I bet they’d rather go cash only than accept apple pay if pressed any further. They’re that stubborn.
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Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in U.S. Despite Many Customer Requests
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I bet they’d rather go cash only than accept apple pay if pressed any further. They’re that stubborn.
The fact that they're pushing this "Walmart Pay" thing so hard to the exception of other payment methods really makes it appear super-shady.
As a comparison, look at the Starbucks app. You can use that to pay, and earn points for free stuff in the future. BUT, it's completely voluntary and you can still use Apple Pay/NFC/etc. to pay for your stuff. That is the right way to do it. Offer a carrot so people use your app; don't use a stick to beat down other payment methods.
I think Walmart is waiting for Apple to allow the Walmart app to directly access the NFC functionality on the iPhone, which may happen per possible EU regulations. If that happens, the Walmart app switches from using QR code reading to NFC contactless payment, and Walmart's own POS terminals will also start accepting tap-to-pay chipped credit and debit cards, too.
They could already do that with Android yet NFC still isn't turned on. (Yes, I know iOS has a higher share of users in the US, but still.)
True, but they wouldn't be able to allow NFC Android Walmart Pay and disallow Apple Pay at the same time.
Here's the funny thing.
Walmart owns ASDA in the UK; ASDA accepts NFC (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, etc.). But unfortunately, that is the only asset Walmart owns in Europe. So it isn't that Walmart needs to do anything in compliance with EU regulations, but more about personal preference and business decisions that they insofar have resisted.
BL.
Walmart is big enough that they could probably implement their own NFC protocol for their app without having to enable contactless payment generally (assuming the terminal actually let them do so, of course).
The card networks actually mandated contactless support in the EU a while ago, which is why ASDA has it turned on.
Which goes to prove my point; they don't have to wait for federal/national/bloc regulations to do this if the card networks (private businesses themselves) mandated it. They could turn it on if they WANTED to; they are choosing NOT to.
BL.
Not disagreeing there. They're pretty much only doing it when mandated to by someone, doesn't really matter who. (I don't think any government has actually mandated it by law as far as I know, just the card networks themselves.)
I doubt it. First of all, if apple does open the nfc they’ll do it only locally in the EU, not worldwide, so it doesn’t make any sense for walmart USA to be waiting for something that’s only happening in Europe, at least for now. Second, if they wanted walmart pay to use nfc instead of QR they’d have already made that change for Android users, for whom it’s always been possible. Finally, it’s extremely difficult if not impossible for merchants to have nfc turned on and block apple pay while still allowing other payment methods that use nfc, which is why Walmart simply shut it off altogether and left out everything but chip cards.
Why look all the way to Europe? They friggin enabled Apple Pay and everything just north of us in Canada! They are leaving US/Mexico in the dust and forcing Walmart Pay.
I will admit, Walmart pay isn't bad, but I like having all of my transactions in my wallet app. Until Chase allows it with Connected Cards....I will still gripe.
And also in Chile and Costa Rica. Walmart accepts apple pay everywhere they have a presence but the US and Mexico, the two countries where they want to push their walmart pay and cashi apps.
In 2030s:
Expect media coverage, especially on social media, of heavy criticism of Walmart stores of USA to refuse tap to pay feature for cards which is the norm everywhere in USA. It is in a future time period where no credit cards and debit cards from Mastercard in the USA have the magnetic stripe. 95% of credit cards and debit cards in USA have tap to pay feature which Walmart stores of USA do not accept.
In the media coverage, some Canadian visitors to the USA are say that they are very surprised that Walmart stores of USA do not do tap to pay for cards. They say that their Walmart stores of Canada had tap to pay for 15 years when the pandemic was a thing in 2020.
Expect media coverage, especially on social media, of heavy criticism of Walmart stores of USA to refuse tap to pay feature for cards which is the norm everywhere in USA. It is in a future time period where no credit cards and debit cards from Mastercard in the USA have the magnetic stripe. 95% of credit cards and debit cards in USA have tap to pay feature which Walmart stores of USA do not accept.
In the media coverage, some Canadian visitors to the USA are say that they are very surprised that Walmart stores of USA do not do tap to pay for cards. They say that their Walmart stores of Canada had tap to pay for 15 years when the pandemic was a thing in 2020.
I am from Canada. Walmart stores of Canada had tap to pay by card from 2020 in the pandemic. You can expect in the 2030s for Canadian visitors to Walmart stores of USA as living in the past.
Tap to pay by card is increasing in the USA as the years go. When this happens, you can expect American customers start to hate to insert their cards in the card readers all the time but love to tap to pay all the time in the card readers.
I wonder if Walmart stores of USA will succeed to resist tap to pay by card for the next 20 to 30 years.
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20-30 years is long enough that we may very well be using something else by then (or at least starting to, given how the EMV transition went). Honestly, if their strategy of focusing more on delivery and curbside pickup and less on in-store stuff works out, we don't even need to wait that long to find out whether they're going to ever bother with NFC.
I get 5% cash back using my Walmart card online for shipping or pickup orders. No need to go in-store.
Exactly
I'm sorry, but with how long Apple Pay has been around now, absolutely no reason why they aren't implementing it
In short, for the most part, the only time I really pull out either my bank card or Apple Card is if I'm at a full service restaurant and they don't have either one of those fancy readers with the contactless thing or even better yet, the QR code thing
But the least they could do is offer it as an option and allow one to still pay in the other ways. Many apps I use offer those options as you can put in your own card still, or use Apple Pay (the latter I highly prefer, as sometimes I forget to update the cards I have on file whereas with the Wallet/Apple Pay, the first thing I do immediately when I get a new card is remove my old one and put in my new one so I can use it with AP straight away)
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Walmart stores of USA will never do tap to pay even in 20 or 30 years.
"Never" is a bit strong. They might eventually get forced into doing it (either via a mandate and/or customer demand), but that could take a while.
True, but by the time it happens (if it does happen) nfc will be already obsolete and the market will be moving to something else. Walmart USA is so stubborn that it wouldn’t be surprising if they’d rather go cash only than enable nfc if it nfc were mandated by card networks. And likewise for Walmart Mexico.
Walmart stores of USA and Mexico that change only to cash payments would create very big news coverage and very big social media coverage.
I'm not sure what would replace NFC any time soon, though. And even if something did replace it, the US would likely be one of the last countries to adopt said new thing anyway, so Walmart would likely still get at least a few years out of enabling NFC.
Perhaps in the USA. Definitely not in Mexico, however, where cash usage (or rather cash abuse) is still at least 80% and even during the covid pandemic it didn’t decrease.