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

[michaelsanchez0027]

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.

Biometrics and AI for future payments in businesses are possible events.

One Aldi supermarket in London, UK, does biometrics and AI. You need a mobile phone app called Aldi Shop and Go to enter this Aldi supermarket.

Aldi launches its first checkout-free store in London

The store uses facial age estimation technology provided by Yoti to verify the purchase of age-restricted products

www.itpro.com

 

[bradl]

Biometrics and AI for future payments in businesses are possible events.

One Aldi supermarket in London, UK, does biometrics and AI. You need a mobile phone app called Aldi Shop and Go to enter this Aldi supermarket.

Aldi launches its first checkout-free store in London

The store uses facial age estimation technology provided by Yoti to verify the purchase of age-restricted products

www.itpro.com

I doubt they are the same company, but I certainly have not seen that at any Aldi market here in the US. In fact, from what I have seen, they seem to be on par with some other grocery stores that cater to those low-income shoppers, like Grocery Outlet.

BL.

 

[michaelsanchez0027]

I doubt they are the same company, but I certainly have not seen that at any Aldi market here in the US. In fact, from what I have seen, they seem to be on par with some other grocery stores that cater to those low-income shoppers, like Grocery Outlet.

BL.

This Aldi supermarket is only in London, UK. It is the only Aldi supermarket in the world that does this.

 

[garyjones027]

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.

This video from January 2024 explain some future possibilities in self-checkout areas of stores.

 

[Kevrani]

I doubt they are the same company, but I certainly have not seen that at any Aldi market here in the US. In fact, from what I have seen, they seem to be on par with some other grocery stores that cater to those low-income shoppers, like Grocery Outlet.

BL.

It is the same company: https://www.aldi.com/

 

[tomtad]

Why is the US always so behind with stuff like this?

 

[tmiw]

Why is the US always so behind with stuff like this?

Generally, if something's left to the free market, the parties involved aren't going to do anything until they have no choice. For example, no federal law or regulation mandating chip and PIN/signature or contactless caused the US to only bother starting to transition over a decade ago (long after other countries have started using either).

Additionally, many stores in the US absolutely hate Visa and Mastercard for various reasons, so they aren't exactly falling hand over foot to implement anything that's not absolutely necessary. As Apple Pay usage (and contactless usage generally) was pretty much in the single digit percentages until the pandemic increased demand, they just enabled contactless whenever they felt like it.

 

[michaelsanchez0027]

Generally, if something's left to the free market, the parties involved aren't going to do anything until they have no choice. For example, no federal law or regulation mandating chip and PIN/signature or contactless caused the US to only bother starting to transition over a decade ago (long after other countries have started using either).

Additionally, many stores in the US absolutely hate Visa and Mastercard for various reasons, so they aren't exactly falling hand over foot to implement anything that's not absolutely necessary. As Apple Pay usage (and contactless usage generally) was pretty much in the single digit percentages until the pandemic increased demand, they just enabled contactless whenever they felt like it.

Yes. This is true.

There are some businesses in USA that use card readers that are used for 20 years and they never updated the card readers. This is because these businesses have financial problems to buy new card readers.

These card readers that are 20 years old do not have contactless payments.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Cash is king anyway.

Physical cash doesn't collect data about you or sends it to Apple.

Until CBDC replaces cash, which is no longer conspiracy theory. People who use all these methods of electronic money transfers don't realize that it's making it easier for the central banks and governments around the world to eliminate paper money in the not too distance future. The reason it's no longer conspiracy theory is because the EU, central banks and governments have made it known they want to eliminate paper money.

That said, I 100% agree with your observation! Paper money is freedom!

 

[garyjones027]

Until CBDC replaces cash, which is no longer conspiracy theory. People who use all these methods of electronic money transfers don't realize that it's making it easier for the central banks and governments around the world to eliminate paper money in the not too distance future. The reason it's no longer conspiracy theory is because the EU, central banks and governments have made it known they want to eliminate paper money.

That said, I 100% agree with your observation! Paper money is freedom!

The EU central bank on the use of cash in future.

The Eurosystem cash strategy

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the European Union countries which have adopted the euro. Our main task is to maintain price stability in the euro area and so preserve the purchasing power of the single currency.

www.ecb.europa.eu

Future banknotes

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the European Union countries which have adopted the euro. Our main task is to maintain price stability in the euro area and so preserve the purchasing power of the single currency.

www.ecb.europa.eu

 

[bradl]

Cash is king anyway.

Physical cash doesn't collect data about you or sends it to Apple.

However, it does not stop Walmart from tracking your spending habits, let alone letting Walmart get any data that they can about you; for the endgame here isn't what Walmart accepts or doesn't accept.. It's about who gets your data. I trust Walmart LESS with anyone's data than I trust Apple.

BL.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The EU central bank on the use of cash in future.

The Eurosystem cash strategy

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the European Union countries which have adopted the euro. Our main task is to maintain price stability in the euro area and so preserve the purchasing power of the single currency.

www.ecb.europa.eu

Future banknotes

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the European Union countries which have adopted the euro. Our main task is to maintain price stability in the euro area and so preserve the purchasing power of the single currency.

www.ecb.europa.eu

Well, this guy who has been advising world leaders for the last 40 years regarding currencies and is the first person Washington calls whenever there is a banking or financial crisis says otherwise. Based on his track record, he says we are headed towards CBDC's

Cbdc | Armstrong Economics

www.armstrongeconomics.com

 

[echopulse]

My point there was that Walmart is only one store in the overall retail store landscape. Yes, there are certainly other stores that don't allow contactless payments too. According to some stats, around 67% of U.S. stores allowed some sort of contactless payment in 2021 but I would assume that percentage is higher today.

Yes, it's over 90% of total retail stores, and 96% of the top 100 retailers.

 

[echopulse]

Apple pay is anonymized to the DPAN, which is a unique account number for a given payment card on a given device. It will be different depending on your device (for simplicity terms, say your physical card has number A, your iPhone 13 Pro Max has number B, your Apple Watch has number C, and btw you just upgraded that 13 Pro max to a 14 Pro Max, when you set up that card again instead of number B it's number D).

This makes tracking harder, but not impossible. Your transactions consistently made on one device (say your apple watch) will have the same DPAN (the account number stays the same per transaction, the EMV challenge/response is dynamic and securely tokenized per transaction). Target also has ways of associating multiple cards with what they term a guest ID: you might be IDed for an age restricted purchase and use your physical card on one purchase, and get IDed on a second purchase and use Apple Pay on your iPhone, they tie that to a common ID. Or you get emailed/mailed a coupon, they know who it was emailed/mailed to, use the coupon, use a form of payment, tie it back to the guest ID.

Similarly, Home Depot now asks about eReceipts, and it recognizes an email from a prior purchase if you use the same card. If Apple Pay were used (hypothetical being that Home Depot actually accepted Apple Pay), the DPAN wouldn't be the same per physical card, but it would be the same per device per card on a subsequent purchase.

The tracking bit is trickier with contactless digital wallets but it isn't why Walmart is refusing contactless (or Home Depot for that matter. For HD, it's just not a priority, and with little big box competition (basically just Lowes in most areas, and they don't take Apple Pay either), little reason to enable it. For Walmart, they hate the card networks and are sulking with WM Pay in the corner as a way to snub the card networks.

You still have to add a credit or debit card to use WalMart Pay, so that arguement doesn't hold up.

 

[lartola]

Yes, it's over 90% of total retail stores, and 96% of the top 100 retailers.

But add other businesses that are not stores but do accept credit cards such as sit down restaurants, car rentals or hotels and the percentage drops significantly.

 

[lartola]

For Walmart, they hate the card networks and are sulking with WM Pay in the corner as a way to snub the card networks.

They’re not snubbing the networks at all. You still have to use a credit card if you use Walmart Pay. What’s weird is that Walmart has a presence in 20+ countries around the world, yet it refuses to allow contactless payments only in two of them (the USA and Mexico).

 

[tmiw]

They’re not snubbing the networks at all. You still have to use a credit card if you use Walmart Pay.

For now. It's not out of the question that given enough usage, they could use the threat of moving that usage to e.g. ACH as a way to get concessions from the networks.

 

[lartola]

For now. It's not out of the question that given enough usage, they could use the threat of moving that usage to e.g. ACH as a way to get concessions from the networks.

Maybe they’re waiting for the banks to come up with a more modern standard for electronic money transfers that’s instantaneous. ACH is too old and takes 1-3 business days.

 

[enc0re]

The new system was launched last year with widespread uptake. Should be near universal shortly.

FedNow

 

[zenodux]

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.

Lowes started accepting Apple Pay in January. Finally!

 

[echopulse]

The new system was launched last year with widespread uptake. Should be near universal shortly.

FedNow

Yes, a few hundred banks have signed up. Some of the biggest banks are missing. For instance, Bank of America, Chase, Truist, and Capital one. I have been looking into it, and I know of no retailers, utilities, mortgage companies, accounting services, or any other entities that you would need to pay that accept it. Also, there are over 5,000 banks in the US. Nearly all of the services above and all banks accept ACH.

 

[lartola]

The new system was launched last year with widespread uptake. Should be near universal shortly.

FedNow

I know. Maybe Walmart is waiting for it to become near universal.

 

[echopulse]

I know. Maybe Walmart is waiting for it to become near universal.

It's not going to be near universal anytime soon, I don't think. 5 of the top 10 banks are not supporting it.

 

[russell_314]

It's not going to be near universal anytime soon, I don't think. 5 of the top 10 banks are not supporting it.

What banks don’t support it? My debit and credit cards support it except two “ghetto” credit cards I got years ago when I was starting to build credit.

 

[lartola]

What banks don’t support it? My debit and credit cards support it except two “ghetto” credit cards I got years ago when I was starting to build credit.

He’s not talking about apple pay, he’s talking about the new instant bank to bank transfers platform.