CVS and Rite Aid Officially Disable Apple Pay Support At Stores Nationwide

[locust76]

They will accept the very same debit or credit card you use on Apple Pay or Google Wallet.

Yep. And then they will also have your name, credit card number, expiration date, purchase history and perhaps even your address/ZIP code.

They'll then store this away in some database somewhere.

Someone will breach their IT infrastructure and find said database.

Oh, what do we have here?

 

[weaverra]

All Apple and Google need to do is remove the apps related to CurrentC.

 

[gadgetguy03]

Why is everyone here raising a big ole' stink about nfc being disabled at cvs, riteaid, etc.?? At the registers, they still have the card terminal for you to swipe your card.. I've never had a problem with that.. I'd be leery if the clerk said they needed to run my card behind the counter where I can't see it but just bc they have disabled nfc, no one wants to shop there anymore? Are ya'll mad bc now you have to carry your wallet or purses around (I've never seen a woman without a purse/clutch, so perhaps it's just the men complaining here). Is having to carry your wallet (with ID and cards) that big of a deal.. I don't care what they do, it's their business to do what they want. Don't like it, shop elsewhere. Are ya'll going to riot against small businesses that don't have an NFC terminal but still take the cards via a physical swipe? Just my 2 cents.

I think it's more the fact they accepted them earlier and then disabled them once people started using it. If you can accept the payment method you should. Small businesses that don't have NFC aren't at fault here because of the lack of capability. This is outright negligence in favor a system they are obligated to support. There was no issue when they partnered with Google to accept Google Wallet transactions but because Apple Pay uses the existing NFC terminal they just shut it off completely.

 

[JAT]

The sheer # of children with their underpants on fire here at MR because of this is astounding.

.....

It's going to take a year or two for all this to shake out. MCX has a slight advantage it's consumer end doesn't require the newest tech.

Astounding? You don't seem to understand the last little point. Maybe we should reverse these two sentences you wrote.

See, the 'shaking out' is what is going on here in these threads. You want it or not?

 

[TomTomHatesCats]

To those who are boycotting CVS & Rite Aid --- please tell me you're no longer shopping at Best Buy, Walmart, Target, CHili's, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Wendy's, and even Amazon.

I thought Amazon's Chase Card just became compatible with Apple Pay, or that there was an official announcement that it would be. Am I wrong about this?

 

[weaverra]

Yep. And then they will also have your name, credit card number, expiration date, purchase history and perhaps even your address/ZIP code.

They'll then store this away in some database somewhere.

Someone will breach their IT infrastructure and find said database.

Oh, what do we have here?

That wasn't my point. Point was they disable you paying with that same card on Apple Pay while they will accept that very card if you swipe it. I can see lawsuits in the near future.

 

[gadgetguy03]

Exactly. Just a year ago, folks around here were dismissing NFC as a fad that would never catch on, a gimmick for Android phone manufacturers, etc. Now that Apple decides to use it, the flag of NFC is being waved all over the place. Never underestimate this board's ability to be amusing as hell.

Actually no one was using it because it wasn't secure. I'm not saying Apple Pay is foolproof but it is far more secure than Google Wallet. Unlike Google, Apple has stated they will not keep a record of your transactions. Whether that is proven to be true has yet to be decided but for now I'll side with the hardware company rather than the advertising business.

 

[840quadra]

Oh, they spoke up all right. NFC was frequently dismissed as something that Apple was above, the iPhone didn't need it, and it was a desperate attempt by Android phones to push a gimmicky payment system that would never catch on.

I think Apple (More so Steve Jobs) was against the toylike options of using NFC for pairing devices, unlocking your phone, and some of the other features. I agree those would all be neat, but just wasn't like apple to incorporate that type of thing into their devices back in the day (Talking iPhone 4 - 4S)

Apple had submitted a patent application in 2010 regarding mobile payments, and has been working with NXP since 2011 (many contribute NXP as home base for starting NFC), from which they have been an official supplier.

Remember, Nobody watches videos on small screens (--Steve Jobs), then later launches the iPod with video, and nobody reads books anymore (--Steve Jobs), then later launches the ibooks store. This just means, sometimes , Apple saying No, actually means, yes, but later .

 

[jpmd70]

Most of you posting here fail to understand how this form of payment will allow hackers to gain access to your personal info. Beside what was the customers using before this was invented? They can always use cash or credit cards to pay. Organize hackers can hack anything. Do not fool yourself and think this new untested method of payment is safe.

I don't understand your post? Pay absolutely gives no personal information and no credit card numbers/PIN/name/address/birth date/zip code to the merchant. With that, the terminal and/or merchants database can be hack. But there is no info that can be used by the hackers to get your info.

 

[John.B]

I think his point was that iPhone users DID speak up before it affected them by saying they didn't care about NFC and openly mocking Google Wallet. I can't really argue that because it's true.

All iPhone users? That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with.

 

[i.mac]

I don't see why not. There is no legal requirement to use NFC.

There's something called consumer protection. Apple pay helps protect the consumer.

 

[mantan]

Lots of people are missing the point that CVS likely was forced to make this decision to comply with the terms and conditions of the 3-year agreement required by MCX.

Supposedly it specifically prohibited a competing mobile application. Now they allowed NFC Google wallet transactions likely because the use was miniscule and it wasn't considered a threat.

But MCX's main goal is to circumvent the credit card process and associated fees. The threat became real when Apple launched a potentially far superior mobile app with a large loyal customer base and backing from all the major credit cards and banks. Additionally it allowed for much more secure transaction (which retailers want) and anonymity (which retailers don't want.)

This sounds like MCX is trying to circle the wagons and make sure they don't support a competing product. Unfortunately for CVS and Rite Aid, they still had technology that supported NFC...so they are taking the backlash on the issue.

But fans of Apple Pay. Or more importantly, fans of the ability to make secure anonymous transactions need to widen their view on this issue beyond CVS and Rite Aid. It's a lot bigger/wider issue. The good news for consumers is that MCX/CurrentC app has so many potential issues that it'll likely be DOA.

BTW - not that MCX is all bad. I can understand retailers wanting to drastically cut transaction fees. But I question how much of that savings will actaully go to the customers. And I especially question the cost beyond a few loyalty plan perks, minimal cash back or discounts. Asking customers to link directly to their bank account, provide additional identifying information (SSN and DL) and trusting them to keep is secure is a big ask. Not to mention the lack of protection for customers....

 

[samcraig]

If they don't need to eliminate it then why block contactless payments like Pay and Google Wallet? One would assume they're going to provide incentives for users to ditch their credit cards in favor of CurrentC solution so are Pay and Google Wallet really a threat?

I imagine that this consortium has decided that if a customer wants to use their phone to pay - it should/will be via their app. So for those customers that want that convenience and/or to leverage discounts or anything else CurrenC will offer (if anything) - they can do so with their app. Leaving NFC on offers an alternative to their app.

The point I keep trying to make is that this doesn't amount to collusion because they are not refusing to process credit cards. When/if that happens - it might be grounds for collusion.

Ultimately, I imagine that MCX's goal is to convert as many people as possible to their NON-CC based system so they can MINIMIZE their transaction costs.

Or there's another reason that simply hasn't been shared yet.

 

[psac]

I tried to use Apple Pay on Saturday at CVS and was curious why it failed. I did use it successfully at Petco and Shoprite over the weekend, though. It was neat.

 

[gorkt]

This doesn't really surprise me coming from CVS. Their stupid loyalty card/extrabucks thing is the definition of an unwieldy and annoying system. Instead of just giving you the discount at the register, they make you collect these dumb physical coupons with expiration dates. I really don't like CVS, and I am in the process of sending the few prescriptions I have to Wegmans, which does support Apple pay.

 

[Don Summers]

Reasons for RiteAid/CVS denial of ApplePay

from BusinessWeek:

"Objections to Apple Pay aren’t actually about convenience, reliability, or security—they are about a burgeoning war between a consortium of merchants, led by Walmart, and the credit card companies. Rite-Aid, CVS, Walmart, Best-Buy and about 50 other retailers have been working on their own mobile payments system, called CurrentC. Unlike Apple Pay, which works in conjunction with Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, CurrentC cuts out the credit card networks altogether. The benefit to the merchants is clear: They would save the swipe fees they pay to the credit card companies now, which average about two percent of the cost of transactions."

 

[JAT]

To those who are boycotting CVS & Rite Aid --- please tell me you're no longer shopping at Best Buy, Walmart, Target, CHili's, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Wendy's, and even Amazon.

There is a difference in people's minds between places that never had NFC turned on, or never even had the hardware to use it, yet, and those where it was working and the company turned it off out of malice.

 

[ripper998]

A good article on why this is such a big fight. It all goes back to who has your information so they can sell it to the scammy marketers. I for one dont walmart to have my personal info because they will sell it to the highest bidder to make a buck.


http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-war-against-apple-pay-the-iphone-payments-system-2014-10

 

[jasonbogen]

Exactly. Just a year ago, folks around here were dismissing NFC as a fad that would never catch on, a gimmick for Android phone manufacturers, etc. Now that Apple decides to use it, the flag of NFC is being waved all over the place. Never underestimate this board's ability to be amusing as hell.

Who was saying it wouldn't catch on? People that follow Apple know, like Apple that you couldn't just throw an NFC chip in your phone and think that was going to make NFC payments mainstream. They took their time to create a solution that addressed the biggest consumer issues: security and privacy. What people were saying was that there was no point to the added expense yet because there wasn't a good NFC payment system to use it with.

Many Android phone manufacturers have a tendency to throw any feature they can into their phones to show that they have "more" than their competitors with no regard to whether it actually provides any value to the customer. Then those customers come here and taut that their phone manufacture invented something Apple doesn't have. This is what people on this board were laughing at. It's funny, Apple has had their NFC system up for about a week and it already is more relevant than the systems Android based phones were using...yeah, pretty amusing.

 

[TomTomHatesCats]

All Apple and Google need to do is remove the apps related to CurrentC.

This simple fact isn't brought up enough.

CurrentC doesn't work without the smartphone app. Google Play Store and App Store have all the power to reject it and render it useless, which they may as well do at this point.

 

[PVguy]

"Maybe when you're holding up the queue for several minutes they'll appreciate the worldwide NFC standard."

Queue? What queue? The local Rite Aid is usually nearly deserted. It' a good spot to unload change since there is no guilt from holding up the line.

 

[quagski]

When it comes to pharmacy I always favored Walgreens anyway for some reason or another...

 

[CyBeRino]

Sorry just to clarify with the chip and pin cards. These cards also have magnetic stripes as well.

I believe cards without are being issued already, and they will become more common over the next year or so.

 

[convergent]

We've done business with CVS for many years, and I have 4 kids so we have spent a lot of money with them. We never thought twice about the other two big drugstore chains that seem to litter every corner... Rite Aid and Walgreens. Guess what CVS... we are going to move our business to Walgreens now.

The good part of about all this is that we have choices... we have the choice to use great smartphones with iOS, Android, and Windows. We have a choice of which pharmacy we shop at. These stores have choices too, and they've chosen to take away our choice and force us to use their system designed to gather our data over convenience and security. I'm OK with loyalty cards, because you choose to use them, and I have chosen to do that with CVS. But now if I want to use a secure wireless payment system, they have specifically taken away one that they already have working, just to try and force customers to use their invasive alternative. I will be taking my business elsewhere.

The only way to combat this stuff is by taking your buying elsewhere. If they see Apple customers (and there are a lot of them) all pulling their business, then they will hopefully reconsider.

 

[Tycho24]

you can still pay with your card like you always have up until 2 weeks ago... Nobody is turning money away, you just cant pay with your phone.

Seems like it needs to be in caps for some people to properly understand it..

You're acting very foolish & don't have the most basic understanding of what has happened.
Up to them disabling nfc I actually didn't even ****need*** my iphone at all at their stores for an easy transaction... I take out my nfc chipped card, tap it, enter pin, done.
No swiping. Awesome.
They took that away.
I'm not sure what you ***think*** (& I use the term loosely) happened, lol... Only iphone payments blocked??!! No. All nfc. It's lame. Lol, there are cvs apologist fanboys now??!!