Apple Pay Now Accepted at All Costco Warehouses in United States

[code-m]

Waiting for the day that I can use my phone to actually walk into a Costco instead of having to carry another card around in my wallet.

About time for Costco to adopt this. To answer your question, I hear it is in the works and available hopefully by 2019. The challenge was how to verify info at the POS terminals due to counterfeit measures. I am sure it will have a slow and limited rollout.

 

[KGBguy]

That’s great. Glad to hear it. Will always use it.

 

[twolf2919]

At my CostCo, they only accept Visa. I have a Mastercard I'd prefer to use and it is setup in Apple Pay. Does that now mean that Costco will accept my Mastercard if used via ApplePay? Or can they limit to Apply Pay only using Visa cards on the back end?

Costco accepting ApplePay has nothing to do with their decision to only accept Visa. That's not just *your* store - that's Costco-wide. If you're already a CostCo customer, you've obviously used a Visa - despite your MasterCard preference. So just register the Visa you've been using with ApplePay and select that card from the Apple Wallet to pay with at checkout.
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Can someone verify - Do you still have to hand over your Visa/Membership card before paying?

If this is the case, then Apple Pay is pointless. Since I'm already using my Visa as my membership, why pull something else out of my pocket when I already have my Visa in hand?

- pointless for you. Others don't use the Costco visa.

 

[Iphtashu Fitz]

Awesome news. Still waiting for Home Depot to start supporting Apple Pay & contactless in general. It used to work in some of their stores then they disabled it across the board back in something like 2015 and haven't done squat since.

 

[mytdave]

Heck yeah! I am all over that one. Best news of the day! Am I going to use it? Damn straight I am!

 

[tmiw]

I just like the fact that big chain companies have adopted Apple Pay, and continue to be adopted, making it more available in retail stores nationwide. The only problem is most of the time, customers and employees alike are not aware of this feature on their terminals. I still get weird "how did you do that?" looks from cashiers and people behind me in line. I read through the availability list once in a while to see if the stores I'll be visiting are using Apple Pay. This should be on Apple to promote it heavily or incentivize companies that have it to promote it so more people are aware of it. At least they are going in the right direction with it.

I feel like more customers are using it now, FWIW, but it's still a pretty low number overall. It still might not be enough for those who need to do significant work on their POS systems or terminals to bother, especially if customers aren't submitting feedback asking for it. YMMV though.

Awesome news. Still waiting for Home Depot to start supporting Apple Pay & contactless in general. It used to work in some of their stores then they disabled it across the board back in something like 2015 and haven't done squat since.

Honestly, there are enough merchants that absolutely hate taking cards in general (for example, the recent thing with Kroger and killing off Visa support for one of their brands) that anything short of significant processing discounts/interchange caps or overwhelming customer demand won't get contactless acceptance in the US to 100%. Heck, even with that I'm not sure certain categories of merchants will ever be on board with contactless due to merchants running cards for customers still being considered acceptable; for example, nearly every restaurant I go to still takes cards away and brings them back, even if the receipt says that the chip was used.

(BTW, Home Depot is one of those that is not a fan of the networks. They even sued Visa at one point when chip started becoming a thing, though I don't know how or if that lawsuit ever concluded.)

 

[Mikep976]

As many others have said, I really hope they experiment with having our membership cards on our iPhones/Apple Watches. Not only would I love to use the membership card at checkout, but with Apple looking to extend NFC to other uses, I would love to see Costco work with them on some sort of NFC or similar solution so that I can just use that to enter the store as well. It would be great to go careless from entering, checking out, and leaving.

 

[itguy06]

Still very glitchy.
Was there over the weekend to pickup some photos and other items.
Took 3 tries at the photo counter before it accepted the payment.
Didn't work at all at the food court or the main registers. Kept getting "Not Authorized".

Same here at the register. The cashier did say he had someone else that day with the same issue. Ended up pulling out the card and did it the old fashioned way.

 

[Coffee50]

About time for Costco to adopt this. To answer your question, I hear it is in the works and available hopefully by 2019. The challenge was how to verify info at the POS terminals due to counterfeit measures. I am sure it will have a slow and limited rollout.

This is what I was thinking. I'm sure customers have requested digital cards for some time. I figured something had to be in the planning stages. Many entertainment, travel & retail co. provide digital cards, so they had to be aware this is an option many costumers would want.

On a related note, still waiting for Target to jump on board with apple pay....

 

[nutmac]

Should be interesting to see how this works at the gas pumps..

It would be nice if the membership card could be readable contactless from wallet because since the transition to the Costco Visa, it is random if the pumps will recognize the card.

I just paid for gas at Costco yesterday. You need to swipe the membership card first, then use Apple Pay.

 

[skillwill]

I never understand these MacRumours articles about stores in America accepting Apple Pay. It's up to the banks, and once they're on board, your contactless debit/credit card is on your phone... Then you just tap your phone instead of your card when you pay at a store? Why does the store get a say in the US? Is it a competition thing like Samsung pays some chain not to take Apple or something? But even still, the contactless payment terminals don't know the difference do they?

(Genuinely asking as I'm sure the answer is probably really obvious and I'm just misunderstanding something, please be gentle in reply!)

 

[chabig]

Last time at Costco the cashier took my card (Costco Anywhere credit card) and tapped it for payment. Very slick since I have to give him the card anyway. Don't see any reason to use Apple Pay there.

Security. Tapping the card transmits the credit card number. Apple Pay uses a randomized single-use token.
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I never understand these MacRumours articles about stores in America accepting Apple Pay. It's up to the banks, and once they're on board, your contactless debit/credit card is on your phone... Then you just tap your phone instead of your card when you pay at a store? Why does the store get a say in the US? Is it a competition thing like Samsung pays some chain not to take Apple or something? But even still, the contactless payment terminals don't know the difference do they?

(Genuinely asking as I'm sure the answer is probably really obvious and I'm just misunderstanding something, please be gentle in reply!)

It's not that simple. The stores' point of sale terminals have to allow contactless payments. Many store with compatible terminals intentionally inhibit contactless payments.

 

[tmiw]

I never understand these MacRumours articles about stores in America accepting Apple Pay. It's up to the banks, and once they're on board, your contactless debit/credit card is on your phone... Then you just tap your phone instead of your card when you pay at a store? Why does the store get a say in the US? Is it a competition thing like Samsung pays some chain not to take Apple or something? But even still, the contactless payment terminals don't know the difference do they?

(Genuinely asking as I'm sure the answer is probably really obvious and I'm just misunderstanding something, please be gentle in reply!)

Many merchants in the US don't use the terminal software that their payment processor provides, so there could actually be significant work involved to implement contactless payments--especially if the POS requires updates too. Since it's not actually required by the payment networks (unlike EMV, which theoretically has a financial penalty for not implementing), some simply won't bother unless a lot of customers start demanding it.

 

[PotatoLeekSoup]

I just paid for gas at Costco yesterday. You need to swipe the membership card first, then use Apple Pay.

They have Apple Pay at your Costco's gas pumps too, not just cashiers?
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I never understand these MacRumours articles about stores in America accepting Apple Pay. It's up to the banks, and once they're on board, your contactless debit/credit card is on your phone... Then you just tap your phone instead of your card when you pay at a store? Why does the store get a say in the US? Is it a competition thing like Samsung pays some chain not to take Apple or something? But even still, the contactless payment terminals don't know the difference do they?

(Genuinely asking as I'm sure the answer is probably really obvious and I'm just misunderstanding something, please be gentle in reply!)

It is because if a store will not accept Apple Pay, then they can see the card number instead of a meaningless single-use token. It allows them to track your stream of purchases day-after-day and which things you buy repeatedly. If a store permits use of Apple Pay, then they lose the ability to track your purchases, which you should love if you enjoy privacy.

 

[code-m]

This is what I was thinking. I'm sure customers have requested digital cards for some time. I figured something had to be in the planning stages. Many entertainment, travel & retail co. provide digital cards, so they had to be aware this is an option many costumers would want.

On a related note, still waiting for Target to jump on board with apple pay....

Targets loss, tbh. I can usually find an alternative store that carries similar products if not the same and with price matching and guarantees, I am not going to hold my breath.

 

[Jefe's MacAir]

Went through a Chic Fil a drive thru today. Realized I had left my wallet at home while waiting in line. Pull up to pay and thankfully they accept Apple Pay. Paid with my watch. Convenient too. I also use a gas station I can pay with just my watch. Super easy.

 

[Saberstar]

The Costco I shop at in Australia, has always had Tap and go enabled so I have been using Apple Pay for ages. Comes in really handy in the food court

 

[nutmac]

They have Apple Pay at your Costco's gas pumps too, not just cashiers?

Yup, the gas pump had Apple Pay/NFC logo so I tapped the screen with my iPhone to pay.

Unfortunately, the gas pump requires swiping Costco membership card to initiate. At the very least, I would love to see Costco move toward QR code so I can add Costco membership to Apple Wallet.

 

[blacktape242]

good, apple pay needs to be everywhere.

 

[Cartoonkid]

Only Visa Cards inside of Apple Pay.
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Sams club is better in that it has scan and go kind of Amazon go style. This beats Apple Pay in the traditional register to be honest. It is awesome to just walk out the door without stopping at a register.
It’d be nice if Apple Pay was in that sams club app. But it uses old fashioned store your credit card in the app method.
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This.

I love Apple Pay, but at Sam's I can just walk around the store scanning stuff as I put it in my shopping cart, tap "Pay" when I'm done and walk past all the people standing in line to check out.

The only downside is that you can't use it when buying alcohol, but I don't do that often enough to care.

IMO, as far as ease of payment, even with Apple Pay, Costco is still in the Stone Age compared to Sam's.

 

[SDJim]

Waiting for the day that I can use my phone to actually walk into a Costco instead of having to carry another card around in my wallet.

My thoughts exactly. Still can’t stroll in having forgotten my wallet. Not super thrilling, tbh.

 

[ZebraDude]

At my CostCo, they only accept Visa. I have a Mastercard I'd prefer to use and it is setup in Apple Pay. Does that now mean that Costco will accept my Mastercard if used via ApplePay? Or can they limit to Apply Pay only using Visa cards on the back end?

Sadly, it will be rejected...I'm in the same boat.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

This will be enough for me to switch from Sams Club to Costco

Sams Club has Scan and Go app, SKIP the lines completely! Scan as you put stuff in your cart and pay on your app when you're done and walk out the door!! No more lines!

I'll take that perk ANY DAY over the ridiculous long lines at Costco (not to mention the frustration of finding a parking space) and the "convenience" of not taking my card out of my wallet. My gosh, people are that lazy? So far Sams Club is a much nicer experience after being a many-year Costco member. As more and more Kirkland brand products take the place of name brands they used to stock, I find it harder to find a reason why I should have to pay a membership fee for the privilege of buying their own cheap house brand.

 

[IHelpId10t5]

Can someone verify - Do you still have to hand over your Visa/Membership card before paying?

If this is the case, then Apple Pay is pointless. Since I'm already using my Visa as my membership, why pull something else out of my pocket when I already have my Visa in hand?

Yes. I was in Costco yesterday and had to show my membership card to enter the store, then show my membership card before checking out, then I used Apple Pay, but was required to enter a PIN as well (yes I know that this is because it's a Debit card), and then had to show my receipt and have it checked at the store exit. Costco therefore is still the most obnoxious user experience of any store that I've ever been in.

I absolutely hate that a merchant can decide to force me into using my card as debit, even when I should be able to run the card as a VISA, to avoid a PIN or signature. Convienience is not the only benefit of contactless payment. The security of my account is greatly reduced when a vendor requires us to enter a PIN.

Yes, I understand that the real reason that they force debit instead of offering the choice is that is costs them less to process. However, many stores still at least allow specifically choosing credit when paying. I did not see that option at Costco prior to paying with ApplePay. If anyone knows how to overide the forced use of debit please let us know.

 

[bommai]

This will be enough for me to switch from Sams Club to Costco

Actually I love Sams scan and go app that I can pay and walk out without going to the cashier. However I love the organic and other choices in Costco way better. Oh well.