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Haha, I've noticed that too.

Best part for me was I forgot my card a week before they rolled out Apple Pay. Had to call my wife at home to read me the card number. Show up the following week to buy groceries and think, "Man, this woulda been great last week!"
I cannot believe how lax security is there.
The problem is that far too few US merchants have contactless pay for anything. That is slowly changing.

On the other hand, unlike Canada and the UK, there are few limits on contactless pay amounts in the US. In Canada, most merchants limit contactless transactions to CDN$100, but I've been to a few that let me charge over $300. In the USA, the most I've ever paid on ApplePay was USD$5,500 (car down payment).
I don't have an issue with £30 limit. Don't see a problem with entering a card and PIN for larger purchases as terminals are still quick.
 
I cant believe how far behind the US is when it comes to contactless payments. In the UK, contactless bank cards have been standard for payments less than £30 for years now, and then apple pay came a while after those and can be used pretty much anywhere in a big city like London, or still many places in smaller cities.

In London we've had contactless cards for public transport for like 15 years now as well... How is the US payment system so outdated?!

I don't get why apple pay is rolled out to specific merchants? In the UK you can use apple pay even in the tiniest shop as long as they have a contactless card machine... which they usually do now because they're so cheap even for tiny businesses. How come this isn't the case in the US?

I swear I’ve heard this song before.

Either way, you answer your own question. The merchants who were not allowing Apple Pay did not allow contactless payments at all. They wanted to do everything via QR code.
 
I wonder if Target’s Red Card will finally get support
I wonder how it will also impact it. Because right now with the Target app it applies all my coupons and pays.

Apple Pay saved my butt in London, the airport hotel shuttle did not accept my contact less credit card, but it took Apple Pay (using the same card!).
 
Living in the UK, it's really strange that this is news.

My bank works with ApplePay, and as a result I can use ApplePay anywhere that supports contactless cards. Which is about everywhere. Tiny market stall selling Korean food accepts it, no problem. Personally, I think using my Debit card is quicker.
 
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I swear I’ve heard this song before.

Either way, you answer your own question. The merchants who were not allowing Apple Pay did not allow contactless payments at all. They wanted to do everything via QR code.
? Don't see how I answered my question. I had no idea they were accepting payments using QR codes.. that seems bizarre to me. What is the reason for that?

I just don't get the logic of why merchants don't use them when they're so cheap and can save time... and time is money. Quicker your customers can pay then the more people you can serve per hour.

There must be a reason for it but I just can't see what it is
 
I doubt Walmart cares. Last time I checked, their Walmart Pay was the leading mobile payment system in the US. Publix? That's a different story. They might need to get on board. Walmart... not so much.
Where did you read that? I don't believe that that was ever the case with CurrentC (MCX?). Are you talking about pre-CurrentC, pre-ApplePay/GooglePay days - as in some prior Walmart-proprietary mobile payment system?
 
I don't get it. It's a simple upgrade to terminals to enable NFC payments. Everything else is a marketing stunt. Every Square merchant can announce that they "roll out" Apple Pay. And guess what: They're also "rolling out" Google Pay - if they like it or not.
Big companies can enable NFC payments (contactless payments) and invest time and money to reject Apple Pay or Google Pay. Some have done that. It doesn't make any sense to me, but there you go. Supporting Apple Pay and Google Pay (that is not actively spending money to prevent them from working) doesn't cost them anything, makes their store more attractive to customers, and reduces fraud. And if I found out that they accept contactless but NOT Apple Pay I would be pissed off. Android users would feel the same if they didn't accept GooglePay.
 
NFC adoption is crazy slow in the US. I was in Russia recently and every store from big chains to small shops, cafes, restaurants etc, have NFC terminals and Apple Pay works fine.
 
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Cool! Nice to see, Apple Pay now will be at virtually all my main stores.



A tale of woe - unlike cash, the card / wireless / remote payment system in the U.S. is controlled by the U.S. corporate banking system, not the government and merchants can decide if they want to spend the money to roll out new readers that support wireless or turn the wireless off (some did). Anything that costs extra money will be put off and avoided (ex - we just rolled out Chip cards like 2 years ago, again because it would be expensive to do it - new card readers at the merchants would be needed - but we didn't do the PIN part of Chip and PIN (which adds the security) because it would have meant less money for the banks (they don't get as big a transaction fee on anything with a PIN), so they chose for the country to have Chip only and stolen credit card numbers continue at pace here (but the government lets the banks deduct those losses so its not important to stop the losses to the banks).

We had wireless payments around the turn of the century (if memory serves), however they were not secure (you could remotely read people's card numbers walking through crowds) and typically tied to debit cards (from your checking account) where you don't want your card number stolen and charged so people stayed away from them. I'm guessing they're much more secure for you folks now.

Bottom line is the bottom line: If it doesn't put $$$ into board and shareholders pockets, it ain't happening.
 
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I was recently visiting Italy and was using Apple Pay linked to my us card on my watch everywhere, no matter how small the village or store - of course I became everywhere the local sensation sine nobody knew that this can be done from a watch ...
It's your bank that decides if ApplePay works. (And you need a contactless card reader). In Germany for example, only a small percentage of banks support Apple Pay, so in Germany your chances that your watch works, connected to a US card, are higher than the chances of the average German.
 
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There must be a reason for it but I just can't see what it is
What aren't you seeing? Let's take Walmart as an example.

They don't want people using ApplePay because it costs them a small transaction fee. If their shoppers use WalmartPay, they benefit two ways. One, they save the transaction fee and can either keep it or give a little back to the shopper. Secondly, they get to keep all of the customer's data.

The small throughput increase by having the checkout process happen 3 seconds faster is negated by the monetary benefit. I'm sure they've done the math and chose the option that makes them more money.

Also, if you've ever been in a Walmart, it seems they care very little about speeding up checkout times. Just about every time I've been there, they have about 4 lanes open with a dozen shoppers in each lane, but they won't open up a few more lanes. Surely they've done the math and it shows that their shoppers don't care as much about checkout times than they do about the low prices.

Other merchants have their reasons as well. But it all boils down to money.
 
Apple Pay, Google Pay, contactless payment whatever you want to call it should have been in place forever ago. I’ve had my credit card skimmed twice at gas pumps, I’d love if gas stations were more on the ball with this too.

How is this just not a thing everyone uses?
 
For a country that’s supposed to be a beacon of advanced nations, you guys have a pretty stone aged banking system.

ApplePay was accepted virtually everywhere on day one in Canada because most retailers already had NFC terminals for tapping credit and debit cards. It’s the same in many of the European countries ApplePay is in.

Yet, in the US you still sign a piece of paper when you purchase something to authenticate that that’s your card? How is that for security? How has the US fallen so behind?
Feel better, feeling superior? Have a cookie ;)
 
Finally!!!!

And some Arco has station Apple Pay.

I hope Walmart give up on it dumb app to pay. It’s super cumbersome b
 
Actually what I said was a bit misleading - in the UK you can make a payment larger than £30 on apple pay, I'm not sure if there is a limit at all actually. However with a contactless card the limit is £30 because there is no kind of authentication.

£30 limit is the standard, it's up to the retailer to change it to a limitless Apple Pay. For instance Tesco are limited to £30, whilst Morrisons are unlimited. Its just a simple change needed, but corporate wheels turn slowly. I paid for my car MOT/Service at Halfords with limitless Apple Pay last week.
 
If Taco Bell is joining the Apple Pay party, then KFC should be included as they are co-owned.

The KFCs in my area have already supported it for awhile. I wonder if the other two Yum brands, Pizza Hut and Wing Street (do dedicated Wing Streets exist? I've never seen one that wasn't part of a Pizza Hut) also support it? I generally dine in so haven't really noticed...
 
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