Major Retailers that Support NFC Payments

[msackey]

When I use Apple Pay in the restaurants of USA waiter takes me to the kitchen to pay.

After that experience, I understand why the USA way of life is sometimes careless as compared to other developed countries.

It is like the song “This is America” by Childish Gambino can be used to describe USA society.

I haven't experienced that before, as it has never occurred to me to ask if a sit-down restaurant in the USA accepts tap-to-pay. More often than not, they do not. Someone else on the forum was making an argument about how chain restaurants commonly take tap-to-pay; I don't frequent chain restaurants.

But in any case, your experience is interesting. I have experienced something similar at retail stores, although not many. In a few stores, they would take me behind the counter for me to tap my Watch on their device. It's rather strange. I guess they just haven't set it up so that the device can either have a long enough cable or it can be accessed from the front of the counter.

 

[garyjones027]

I remember those 1980s credit card machine very well. There was no way those devices could check on the authenticity of a credit card. The restaurateur had to call in a number at the back of the credit card to verify, if they wanted to. More often than not, they wouldn't because of the volume of business they were experiencing.

There are some businesses in the USA that use these old credit card machines. They are called 'imprinters' or 'knucklebusters'.

During the pandemic, few businesses in the USA that are functioned for 30 to 40 years ended because they did not have the money to upgrade to modern card machines.

 

[garyjones027]

I haven't experienced that before, as it has never occurred to me to ask if a sit-down restaurant in the USA accepts tap-to-pay. More often than not, they do not. Someone else on the forum was making an argument about how chain restaurants commonly take tap-to-pay; I don't frequent chain restaurants.

But in any case, your experience is interesting. I have experienced something similar at retail stores, although not many. In a few stores, they would take me behind the counter for me to tap my Watch on their device. It's rather strange. I guess they just haven't set it up so that the device can either have a long enough cable or it can be accessed from the front of the counter.

This is because some restaurants in the USA have the credit card machine in the kitchen while others have it in the front.

 

[msackey]

There are some businesses in the USA that use these old credit card machines. They are called 'imprinters' or 'knucklebusters'.

Hard to imagine that these kinds of machines are still used in the US. I have not seen one for a long time, but of course I haven't visited everywhere in the US. That said, I have several credit cards that don't have raised lettering for these machines to be effective, at all.

Curious to know what businesses in the US still uses these imprinters, and where are they?

 

[garyjones027]

Hard to imagine that these kinds of machines are still used in the US. I have not seen one for a long time, but of course I haven't visited everywhere in the US. That said, I have several credit cards that don't have raised lettering for these machines to be effective, at all.

Curious to know what businesses in the US still uses these imprinters, and where are they?

It is mostly found in the very rural areas of USA. Now, it is very rare to find a business in the USA that use these old card machines.

For businesses in the USA that have difficulty to buy a modern card machine, they now do cash only.

 

[lartola]

I haven't experienced that before, as it has never occurred to me to ask if a sit-down restaurant in the USA accepts tap-to-pay. More often than not, they do not. Someone else on the forum was making an argument about how chain restaurants commonly take tap-to-pay; I don't frequent chain restaurants.

Actually it’s not that uncommon. Many of them do have tap to pay enabled on the machines they use to process the cards, the problem is that those are wired machines connected to their computer via usb because the owners were stupid enough to buy those instead of wireless card readers when they had to upgrade to chip. That’s why the only way to do tap-to-pay at US restaurants with anything other than a physical card is to walk over to where they have the card reader, which is usually in the kitchen, in the back of the restaurant or behind the bar counter.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Actually it’s not that uncommon. Many of them do have tap to pay enabled on the machines they use to process the cards, the problem is that those are wired machines connected to their computer via usb because the owners were stupid enough to buy those instead of wireless card readers when they had to upgrade to chip. That’s why the only way to do tap-to-pay at US restaurants with anything other than a physical card is to walk over to where they have the card reader, which is usually in the kitchen, in the back of the restaurant or behind the bar counter.

Even the fast food drive through places (McDonalds, Wendy's, Jack-in-the-Box, et al) have wired terminals at the window... but they have long enough cord to make contactless work in the drive-through... it's a shame that the sit-down restaurants have been so short sighted in this regard.

 

[dontwalkhand]

It is mostly found in the very rural areas of USA. Now, it is very rare to find a business in the USA that use these old card machines.

For businesses in the USA that have difficulty to buy a modern card machine, they now do cash only.

If a business can't afford a $200 card machine, they have a lot more to worry about their business than just accepting cards...

 

[dontwalkhand]

Actually it’s not that uncommon. Many of them do have tap to pay enabled on the machines they use to process the cards, the problem is that those are wired machines connected to their computer via usb because the owners were stupid enough to buy those instead of wireless card readers when they had to upgrade to chip. That’s why the only way to do tap-to-pay at US restaurants with anything other than a physical card is to walk over to where they have the card reader, which is usually in the kitchen, in the back of the restaurant or behind the bar counter.

I was in Australia not too long ago, and the server was taking cards away US style to tap them for customers.....Why is this crappy method spreading? I asked for Apple Pay and they brought me the reader. So even though it isn't as prevalent as the US, the crap practices are still being practiced elsewhere as well.

 

[ecschwarz]

Not to be a buzzkill, but aside from the debate of how restaurants handle payments versus how they should handle payments (it's basically like gas stations that still have disabled NFC readers or are dragging their feet on EMV chip), has anyone's Lowe's gotten contactless enabled yet?

If so, that leaves Home Depot, H-E-B, Walmart/Sam's Club as the last big holdouts, right?

 

[erihp]

Not to be a buzzkill, but aside from the debate of how restaurants handle payments versus how they should handle payments (it's basically like gas stations that still have disabled NFC readers or are dragging their feet on EMV chip), has anyone's Lowe's gotten contactless enabled yet?

If so, that leaves Home Depot, H-E-B, Walmart/Sam's Club as the last big holdouts, right?

I don't think you'll ever see Walmart / Sam's accept Apple Pay as long as Walmart Pay is a thing.

 

[lartola]

I was in Australia not too long ago, and the server was taking cards away US style to tap them for customers.....Why is this crappy method spreading? I asked for Apple Pay and they brought me the reader. So even though it isn't as prevalent as the US, the crap practices are still being practiced elsewhere as well.

At least elsewhere they have the portable reader to bring over if you ask them. In the US they have no portable reader at all to bring you, so you’re screwed.

 

[lartola]

I don't think you'll ever see Walmart / Sam's accept Apple Pay as long as Walmart Pay is a thing.

Funny thing is that only happens in two countries: USA and Mexico. Elsewhere Walmart has a presence (and they have stores in a total of 20+ countries) they have no app and do accept apple pay and other contactless payments.

 

[lartola]

Not to be a buzzkill, but aside from the debate of how restaurants handle payments versus how they should handle payments (it's basically like gas stations that still have disabled NFC readers or are dragging their feet on EMV chip), has anyone's Lowe's gotten contactless enabled yet?

If so, that leaves Home Depot, H-E-B, Walmart/Sam's Club as the last big holdouts, right?

H-E-B it’s surprising that they still don’t in the USA, because they recently started accepting at their Mexico locations. And Texans think we’re still cash and barter only and riding on burros (donkeys) in Mexico.

 

[ecschwarz]

I don't think you'll ever see Walmart / Sam's accept Apple Pay as long as Walmart Pay is a thing.

Yep—I rarely go to Walmart, but go to Sam's Club with a family member quite a bit and they push the Scan & Go feature in the app, but no Walmart Pay. It seems weird as Scan & Go is similar in idea, but can't be used with traditional checklanes like Walmart Pay can.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Funny thing is that only happens in two countries: USA and Mexico. Elsewhere Walmart has a presence (and they have stores in a total of 20+ countries) they have no app and do accept apple pay and other contactless payments.

Walmart still has an app for Canada, and ASDA (Walmart) still has an App for the UK, and they still have Site-to-Store, Scan and Go, and all of these features that are in the US app....they just screwed the US over tremendously. Ugh.

Despite ASDA being 50% Sainsbury's or whatever now, the technology they use is still 100% Walmart. Hell, one of the Scan and Go handhelds crashed, and it was trying to reach "us.walmart.com" ...funny. Not even a UK server?!

Then again, Walmart+ is a US only thing (for now?!)

 

[AZhappyjack]

Yep—I rarely go to Walmart, but go to Sam's Club with a family member quite a bit and they push the Scan & Go feature in the app, but no Walmart Pay. It seems weird as Scan & Go is similar in idea, but can't be used with traditional checklanes like Walmart Pay can.

The last time I was at Sam's Club (for gas), my membership card would not scan at the pump... kept giving be a "read error"... the only option was to scan the QR code on the screen... and payment was taken from the card on file w Sam's Club membership... was a painless process, but for me at least, it was the principle... and the conspiracy theorist in my head said the "read error" with my Sam's Club card was all part of their scheme.

 

[lartola]

Walmart still has an app for Canada, and ASDA (Walmart) still has an App for the UK, and they still have Site-to-Store, Scan and Go, and all of these features that are in the US app....they just screwed the US over tremendously. Ugh.

Despite ASDA being 50% Sainsbury's or whatever now, the technology they use is still 100% Walmart. Hell, one of the Scan and Go handhelds crashed, and it was trying to reach "us.walmart.com" ...funny. Not even a UK server?!

Then again, Walmart+ is a US only thing (for now?!)

But they do accept contactless/apple pay in the UK, Canada and everywhere else. Only in the US and Mexico they don’t.

 

[lartola]

Yep—I rarely go to Walmart, but go to Sam's Club with a family member quite a bit and they push the Scan & Go feature in the app, but no Walmart Pay. It seems weird as Scan & Go is similar in idea, but can't be used with traditional checklanes like Walmart Pay can.

And who would want to use the traditional check out when you can skip it with scan & go? actually, if they’re so stubborn not to accept nfc contactless they ought to at least expand scan & go to the walmart super center stores and other walmart affiliates besides sam’s club.

 

[ecschwarz]

And who would want to use the traditional check out when you can skip it with scan & go? actually, if they’re so stubborn not to accept nfc contactless they ought to at least expand scan & go to the walmart super center stores and other walmart affiliates besides sam’s club.

Back when I had a membership, I tried it and it was buggy—timed out often (despite a great data connection) and needed the card information re-entered a few times, not to mention you still have to have someone at the door verify your items. Going at non-peak times, the location by me always had plenty of lanes open, so it wasn't much of a time saver. That being said, the idea isn't bad, but it feels like the next step of offloading something the store does onto consumers (i.e. we don't want to pay cashiers, so here's self-checkout; now we don't want to buy POSes, so you can do it on your phone!)

The other aspect is that a lot of people don't trust Walmart as a whole and aren't too keen to have another vector of data harvesting on their phones. That can depend on how tinfoil-hat you're being, but consumer data has been one of the driving forces for pushing Walmart Pay (besides the potential to wean people off of credit cards in favor of direct billing to a checking account.)

 

[garyjones027]

I don't think you'll ever see Walmart / Sam's accept Apple Pay as long as Walmart Pay is a thing.

The most common type of contactless payment in the USA is tap to pay by physical card.

There are a lot of Americans who like this feature because most of them do not like to insert the card because it takes time and a lot of energy.

You will expect lots of customer complaints in the future if Walmart stores in USA and Mexico if the Walmart stores decide to resist tap to pay by physical card forever.

 

[AZhappyjack]

The most common type of contactless payment in the USA is tap to pay by physical card.

There are a lot of Americans who like this feature because most of them do not like to insert the card because it takes time and a lot of energy.

You will expect lots of customer complaints in the future if Walmart stores in USA and Mexico if the Walmart stores decide to resist tap to pay by physical card forever.

Yeah, inserting a card into a slot requires so much extra energy.

And Walmart (and Sam's Club) are currently resisting tap to pay in the US...

Sure some customers complain, but most of the sheep that shop at Walmart just use the Walmart Pay thing... it's not nearly the issue for the masses as you are trying to make it. It can be annoying, but that's about where it ends for the majority of people.

 

[erihp]

Yeah, inserting a card into a slot requires so much extra energy.

LOL glad it wasnt just me that gawked at that. Some of the people in this thread are nuts

 

[lartola]

You will expect lots of customer complaints in the future of Walmart stores in USA and Mexico if the Walmart stores decide to resist tap to pay by physical card forever.

Perhaps there will be some complaints (in fact there are a few already), but certainly not a lot. In the US and Mexico, whether or not a merchant accepts contactless is very rarely or never a factor for people to decide whether or not to shop there. People make that decision based on anything but the acceptance of contactless payments. Heck, if pressed further to either accept contactless or drop card acceptance altogether Walmart could choose to go cash only in both countries and it would make very little difference, if any at all.

 

[lartola]

LOL glad it wasnt just me that gawked at that. Some of the people in this thread are nuts

It does take a few extra seconds, though. And Believe it or not that led many american merchants to drag their feet to accept chip, to the point that some of them even after replacing their card readers still put a piece of tape on the chip slot and directed everyone to swipe instead because it was “faster”.