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CVS Stores Reportedly Disabling NFC to Shut Down Apple Pay and Google Wallet

s2mikey said:
What about the fact that there are fees involved that CVS and other companies have to pay to take apple pay? Maybe they don't want to suck those up? Maybe there are other reasons? Perhaps there is more infrastructure maintainence required?

And, you phone people.... Do you have to use those dumb things for everything and anything? Get a wallet and relax. :D
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You might want to read up on Apple Pay. Apple is payed by the credit card companies out of a portion of the credit card transaction fee and not by the stores.
 
rdlink said:
Every company is, as part of its overall competitive strategy going to do things that make it harder for other companies to compete with them.

But what we have here is a couple of companies who have removed a service they previously offered to their customers (NFC payments) in an area that is not even core to their business. And one has to ask why.

It's pretty obvious to me that they are doing it only because they want to keep Apple Pay at bay until they can put their own substandard and less private payment method (my opinion) in place.

It's sneaky, nefarious and sleazy. And I refuse to reward them for it.

I would be interested to hear from you an example of Apple attempting to stifle competition when it's not a part of their core business. Seriously, because I know you often have a more measured and objective view than many who post on this site.
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I don't know if it's sneaky nefarious and sleazy. In cold business terms it's likely complying with the terms and conditions set forth when they signed up with MCX...namely not allowing another mobile platform to compete.

Now granted, if this was the case, CVS/RA should have pulled it previously when when they were allowing Google wallet transactions. Their misstep was waiting until after Apple Pay launched and it was potentially gaining momentum.

I still think the higher ups and CVS were grimacing when they had to pull access. They were bound by contract to do it, but they knew there would be backlash. (Though they probably underestimated how much it would be.)

Now they've dragged the whole MCX/CurrentC mess front and center. I'm sure there are many CEO's from those companies questioning the ROI of their investment and regret their 3 year commitment. In its current form MCX/CurrentC and using QR codes looks DOA.

Best case for most of them is their company stays out of the limelight and cc fees get reduced (although it likely won't be as a result of MCX as much as pushing for reduced costs to do the improved standards of 2015) and customers eventually use whatever option they want at their store.
 
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Very, Very dumb on their part! This is ridiculous. We finally have a secure way of using NFC and these idiots go and disable it! They sure as hell didn't waste anytime, as Apple Pay hasn't been out a month yet.
 
NorEaster said:
Do you feel the same way about Apple removing Bose products from their retail stores?

Or how about Apple rejecting/banning apps that provide links to their own apps stores (e.g. Aple rejecting Amazon's Kindle app since it linked to Amazon's own store)?

I guess when Apple makes rules to eliminate competitors in their own store (which they have every right to do), it's OK. When anyone else does it, it's time for all of us fanatics to bash them and claim they are stifling competition :rolleyes:
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See my other posts on the subject. I'll digest them for you: In my view it is okay for a company to legally make it harder on their competition in areas that are core to their business.

But what these companies are doing is removing a service that was previously offered to their customers, only to stifle Apple Pay, which is an area that is not core to their business. And you have to ask why. What is their end game? It's pretty obvious to me that they see us, the customer as a resource for their own financial gains that I didn't sign up for. I walk into a drug store to buy a tube of toothpaste, a bottle of ibuprofen and a box of extra large condoms (sorry, that was too easy). By doing so I don't agree to become a data source to that business, and I will not reward them for attempting to pierce my attempts to thwart their data gathering. Period.

Regarding your two examples, I think the Bose thing is kind of silly, if not somewhat justified. There is more to this than just Apple "removing Bose headphones from their store." The Bose/NFL marketing deal, and the subsequent fining of players for wearing Beats headphones was a shot over the bow of a core business of Apple.

The fact about the Kindle app is that it has not been rejected from the Apple store. In fact, I have it on all of my devices. What happened, in reality is that Amazon did not want to pay the contractual 30% fee that Apple charges all of it's developers for in app sales, so Apple made them remove the ability to buy from within the App. And Amazon is not really the poster child you want to pick when you start talking about competitive hijinks....
 
Cuban Missles said:
Oh and by the way. I went to an apple store today and bought a new iPad air 2. Tried to pay with Apple Pay (I mean i am at an Apple store, right?) and the guy say of course they accept Apple Pay. 60 seconds later he admits he has no idea how to do it and I end up paying with plastic.

The road is long my friends. Very long.
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Went back on Sunday to get my wife her iPad Air 2 (after seeing mine she just had to have one too). Well, again I asked if I could pay with my Apple Pay and again they said yes. This time it worked perfectly with no issues.

Glad to see they have figured this out. For me, of course, Apple pretty much has all my money ;-)
 
Cuban Missles said:
Went back on Sunday to get my wife her iPad Air 2 (after seeing mine she just had to have one too). Well, again I asked if I could pay with my Apple Pay and again they said yes. This time it worked perfectly with no issues.

Glad to see they have figured this out. For me, of course, Apple pretty much has all my money ;-)
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Off topic: Did you get WiFi or LTE enabled?

Both of my last two iPads (One I sold. The other I gave to my ex-girlfriend) have been LTE. But I'm thinking that with handoff/continuity it will be super easy to grab my iPhone's LTE signal with a WiFi model, and not have to pay for either buying the LTE device or having it connected to my carrier.
 
MattInOz said:
I'm sure by iOS9 Apple will have solved the customer data thing by upgrading Passbook to include NFC based loyalty cards.

Also do credit card transaction really cost more?
If your a large chain it's not like you can pay your suppliers or staff with the cash you hold in the till. Not to mention over time your loose change is going to turn in to large notes that aren't much use to you till you bank them. Factor in time to deal the bank, security and the like and cash isn't free by any means.
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Yes, you still have to process some cash transactions, so you have to deposit cash every night somewhere. Doing more cash each night isn't going to make that cost increase. Not compared to paying 3% to the credit card companies.

These companies have a two fold plan. First, avoid the 3% charge to credit card companies and second get more customer data so they can target ads betters. Apple Pay lowers their access to data but keeps them paying to the credit card companies. And possibly to higher fees charged by Apple to the credit card companies. If Apple Pay works as well as it seems to work and is as secure as it seems to be, then I will use it over credit card or cash whenever possible. So if everyone supports Apple Pay, then I will use it on every transaction where there is a convenient point of sale to use it. If others are like me then this will mean many transactions going through Apple Pay. That is a considerable amount of power for one company to have. So it may be good that some companies are taking a stand now, even if it is clumsy and inconvenient how they are doing it.
 
iososx said:
Apple Pay has no traction.

You'll feel better as a result of sending your missive, but it'll be too little too late. Target, Rite Aide, Walgreens, CVS, Sears, Walmart, Best Buy, Kmart, 7 Eleven and others have swiftly reacted to the Apple Pay situation, it's problems, complications, and walked away. The last thing these retailers need is to be unwittingly drug into a payment system abyss.

If it should be proven that there's some merit, some advantage to Apple Pay, I would think they might revisit it in another few years. Apple has staying power, there's no rush to implement Apple Pay. By taking time to review what went wrong and how it might me fixed, will be a very good lesson for Apple.

Look how easily Apple ignored it's loyal customers for two years, preventing them from having the 5.5" display they wanted so badly. The temporary failure of Apple Pay won't affect Apple.

This is Apples game, in Apples ball park. They'll continue to do what they want, when they want, and customers will praise them for it. All is well :)
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Walgreens endorsed Apple Pay. As far Apple ignoring users go, Apple needed its new processors to power the displays it wanted to use. Tests show the competition's offerings stall on graphic intensive operations.
 
iososx said:
Apple Pay has no traction.

You'll feel better as a result of sending your missive, but it'll be too little too late. Target, Rite Aide, Walgreens, CVS, Sears, Walmart, Best Buy, Kmart, 7 Eleven and others have swiftly reacted to the Apple Pay situation, it's problems, complications, and walked away. The last thing these retailers need is to be unwittingly drug into a payment system abyss.

If it should be proven that there's some merit, some advantage to Apple Pay, I would think they might revisit it in another few years. Apple has staying power, there's no rush to implement Apple Pay. By taking time to review what went wrong and how it might me fixed, will be a very good lesson for Apple.

Look how easily Apple ignored it's loyal customers for two years, preventing them from having the 5.5" display they wanted so badly. The temporary failure of Apple Pay won't affect Apple.

This is Apples game, in Apples ball park. They'll continue to do what they want, when they want, and customers will praise them for it. All is well :)
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:apple:Pay basic system is not new at all. It's just the most secure way to use NFC payment process. Period.
And some of these stores have completely turned OFF their NFC payment terminals that won't work with Google Wallet, PayPass or others.

----------

And these CurrentC merchants want DIRECT ACCESS to my BANK ACCOUNT !!

You can't use a credit card.
 
Gutwrench said:
Thank you.
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Here is for Rite Aid:

https://www.riteaid.com/customer-support/contact-us

I agree that we need to comment directly on these sites, not just here. I cannot understand why a retail establishment would want to disable any valid method of payment that's already in place, especially one that could be utilized by millions of customers.

I suggest we also need to comment on the web sites of other retail locations that currently don't accept Apple Pay, to indicate the volume of customers that would utilize it. I do realize that for those that do not already have the technology in place, it is an expense to get this rolled out to retail stores. So in those cases we just have to be patient and let them know of our interest.
 
Sonmi451 said:
I don't think you understand how the world works. Also you speak horrible Canadian.
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I am sorry that English is not my first language and I do not recall there is a language called Canadian.

I seriously do not care about Apple Pay. If they accept it, that is great. If they do not, then I will pay with my credit card. Simple is that. I also do not think many people would care also. It is not like you aren't carrying your wallet anyway.

If you are so smart, please tell me how the world works.
 
sracer said:
Your suspicion would be wrong.

While people are losing it with outrage over CVS refusing NFC and Apply Pay they seem to forget that currently the largest retailer in the US refuses NFC and Apple Pay too.... Walmart.

That doesn't seem to generate the same outrage, why? ...because people with iPhone 6's already don't shop there? ;)
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Because the majority of WM's did not have NFC to turn OFF after a week. There are a handful that have it - I suspect they will be turned off too.

jpmd70 said:
But Target is part of MXC/CurrentC... Why haven't they turned off their NFC devices?
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Target has not ever turned theirs ON, so nothing to turn off. They are an Apple Pay *mobile* partner, not an in store partner.
 
lomipeau said:
See the following link to lodge a complaint to CVS:

http://www.cvs.com/help/email-customer-relations.jsp?callType=store&topicid=200018

They should know where the sudden dip in their next quarterly revenue report came from: outraged iPhone users! There are a lot of us out there and they should know it.
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Thank you, will do.

This isn't just iPhone folks either, anyone using their NFC (NFC credit cards, Google Wallet etc.) sales infrastructure should do so as well.
 
iChrist said:
Thank you for supporting my argument. You are correct, retailers pay the same credit card fee. Sticking with Apple Pay will lock them into this ridiculous fee.

Instead, small businesses are standing up for themselves and creating a payment method without fees. More profit and more jobs. I hope they succeed. :D

:apple:
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How in the hell do you expect them to succeed? I personally will not shop at a store that doesn't take regular plastic or Apple Pay. I certainly do not want to download an app and link my bank account or credit card account to it for every store I want to shop at.

How is a CC fee ridiculous? CC companies have put immense infrastructure in place so that business have a convenient way to take payment. If you really think removing this small fee makes up for the lost sales due to not accepting credit cards, I've got a bridge to sell you. Getting rid of CC fees would not bring any noticeable increase in profit OR jobs, and thinking it would is ridiculous.

Not to mention, no one is saying "stop developing your own solution!" We're merely saying give us the option to choose, rather than shutting down a right-now solution for one that isn't even live yet.
 
MisakixMikasa said:
I am sorry that English is not my first language and I do not recall there is a language called Canadian.

I seriously do not care about Apple Pay. If they accept it, that is great. If they do not, then I will pay with my credit card. Simple is that. I also do not think many people would care also. It is not like you aren't carrying your wallet anyway.

If you are so smart, please tell me how the world works.
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Not sure why you replied to me twice. That's weird.
 
First world, sense of entitlement problems are rife around here these days.

Stop whining and get on with your lives.

Especially the ones who think it's appropriate to intentionally fill a basket full of product and leave it at the counter when they tell you they won't take Apple Pay, when you already knew that. Immature twits. Stop making mountain out of a molehill and do something useful.
 
I just left a comment on their Facebook page. Looks like they are responding to people's comments. Not sure it will do much, but in this case, our complaints here will probably not be seen by CVS.
 
V.K. said:
This kind of BS is all the more reason why Apple should hurry up with introducing Apple Pay Outside US in countries where NFC is already ubiquitous.
They would have a much easier time of it.
In Canada NFC is everywhere and NOBODY would even think of trying to block it on existing terminals because it would block not just Apple Pay by everyone with NFC credit cards which is pretty much everybody now.
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While I support the nation of Apple Pay, and want it to succeed…. I would not want the introduction of AP to be "hurried up" in any place. There will be initial kinks and hiccups as we are already seeing with Bank of America. It's best to let the USA do the initial rollout for a few months, and to work out all the possible kinks, and once things are smoother then introduce it globally.
 
macduke said:
Late 2014: Rite-Aid and CVS stopped accepting Apple Pay
Late 2015: Use our corny sounding "CurrentC" system! Don't worry about it collecting your private info!
2016: Rite-Aid and CVS retail sales slipping behind competitors Walgreens and others that accept multiple payment systems because they actually want customers to buy things.
Early 2017: Data leak at Rite-Aid leaves customers information vulnerable, customers of CVS worried about their data as well
Mid-2017: CVS switches support for Apple Pay back on
Late 2017: After leaks and slumping sales, the CEO of Rite-Aid steps down, acknowledges removing support for Apple Pay was clearly the wrong choice and takes full responsibility. The damage has been done and Rite-Aid files for bankruptcy, closing more than half of their stores as they reorganize in key markets.
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I agree, perfect sequence of events. I am going to copy this to my notes and re- share it when your prediction comes true.
 
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