Pay through the magnetic stripe readers. And no, they didn’t shut off the reader, physical cards still work fine, just not SPay.
When they purchase the terminals, they can request to have the terminals provisioned to not accept anything NFC. That is what Walmart has done and requested at the time of provisioning prior to them being delivered to Walmart. It is, however, a software feature that can be turned on at any time by a simple reprovision of the software that programs the terminal. Walmart is refusing to do that.
BL.
That’s what most merchants not accepting NFC usually do, but a few people in this forum have commented that Walmart goes further than that and even requests to actually have the nfc module removed from the pinpads. So if that’s true then for Walmart it’s not just a simple reprovision of the software, they will have to buy new hardware.
From The Wall Street Journal:
Maybe the banks don't pass on the cost to merchants in some mechanism, because, well, banks are so generous and consumer-oriented.
Yea the cash only are starting to dwindle more, and the ones I know of I just don't go to. The only place I might have cash for are fairs/carnivals, and most of them even take NFC now. I definitely still have a wallet though for NFC failures
And that would make sense for Walmart. At the previous job I had at a company that provisions terminals and POS systems, the option was left up to the merchant on if they wanted it at the time of provisioning, and if needed at a later date, a software reprovision would handle it. If Walmart took out the hardware, then actual hardware is needed, and nothing can be done at the software level or consumer level to force NFC.
BL.
There is a galaxy difference between paying something directly yourself and paying it indirectly.
The banks also pass on the cost of their electric bills to merchants too. Nevertheless, it's still incorrect to say "merchants pay a fee to cover the electric bills of the banks".
I went on a cave tour today.
At the end of the tour there was a drop box to provide tips for the guide.
Anyone not carrying cash had to stiff her, even if they wanted to leave a tip.
Kroger is finally accepting Apple Pay!
Not that I have a Kroger nearby or anything.
It's weird that Lowe's takes Apple Pay on its website, but not in its stores.
Not that I have a Kroger nearby or anything.
It's weird that Lowe's takes Apple Pay on its website, but not in its stores.
Contact the EU so they can investigate; sue....
A quick search on Twitter reveals that Walmart faces numerous requests to accept Apple Pay on a daily basis, but the big-box retailer still does not accept the iPhone's tap-to-pay service at its over 4,700 stores across the United States.
Walmart has instead committed to its own payments service called Walmart Pay, available through the Walmart app on the iPhone. Instead of using NFC technology like Apple Pay and many other mobile wallets, Walmart Pay allows customers to scan a QR code displayed at checkout to pay for their purchase with a payment card stored in the app.
"We do not accept NFC and instead have implemented convenient solutions, such as Walmart Pay, that provide our customers easy, touchless payments on any smartphone," a Walmart spokesperson told MacRumors this week. "We have also invested in innovative technologies that go beyond payments, such as Scan & Go, which allow Sam's Club and Walmart+ members to bypass the checkout altogether."
There are certainly some benefits for Walmart in pushing its own mobile payments service, including getting more customers to download the Walmart app, being able to track a customer's purchase history, and avoiding Apple Pay fees, but it's clear that Walmart is ignoring one of its customers' most frequent requests as a result.
Apple Pay launched just over eight years ago, on October 20, 2014. In a press release earlier this year, Apple said that Apple Pay is accepted at more than 90 percent of U.S. retailers, with some major holdouts including Walmart, The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Kroger. Walmart did start accepting Apple Pay in Canada in late 2020.
Article Link: Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in U.S. Despite Many Customer Requests
How anyone can still not offer contactless pay after we just went through a pandemic is unfathomable to me. Besides, I prefer to shop at Target.
I dunno what the "pandemic" has to do with anything, but not taking contactless payments is kinda silly.
The pandemic response forced companies to go contactless payments over the last 2+ years.
I wouldn't say so, the same holdouts are the same ones holding out now. Walmart, Kroger, Home Depot, Lowe's etc. The only one we saw movement on was Kroger, and it took until well after everyone stopped wearing masks for us to actually see movement on it.
The others were already having Apple Pay in the plans anyway, but it maybe accelerated it a little.
In my experience, a lot of smaller places did suddenly realize that their terminals could do tap around the 2020 timeframe. Before then, they may have had the terminals but mainly just inserted for customers (or if the terminal was customer facing at all, would do stuff like not bother pushing any buttons until after the customer inserted).
Unfortunately, there was some backsliding on the customer facing terminal aspect (e.g. drive thrus went back to running cards for customers). At least many do seem to tap my card for me now instead of inserting it, so there's that.
As for tapping, it seems the marketing that originally came with these small business terminals was abysmal, up to the pandemic when they probably started to finally accelerate marketing on tapping.
Which is why even places that keep it behind the counter, now have no qualms whatsoever about pulling it out so customers can tap. Whereas before, these businesses just didn't know they had tap and just told people they didn't have Apple Pay.
But to Walmart, and their customers, it was all a hoax, sadly. *shrug*
Very true, but they also chose to because they wanted customers. During the pandemic, some people wanted to minimize physical contact with other people. Some might say being afraid to touch a card to the terminal that many people used is silly but it’s a fact that people worried about this so if a business can facilitate a customer to make a purchase, they’re going to.
Holdouts like Walmart have a monopoly so they don’t have to worry about accommodating customers. They put their competition out of business a long time ago so now they just do what they want.