Never shopped there and never going to. Why the F do I need to download a special CVS app for the privilege of paying them using my phone? I can already do that with Apple Pay. Buh bye.
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CVS Launches Barcode-Based 'CVS Pay' in Lieu of Apple Pay
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It use to work. The first month the 6 plus came out it was great! Then they and Walmart pulled the plug.. Boo
Any merchant that offers a loyalty card is harvesting your data.
You can chose to participate in their program or not. I chose to not have one.
I use CVS because of their location. Their prices on Rx are no different than Walgreens, so I fail to see the point in wasting the gas.
They still take regular credit cards (swipe and chip), so it is what it is.
I couldn't care less if they take Apple Pay or Android Pay or any other wallet.
I don't save any money using them.
Google Wallet isn't a payment app anymore, that has shifted to Android Pay. Google Wallet is just for sending and receiving money to and from people.
All of these "solutions" that require multiple steps on a phone are just stupid. I'd rather get my credit card out instead, just to save myself the steps. NFC-based solutions are far easier to use and it's something CVS already has in place - so they're just fighting to save themselves the transaction fee, which I understand the decision making. But their solution just is not convenient, much like what Wal-Mart is doing and the DOA CurrentC.
I carry 20ish in case I have to pay cash for some weird reason outside of vending machines.
So now I have to put my credit card number into the various apps and store them there for thieves and hackers to get to it huh!!! The beauty of ApplePay was the tokenization and even support for apps like TargetApp. These stores are so short sighted! I think all these XPay apps are offshoots of CurrentC.
A bust? I rarely take my wallet with me anymore as I use Apple Pay almost exclusively. Groceries at Trader Joes, Whole Foods and a local chain here in AZ called Bashas's, toiletries and such at Walgreens, smoothies at Jamb Juice, shoes and sporting goods at Foot Locker and Nike Store, and even some of the smaller indie stores here take Apple Pay with Square, the list goes on and on. So much easier than swiping your card or those dreaded chip readers. And Whole Foods and others don't even ask you to sign, I just tap my Apple Watch, grab my bags and out the door!
No way I'm going to bother setting up an app for a single retailer and give them my payment details in a way that may or may not be secure. This just comes across as being hostile to customers. While I prefer NFC, im fine with shopping at stores that haven't yet implemented it. However, a retailer that outright bans it after the fact in favor of their own clunky proprietary system that diminishes user convenience and payment security just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They can track my purchases all they want with my extra care card info, but this has just gone waaaaay too far.
Put them all in one app like Google does with Android Pay. You can put your credit cards, reward/loyalty cards, and gift cards all in the same app.
Processing cash payments has costs too - in some cases greater than credit payments.
Here is my utter lack of surprise. 
Let's face it, contactless support in the US will never be as good as elsewhere; the retail and card environment here basically discourages it. For one thing, retailers hate that people have credit cards at all and would rather we all use cash--or debit cards if they absolutely must. They're not going to enable something that might cause more people to use cards. In fact, chip cards work in their favor because they're frustrating enough that people are switching back to cash.
Secondly, there are a whole lot of businesses out there that don't have anything customer-facing, like restaurants. And will still not have anything customer-facing even with chip since chip and signature basically doesn't require it. Good luck trying to use Apple Pay at a place like that.
Finally, there's the whole data collection aspect. Apple Pay requires opt-in and retailers really hate that. They'd rather have it opt-out because the vast majority of people never will. Hence these separate apps. (Selling the data to others also helps to negate some of the swipe fees.)
IMO, a fair number of places will probably never enable it until credit card swipe fees are as low as Europe's, if not lower.
* * *
That said, there have been reports of CVS working with AmEx and Apple Pay recently over in this thread. The fact that CVS released this doesn't necessarily preclude Apple Pay eventually being turned on for real.
Let's face it, contactless support in the US will never be as good as elsewhere; the retail and card environment here basically discourages it. For one thing, retailers hate that people have credit cards at all and would rather we all use cash--or debit cards if they absolutely must. They're not going to enable something that might cause more people to use cards. In fact, chip cards work in their favor because they're frustrating enough that people are switching back to cash.
Secondly, there are a whole lot of businesses out there that don't have anything customer-facing, like restaurants. And will still not have anything customer-facing even with chip since chip and signature basically doesn't require it. Good luck trying to use Apple Pay at a place like that.
Finally, there's the whole data collection aspect. Apple Pay requires opt-in and retailers really hate that. They'd rather have it opt-out because the vast majority of people never will. Hence these separate apps. (Selling the data to others also helps to negate some of the swipe fees.)
IMO, a fair number of places will probably never enable it until credit card swipe fees are as low as Europe's, if not lower.
* * *
That said, there have been reports of CVS working with AmEx and Apple Pay recently over in this thread. The fact that CVS released this doesn't necessarily preclude Apple Pay eventually being turned on for real.
So what you are trying to tell us is that you really like overpaying for everything just so you can use Apple Pay? Sounds logical.
Glad I switched jobs to a company that doesn't require the use of CVS. Used them for many years, but they don't support customer choice so we have switched to one of their competitors that does - RiteAid.
I agree that payment systems are becoming a nightmare. Even just using a card... we have a debit card that we use as credit. On half the terminals you have to hit the green key when it prompts for a PIN to use credit, and on half you have to hit the red key. Which means that basically every time you use your card you have to ask which. With Applepay, in most cases its all automatic. The exception is Best Buy that for some reason still takes you through the PIN prompt and requires signature... when using ApplePay.
I agree that payment systems are becoming a nightmare. Even just using a card... we have a debit card that we use as credit. On half the terminals you have to hit the green key when it prompts for a PIN to use credit, and on half you have to hit the red key. Which means that basically every time you use your card you have to ask which. With Applepay, in most cases its all automatic. The exception is Best Buy that for some reason still takes you through the PIN prompt and requires signature... when using ApplePay.
I don't disagree, but lately I've gone back to cash and to be honest, its pretty good. I was a staunch "card only" buyer for the last 10 years or so. But having cash on hand is safer and more convenient (at least for me).
I won't deny its being outdated, but for me, I'm back to using cash again.
Such fools, CVS had working remote payment operating and turned it off (on purpose) shortly after Applepay was released - I actually used Applepay a time or two at CVS prior to them turning it off. They still have the same payment hardware at the store near me.
Just going to Meijer instead who gladly accepts ApplePay, even at the gas pumps.
I'd be doing cash all the time except for the % I get back that's keeping me on a card (and ApplePay as much as possible). No tracking your life with cash either.
People don't realize how vulnerable we're becoming as a society with everything becoming digital only (Hello Delta Airlines). The old interbank lending system (banks use this to transfer money between themselves) has been hacked for money twice. If someone hacked it to just disable it though - so no bank knew what they were owed or owing or where they clients account totals should be - then our banks / ATMs / Credit Card service would just go down for a week or 3 while trying to sort that out. Talk about a crisis.
Its probably a good idea to have a good backup pile of cash (a months worth of expenses) at home just for insurance.
Just going to Meijer instead who gladly accepts ApplePay, even at the gas pumps.
I'd be doing cash all the time except for the % I get back that's keeping me on a card (and ApplePay as much as possible). No tracking your life with cash either.
People don't realize how vulnerable we're becoming as a society with everything becoming digital only (Hello Delta Airlines). The old interbank lending system (banks use this to transfer money between themselves) has been hacked for money twice. If someone hacked it to just disable it though - so no bank knew what they were owed or owing or where they clients account totals should be - then our banks / ATMs / Credit Card service would just go down for a week or 3 while trying to sort that out. Talk about a crisis.
Its probably a good idea to have a good backup pile of cash (a months worth of expenses) at home just for insurance.
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It's one thing for them to make an in-app proprietary payment system available -- good for them. But to deny the use of competing payment systems is simply bad business. I live near a CVS but give most of my business to a slightly more remote Walgreen's, simply because CVS makes it difficult for me to be a customer.
On the other hand, I attended an event where the food truck actually ran out of cash and could only process cards.
I desire pervasive Apple Pay just as much as the next guy, but I think the rampant dismissal of this solution is short sighted. I have worked at CVS/pharmacy for 5 years now, 2 in Front Store, and 3 in Pharmacy. I can tell you that CVS' app hasn't always been useful, but over the past year its become something really great. No, it doesn't implement new iOS paradigms or features. Yes, it comes across as a poorly designed web app with mismatched colors and pixelated graphics. But for the customers who use it, it works great. It is finally starting to become the rich in-store experience Apple pitched years ago. We have iBeacons in our stores (pilot), customers have a place to manage their digital coupons, and prescriptions. And the single barcode solution is great! Customers are already used to scanning for their Extracare Card, so adding functionality on top of that is like icing on the cake for them. To many, it may not seem like a fast form of payment, but if you consider all of the other steps it streamlines (asking for patient, dob, # of prescriptions, signing for prescription, coupons, etc). When it comes to security, the perception that the barcode is static is a false one; it is dynamic. This solution has merit and function. It may not be what you are looking for, but for it is what thousands are looking for. I don't think this solution or Apple Pay have to be mutually exclusive, and I would love to see Apple Pay within the app - something previewed at WWDC. I hope every can keep an open mind about this!