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I just gave the Kroger's app 1 star rating with a written review asking for Apple Pay. I say... let them hear how little interest there is for Apple Pay.
 
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Even if they did accept Apple Pay I wouldn't use it. Process at checkout is scan keychain tag for loyalty discounts, put card in reader and wait a bit for notice to remove it. This overlaps with scanning of my groceries. I need to carry a credit card anyway for places that don't accept Apple Pay or where using it is hard like in drive thru takeout places. So far for me Apple Pay is kind of pointless. Kroger's app looks even more pointless and also more hassle than just using loyalty tag/credit card. Now if Kroger's app gave me additional discounts over using a credit card, I might reconsider using it.
 
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Even if they did accept Apple Pay I wouldn't use it. Process at checkout is scan keychain tag for loyalty discounts, put card in reader and wait a bit for notice to remove it. This overlaps with scanning of my groceries. I need to carry a credit card anyway for places that don't accept Apple Pay or where using it is hard like in drive thru takeout places. So far for me Apple Pay is kind of pointless.
I fail to see the logic of “Apple Pay isn’t accepted at other places, so I’m going to refuse the convenience it affords at the places it is accepted.”
 
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I fail to see the logic of “Apple Pay isn’t accepted at other places, so I’m going to refuse the convenience it affords at the places it is accepted.”
The convenience is minuscule and sometimes non-existent. I need the credit card anyway for the many places Apple Pay doesn't work. Including places were it is supposed to but doesn't for whatever reason, and that happened far too often. Credit card always works and process is same everywhere. I've gone the try Apple Pay, failed to work, use credit card hassle enough times I eventually stopped trying and just present credit card now everywhere.
 
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LOL, there was so 'little interest by customers' that they decided to spend 2 years working on their own app. Nice try Kroger.

“Kroger Pay” sounds an awful lot like the failed CurrentC platform. How long will it be before Kroger drops it and adopts Apple Pay the way many other merchants have?
 
The convenience is minuscule and sometimes non-existent. I need the credit card anyway for the many places Apple Pay doesn't work. Including places were it is supposed to but doesn't for whatever reason, and that happened far too often. Credit card always works and process is same everywhere. I've gone the try Apple Pay, failed to work, use credit card hassle enough times I eventually stopped trying and just present credit card now everywhere.

If it doesn’t work and it’s supposed to people need to start telling the merchant that is the only payment method they have and they need to get it working or you can’t pay. It’s no different than if their credit card reader wasn’t working and you didn’t have any cash.

I don’t get why so many people have that logic on here. If the credit card reader doesn’t work people put the blame on the retailer. If the Apple Pay doesn’t work people out the blame on themselves/Apple/etc. when it reality the blame still resides with the retailer.
 
Safeway implemented Apple Pay last year and there is absolutely no indicator on the payment device. If Kroger did the same then I can see why it had little use.
^^^this. Many terminals finally flash a NFC icon AFTER you've inserted a chip card. Who designed the software that way? It seems purposefully hidden.
And the reverse side of the problem are terminals with the NFC icon but it isn't turned on or doesn't work. I look like an idiot trying Apple Pay as the cashier says "I've never seen that work". THEN TAKE OFF THE STICKER.
 
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If I have to wait for someone to walk over and scan my phone then no, this will not work. When I have to wait now I might stand there 5-10 minutes if the one checker for 8 self check stands is scanning someones groceries that never should have tried for themselves. Local stores have removed regular stands to add more self check and less people working. If the one person standing there to do this is a teen they will be chatting instead of scanning. There are a few that move quickly but generally I try to avoid buying anything that might trigger the need to wait for help.

While its on my mind, I had a quick chat with the lady working the checkout recently. She told me to go to the front and get a new Kroger card, do not link it to my name or my online account, just use it for the discounts. I said what about gas, she said is it really worth saving a few dollars on gas to tell them everything about your shopping habits. Hmm.
 
If it doesn’t work and it’s supposed to people need to start telling the merchant that is the only payment method they have and they need to get it working or you can’t pay. It’s no different than if their credit card reader wasn’t working and you didn’t have any cash.

I don’t get why so many people have that logic on here. If the credit card reader doesn’t work people put the blame on the retailer. If the Apple Pay doesn’t work people out the blame on themselves/Apple/etc. when it reality the blame still resides with the retailer.
I'm in the store to buy stuff, not fix the merchants problem, and I just want to pay and get out of there. Credit card reader not working will be known immediately by the merchant as it is vastly the most common pay method. NFC not working is a minor issue as almost everyone has the card as backup. Until NFC becomes the main method of payment and it hurts the merchant to not have it working, they won't care and I am not going to waste my time trying to make them care.
 
Apple Pay needs to be near universal for me to want to use it regularly. For most people pulling out the wallet is second nature and pure muscle memory

Sounds like you're describing the UK - you're hard pressed to find any shops that don't take contactless cards, and where there's contactless Apple Pay just automatically works, even if the cashier isn't aware! In an average week I don't think I open my wallet even once any more, it's purely just there to hold my ID and a card for emergencies (never use cash any more either). There was a time when I would still have to use cards for purchases over £30 (fuel etc) but even though that limit is still in place for contactless cards, they've removed it for Apple Pay in most shops - once the last few get up to speed that's pretty much all of the hurdles out of the way.

In that vein, muscle memory was overwritten a couple of years ago - pulling out my wallet feels weird.
 
Such digital payment services are a precursor to an unbelievable amount of government control via an end to privacy. Every aspect of our lives will be digitally regulated automatically by digital accounting systems that your phone is or soon will be tethered to.. which// btw exposes the one thing that everyone should by now know: That while government will be holding you and me accountable for every last half penny..? They themselves do not account for ANYTHING and are simply taxing us several generations into the future. The eventual cost of convenience and safety will be the end of both as no one should be allowed this much control.. no one that is accepting the Pope. Right? (wrong)

I'd give you a thumbs-up, but I don't want the government to know that I agree. I think twice every time I use my debit card, instead of cash for something simple. I usually go with cash. Then I remember that they have cameras watching me get the cash and cameras at the entrance and inside of just about every business I go to... It's not comforting.
 
Perhaps they discontinued the program "due to little interest by customers" but perhaps that was an excuse to go their own way in the hopes of collecting customer information and maintaining profits. In any case, customers will determine the success or failure of Kroger Pay, and whether or not Kroger finds reason to support Apple Pay as well.


Customer information yes, profits no. Merchants don't pay any portion of Apple Pay. The tiny amount, .015% comes out of the bank/credit card issuer's portion.
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Fyi Apple does the same data collecting. Apple has every iPhone serial number tied to a user email (with the force activation). Apple data mines it to see where and how often people activate a new device (to determine how often people buy new iPhones).

And this qr code nonsense is a poor user experience due to apple not letting devs use the NFC and thus dumbing down their apps to the lowest common denominator. Not all devs will dumb down their app to use QR codes. There is an android app that is a public transit app (presto) that uses NFC for transit functions andand iOS version is just a glorified web page that can't use NFC.


Please stop the fake news--it's gone out of style. No Apple does not collect the same data. Apple Pay specifically is set up so Apple has no idea what you've purchased. Why the fake news?
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It's all about tracking your purchases and tying them back to demographics, and to you personally. Same reason why Walmart is not adopting Apple Pay, they don't want to lose their telemetry.

Apple Pay uses a one-time payment authorization code, not a static card number, so it isn't trackable.

Kroger Pay presumably just bills the credit card you've set up in their app, so they can track your purchases.

PAY CASH (or Apple Pay of course) if you care about things like this.


Or shop at stores like Safeway that take Apple Pay, Costco, etc., and the nearly 70% of merchants who do!
 
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Customer information yes, profits no. Merchants don't pay any portion of Apple Pay. The tiny amount, .015% comes out of the bank/credit card issuer's portion.

While true, if a merchant supports routing debit cards over networks other than Visa/MC, there's a decent chance they'd end up paying extra if someone used Apple Pay instead of inserting (as asking for PIN with the former is kind of a bad UX). Not to mention that contactless payments in general have displaced cash for smaller purchases in a lot of other markets, so merchants have an incentive to discourage it.
 



Popular grocery store chain Kroger has launched a new mobile payments service called Kroger Pay, which it will be using in lieu of Apple Pay.

According to a WCPO, a local Cincinnati news site, Kroger Pay launched in Columbus and Colorado today, but will be expanding to all Kroger stores by the end of the year.

krogerpay-800x450.jpg

Kroger Pay is QR-based, so to pay, users need to open up the app and generate a single-use QR code that's scanned at checkout when making a purchase.

Kroger customers can link any major debit or credit card to the Kroger Pay app, and it also includes a Kroger Rewards debit card for earning fuel points and other rewards with purchases.With Kroger embracing its own payment solution, it looks like the grocery store chain has no plans to introduce support for Apple Pay. Kroger did test support for Apple Pay in stores that support contactless payments, but reportedly discontinued the program "due to little interest by customers."

Kroger in 2018 told a Reddit user that it did not have plans to implement Apple Pay in any of its stores.

Kroger has been working on its payments service for more than two years, and has been accepting the Chase Pay digital wallet since 2017.

Article Link: Apple Pay Holdout Kroger Launches New 'Kroger Pay' Service
[doublepost=1550168904][/doublepost]I lived in Omaha when ApplePay launched and the local supermarket named HyVee didn’t accept it. So I started shopping at the stores that did. I actually complained at their local corporate office about it and was told Apple charged them too much to do it (we all know that’s ********)

Four years later HyVee now accepts ApplePay - and they are owned by Kroger.

Now I’m in Florida and the big store here Publix also doesn’t accept ApplePay. Which sucks, because Publix is a fantastic supermarket. Thing is, Publix doesn’t offer a loyalty card program, so they’re not collecting data, at least that way.
 
While true, if a merchant supports routing debit cards over networks other than Visa/MC, there's a decent chance they'd end up paying extra if someone used Apple Pay instead of inserting (as asking for PIN with the former is kind of a bad UX). Not to mention that contactless payments in general have displaced cash for smaller purchases in a lot of other markets, so merchants have an incentive to discourage it.


Don't buy that contactless payments have had a big impact on cash use as massive drop in cash use has been due to ubiquitous acceptance/use of debit and credit cards, and occurred well before contactless payments which are still a distinct minority of payments, but fair point as far as merchants experiencing less debit card use where fees are lower than credit card.
 
Don't buy that contactless payments have had a big impact on cash use as massive drop in cash use has been due to ubiquitous acceptance/use of debit and credit cards, and occurred well before contactless payments which are still a distinct minority of payments, but fair point as far as merchants experiencing less debit card use where fees are lower than credit card.

Actually: https://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com...-time-thanks-to-contactless-digital-payments/
 
[doublepost=1550168904][/doublepost]I lived in Omaha when ApplePay launched and the local supermarket named HyVee didn’t accept it. So I started shopping at the stores that did. I actually complained at their local corporate office about it and was told Apple charged them too much to do it (we all know that’s ********)

Four years later HyVee now accepts ApplePay - and they are owned by Kroger.

Now I’m in Florida and the big store here Publix also doesn’t accept ApplePay. Which sucks, because Publix is a fantastic supermarket. Thing is, Publix doesn’t offer a loyalty card program, so they’re not collecting data, at least that way.
Kroger does not own Hyvee.
 
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Well, when King Sooper or City Market asks me to sign up for Kroger pay I will respond that I am disinclined to acquiesce to their request. Hopefully everyone else will too, and force Kroger to consider using Apple Pay.
 
[doublepost=1550168904][/doublepost]I lived in Omaha when ApplePay launched and the local supermarket named HyVee didn’t accept it. So I started shopping at the stores that did. I actually complained at their local corporate office about it and was told Apple charged them too much to do it (we all know that’s ********)

Four years later HyVee now accepts ApplePay - and they are owned by Kroger.

Now I’m in Florida and the big store here Publix also doesn’t accept ApplePay. Which sucks, because Publix is a fantastic supermarket. Thing is, Publix doesn’t offer a loyalty card program, so they’re not collecting data, at least that way.

Hy-Vee is employee owned. No connection to Kroger. It does surprise me that Publix doesn’t have a loyalty program.
 
Because we all have experience with IT departments and they are unfailingly the worst.

But it’s not IT departments that spearhead these efforts. They just are asked to implement something that the marketing dept., CFO, COO or CEO want. Blame them.
 
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