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If it doesn't work with the Apple Watch, then I'm not interested. To me, Apple Pay makes sense on the watch, as it is very quick. Otherwise, taking out your wallet, or taking out your phone is about a wash time wise.
 
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Faster? I'm in Texas and have tried it repeatedly. It's about three times slower than writing a check by hand. The first week the checkers and managers didn't know how to press the Walmart Pay Button on the register so the first few times I actually had to pay with a credit card after about 20 minutes of waiting for all the managers to come over and try to get it to work. The guy behind me said "there are too many ways to pay" and got in another line. This system is DOA.

There are  Pay merchants having offered it for a year whose clerks still don't know how to process a transaction.

That's why they are rolling it out slowly, because the employees have to be trained. Walmart is the biggest retailer worldwide, and in many markets the main retailer for everyone. Once trained the employees will be able to not only offer the option to customers to ensure adoption for those willing to give it a try, but also help them make the transactions. Something many employees at Pay retailers aren't equipped to do, nor given an incentive. Add to that, this system is platform agnostic, unlike Pay which requires hardware with a Secure Element and NFC. So every single one of WalMarts customers who have a smartphone will most likely be able to use it.

Walmart can further offer points and other incentives that keep their customers with UPC code cards dangling off their key chains for a dozen stores in order to get whatever "free" stuff and discounts those stores are offering, whether they need them or not. This is American consumerism at its core. Apple is the outlier, offering quick, streamlined payments to go with a mostly upscale clientele that don't care if they save 20 cents on the next can of soup they buy. So if Walmart's payment system takes a few more steps, they are a captive audience who will most likely see the incentives as worth the effort, especially when a trained employee is urging them to do so, and there to help walk them through the process until its second nature.

Then with millions of trained customers, Walmart can lease the system to other retailers who will benefit from WalMarts customer training, giving those same customers even more reason to keep using it. And then eventually Walmart introduces the 2.0 upgrade which makes it more like Pay. This isn't something to dismiss lightly.
 
One difference is that in the UK, "Apple Pay" is mostly equivalent to "contactless card", so they don't accept contactless cards either. Same with Sainsbury's at least where I work, which is inconvenient whether you use Apple Pay or not.

In the USA, some companies have apparently actively disabled Apple Pay.

Yes I found contactless = 100% success with apple pay.
I nearly always ask 'do you accept contactless?' so they can press the contactless button.
I tend not to ask 'do you accept apple pay'?
 
If it doesn't work with the Apple Watch, then I'm not interested. To me, Apple Pay makes sense on the watch, as it is very quick. Otherwise, taking out your wallet, or taking out your phone is about a wash time wise.

I don't like how the Watch requires two hands. With my iPhone, I can conduct the whole transaction with one hand, which comes in handy if I'm carrying something else, or otherwise doing something with my other hand. With the watch, I have to put down what I was holding to press the button.
 
I may be misreading, but the suggestion is that using ApplePay (specifically) does not permit companies to link multiple transactions together to answer questions such as "when customer buys product X and Y, what else do they purchase?" This kind of analysis is possible with virtually all card-based transactions EXCEPT ApplePay... and perhaps Samsung Pay (?).

To explain, let's start with a credit card. When you use the CC, the system will record your CC number and name along with anything you buy. So you can analyse over many people if there is a pattern suggesting if X then Y. Very useful for product placement in store. However, this is not where the big money is. What they want is to see what you spend on over time. For example because they have my CC and Name they can tie together every purchase I have made over a year. Now they can see that I always buy tide. They can then send me coupons to try and get me to switch to Gain. This then moves the deals they have with the product vendors and results in higher margins (and they are usually very thin to begin with). With Apple Pay, the CC number and Name is not given, only a token. And every time I buy they get a different token. This makes it difficult to track behavior over time. You can still see what products are bought together on a single transaction but you cannot see it over time. This is where the loyalty program comes in. By having you use a loyalty card they can track you much better (since there is always the risk that you would use different cards at different time - and there are ways around that as well). Apple Pay did not provide for loyalty cards at first, so it was a big problems for stores like WM that work on razor thin margins. Now that Apple Pay has address this issue, there is no reason for QR codes IMHO.
 
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Yes I found contactless = 100% success with apple pay.
I nearly always ask 'do you accept contactless?' so they can press the contactless button.
I tend not to ask 'do you accept apple pay'?

My mom wouldn't know to ask such questions, and even when I ask that question, many clerks still don't know. Walmart pay has the edge there as long as the clerks are well trained -- and there's no reason why they shouldn't be. Apple and credit card companies have no such training program in place, how could they?
 
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Oh the irony ... so many complaints about stores not using nfc at sales terminals while praising Apple pay. So where are the complaints about Apple not letting developers use the nfc in the iPhone, when is Apple going to open that up?
 
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I went to Starbucks a few days ago and they said they don't accept Apple Pay!


Starbucks now accepts true Apple Pay via NFC. It's a nice upgrade/move forward. It was the only QR code pay system I've ever (or will ever) use. Walmart can continue to get hit for 3% on my transactions until they adopt Apple Pay.
 
The main reason it only works at Starbucks is because of their reward program, but you're right. Other than Starbucks they just don't make sense. And even then, I think the system there will change as well so you can still get credit using Apple Pay.

That has to be a hook. The consumer needs to see a 'benefit' to any alternate form of payment. For Starbucks, it's the loyalty program. For Apple Pay, it's 'easy of use/security'. I'm not sure what the 'hook' is for Walmart Pay, other than getting your receipt by email. But you have to wonder if Target and Walmart will put in some sort of 'loyalty' or 'discount' program to get people to use it. Sort of similar to how grocery stores push 'loyalty discounts' with a scan card....as a trade off to monitor all of your family's purchases.
 
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We should all use Walmart pay and make it really really slow causing long checkout lines. May be they will adopt nfc pay
 
I wonder why they're bothering creating an entire app. If they're going to be their own payment processor, why not just issue "Walmart Accounts" and then issue "Walmart Debit" cards that can be added to Apple Pay?

Everyone's happy. Walmart gets lower transaction costs, consumers don't have to use a weird qr code thing.
They're not creating an entire app. They are adding a feature to their current app. After reading quotes 56 and 63, it doesn't seem to be hardship others are making it out to be. That's usually the case though.

MR forum version of Walmart Pay:
"It's sooooooooo hard to use. And stupid. Just let me Apple Pay now Walmart!" How is it hard? "Well... uh... see, the thing is... this is going to sound funny, but... uh, see I've never actually used it. But I bet it's... it's {looks in Apple word dictionary}... I bet it's clunky. Clunky and {flips page to J.Ive section}... yeah un-apologetically clunky".
 
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I don't even remember the last time I was at Walmart. I simply don't understand why people shop there. I also don't understand what problem Walmart Pay is solving given the vastly superior offerings from Apple and Google. Knowing what I know about Walmart, this must be some type of scheme to make more money at the expense of someone else.
 
But as a consumer, I don't want 10 different payment methods, one for every store.

The best solution would be for Apple to pair up with retailers to let customers 'opt in' to a rewards program and link that program to Apple Pay. But I think both sides are a bit too dug in right now to look at that option.
 
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Does anyone use this turd?
I use it every time I go shopping at Walmart. Would I rather use Apple Pay? Of course! However, my bank doesn't use Apple Pay (yet, they assure me they will eventually) and I'm not switching from a bank I've used for 16 years just because they're a little slow to move with the times (when all the other banks moved up to computers they were still using adding machine tape and teller # stamps LoL). Besides, the Walmart app is a good overall experience and doesn't just do Walmart Pay. You can scan items in the store so you don't have to go searching for one of those scanners. You can do a grocery/shopping list ahead of time and know about what you can expect to spend. The Savings Catcher feature is awesome for those like me who are too lazy to search out competitor's sales ads to get a discount! With Walmart Pay it sends your receipt automatically to Savings Catcher. I've been using the Walmart Pay app for a few weeks and I've already gotten back over $10 without even trying to save money. For the record, I'm not a fan boy of Walmart. I worked there for 5 years and I know how frustrating they can be. I just wanted to share my experiences with the app so give it a try, you may like it.
 
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That has to be a hook. The consumer needs to see a 'benefit' to any alternate form of payment. For Starbucks, it's the loyalty program. For Apple Pay, it's 'easy of use/security'. I'm not sure what the 'hook' is for Walmart Pay, other than getting your receipt by email. But you have to wonder if Target and Walmart will put in some sort of 'loyalty' or 'discount' program to get people to use it. Sort of similar to how grocery stores push 'loyalty discounts' with a scan card....as a trade off to monitor all of your family's purchases.

Auto submit your receipts to price Catcher.
 
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I don't even remember the last time I was at Walmart. I simply don't understand why people shop there. I also don't understand what problem Walmart Pay is solving given the vastly superior offerings from Apple and Google. Knowing what I know about Walmart, this must be some type of scheme to make more money at the expense of someone else.

Millions of people shop at Walmart because their prices are low. I know it's the MR way to look down their nose at anyone who dares shop at a Walmart. But love or hate their business practices, their prices are usually less than the competition. If a family can save 10% on their weekly grocery/household expenses - they are going to do it. That's why, despite MR people staying away, they are the biggest retailer in the US by a mile.
 
(Heck, anyone who doesn't take advantage of loyalty programs, is just throwing money away.)
Actually research shows that loyalty programs that reward you for spending money actually lead to more spending and debt.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1719054
We find that with an average cash-back reward of $25, spending and debt increases by $79 and $191 a month, respectively during the first quarter. Furthermore, we find that cardholders who do not use their card prior to the cash-back program increase their spending and debt more than cardholders with debt prior to the cash-back program.
 
If it doesn't work with the Apple Watch, then I'm not interested. To me, Apple Pay makes sense on the watch, as it is very quick. Otherwise, taking out your wallet, or taking out your phone is about a wash time wise.

There is no way it will work with the Apple Watch, at least the current version, as it lacks a camera.



Mike
 
There is nothing better than paying with my Apple Watch. I love it. It's so fast and convenient. I wish I could do it everywhere. Wal Mart needs to give up and go with the flow.

Yea it is fast and convenient where it works. For many people, it doesn't work in many places. Even my usual Starbucks location, for example, doesn't accept Apple Pay. So to use my AW I had to bring up the barcode, which was a pain to scan on the watch. So I just went back to using my iPhone to pay. At least the Starbucks app supports Apple Pay so when I am at Starbucks it is already on the lock screen and a swipe away to use (via barcode, but better than having to manually open the app).



Mike
 
My shopping in the UK is influenced by whether the retailer takes 'apple pay' AKA 'contactless' or not.
There have been two or three occasions in the last 12 months where I'm at the till & I forgot my wallet, so I'm starting to rely on 'apple pay' & apple watch now.
 
To explain, let's start with a credit card. When you use the CC, the system will record your CC number and name along with anything you buy. So you can analyse over many people if there is a pattern suggesting if X then Y. Very useful for product placement in store. However, this is not where the big money is. What they want is to see what you spend on over time. For example because they have my CC and Name they can tie together every purchase I have made over a year. Now they can see that I always buy tide. They can then send me coupons to try and get me to switch to Gain. This then moves the deals they have with the product vendors and results in higher margins (and they are usually very thin to begin with). With Apple Pay, the CC number and Name is not given, only a token. And every time I buy they get a different token. This makes it difficult to track behavior over time. You can still see what products are bought together on a single transaction but you cannot see it over time. This is where the loyalty program comes in. By having you use a loyalty card they can track you much better (since there is always the risk that you would use different cards at different time - and there are ways around that as well). Apple Pay did not provide for loyalty cards at first, so it was a big problems for stores like WM that work on razor thin margins. Now that Apple Pay has address this issue, there is no reason for QR codes IMHO.

Very illuminating. Thank you.
 
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