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

[ReallyBigFeet]

Too long of a thread to read all of this, but MCX is a chain based consortium. To join up, you had to promise to exclude all other mobile payment models OTHER than MCX. The premise was that mobile was the next tier in credit card payments, and the retailers who made the consortium were trying to build a defense against rising credit card fees and governance that was built on their backs while making the banks and credit card companies richer. So they were actually trying to fight for lower rates (or perhaps higher profits for themselves, depending on how you look at this).

Their response is a predicted plan of MCX. They are trying to hold the line. Interesting to see if they can do so for long...I'm betting they blink hard and fast once they realize that they are losing business to others.

Retailers need to understand that they are all commodities now. There is nothing on shelf at RiteAid or CVS I can't get elsewhere, unless I'm on a fixed income with limited transportation and that's the only store I can walk to/shop at. But that's not an Apple customer anyways since they aim for a higher/younger demographic.

 

[Rogifan]

Obviously wrong

Not really. If they didn't think Pay was about to take off in a big way they wouldn't have shut this off now.

 

[cjmillsnun]

You sure told them! Walgreen's will probably hold off for a month, or two. Then follow suit and drop applepay. Gotcha!

I doubt it. Walgreens paid to advertise themselves on Apple's website as supporting Apple Pay.

 

[caesarp]

Not really. If they didn't think Pay was about to take off in a big way they wouldn't have shut this off now.

Yes. This move shows only fear and insecurity. If CrappyC Was so great, why can't it exist with NFC payments too. Cause they know it sux in comparison.

 

[Max(IT)]

What really really amuse me is how the most vocal Pay complainers here are "incidentally" the most known iDevices basher of the forum

 

[JAT]

Darn it, I just watched the videos of how Apple Pay works on YouTube and it's much easier than I thought. Only problem is that I really want to use it now on my shiny new iPhone 6 but it's US only at launch. Hope we don't have to wait too long.

Hey, at least you already have added security in your system. The USA systems' lack of it has sucked balls for years.

And it's the bs like CVS and RiteAid are pulling that probably make it a good idea for Apple to "roll" it out instead of attempting to flip the switch worldwide on one day.

 

[KPOM]

Android users were using technology no one cared about until Apple started using it, so they are kinda miffed that they are getting the shaft as well.



I wonder how many here really believe that NFC == EMV, because it isn't.

Also, is the last 4 when you make an Apple Pay payment (using the same card) the same or does it change?

On the other hand, because Apple made the general public more aware of NFC payments, it's reasonable to assume that it could make the technology even more prevalent.

 

[ptb42]

CrappyC Will attract some low end only care about the ultimate price customers, which isn't sustainable.

I think it will also appeal to some people that don't use credit cards, either by choice or because they don't qualify for credit cards.

But I agree with you: they are the low end, with respect to economic demographics. It's not a sustainable business model, except perhaps for Wal-Mart.

 

[wordoflife]

I don't know how accurate this is, but I read that CurrentC works by using your bank account. So retailers aren't hit with swipe fees and consumers lose the benefits (protection/rewards) of their credit cards.

No way in hell I'm handing over my bank account information like that.


I can see why they don't like ApplePay at all. It is the complete opposite of what they want. ApplePay offers an extremely secure and anonymous way for consumers to pay for their goods.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

I've seen that tactic used before. It would kill visa and MasterCard. Retailers would just refuse to accept their cards at all. It's happened every time a credit card got pushy.

There's still businesses in my town that never returned to permitting credit cards after a prior round of strong arming. And they are even more profitable now and have been for years operating on a cash basis.

The cash only stores in town are the best prices and value in town.

I say let visa and MasterCard try their best to force Apple Pay. It'll burn them like it always has.

When was this prior round of strong-arming? Do you live in Podunk, NoWhere? Seems to me the payment networks won the last round, whenever it was, because they're bigger and stronger than ever before and command an ever increasing percentage of of total consumer transactions every year.

You're seriously telling me that a large, international retailer like Walmart could survive suddenly not accepting Visa/MC???? You must realize you're way off base, right?

Maybe in the scale of your little rural hamlet this works well. I mean the little antique shop on the corner, the bait shop down the street, and the hardware/sundries market on the main drag probably do just fine, because what are people in your village going to do? Drive 30 miles to the next town to use their Visa?

RiteAid, CVS, Walmart, etc do in fact need to accept Visa/MC to continue to thrive and grow.

 

[markyr17]

I don't know how accurate this is, but I read that CurrentC works by using your bank account. So retailers aren't hit with swipe fees and consumers lose the benefits (protection/rewards) of their credit cards.

No way in hell I'm handing over my bank account information like that.


I can see why they don't like ApplePay at all. It is the complete opposite of what they want. ApplePay offers an extremely secure and anonymous way for consumers to pay for their goods.

Which is why us, as consumers, need to vote with our wallets. If we don't like the way they're doing things, SHOP SOMEWHERE ELSE!

I know I will be.

 

[cmaier]

It does NOT prevent from using your chipped cards. You have to insert them into the reader. It only prevents contactless NFC payments.

When you insert them into the reader it is reading the mag stripe, not the chip.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

I don't know how accurate this is, but I read that CurrentC works by using your bank account. So retailers aren't hit with swipe fees and consumers lose the benefits (protection/rewards) of their credit cards.

No way in hell I'm handing over my bank account information like that.


I can see why they don't like ApplePay at all. It is the complete opposite of what they want. ApplePay offers an extremely secure and anonymous way for consumers to pay for their goods.

This is exactly the reaction I'm talking about. CurrentC will never get off the ground for tis reason alone.

 

[flyinmac]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2014/06/04/apples-u-s-iphone-market-share-holding-steady/

Image

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-v-android-market-share-2014-5

Proving nothing. Market share of the iPhone has no correlation to the inaccurate assumption that 10% of cvs customers are iphone 6 users.

Unattainable goal.

According to your chart, approx 50% of the smartphone market is apple (at best). Now not even half of the established users are iPhone 6 users. Probably not even a quarter.

Either way, 10% of cvs customers being iPhone 6 users is unobtainable because first off, not everyone who shops there has a cell phone. Of those who do have a cell phone, not all of them are smart phones (remember that their primary volume goes to elderly meds), now of the portion that have smart phones, they might at best be 40 to 50 percent apple. And now we're already talking an insignificant portion of their customer base. Now let's reduce that further to what portion of those customers have an iPhone 6, and now we're really down there. Now let's reduce it to the portion who are obsessed freaks, and we're really really really down there.

You will never affect 10% of cvs sales with your tiny iPhone 6 campaign.

To this day, I have yet to see anyone owning an iPhone 6. I've seen them in stores. That's it. But I see a lot of 5 and 4 models around town.

 

[Bob Sanders]

Not that it makes any odds to me since I use an iPhone 5 and don't live in the US - but why would this conglomeration of merchants want to abandon NFC? If the branded 'Apple Pay' is just a regular NFC payment system, then why are retails getting scared that Apple will bulldoze them like they did the music industry?

Perhaps it's just a lot of old suits who are too scared because they don't know how NFC works and want to make their own?

Because Apple is anonymizing the credit card data. The MCX retailers want to track what every customer buys across all of the MCX retailers. MCX has nothing to do with saving money on fees.

 

[Max(IT)]

Doesn't apple do the same thing?
Bose for Beats for instance.
Can't use lawsuits as a reason since the still use Samsung as a supplier

Last time I checked you still can use Bose devices on any Apple product.

 

[cjmillsnun]

When you insert them into the reader it is reading the mag stripe, not the chip.

wrong.

I've been using Chip and PIN since 2006. when you push the card into the reader it is reading the chip.

 

[ptb42]

Yes it sux. Plus they need your SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER and drivers license number to add an account to CurrentC. Read here and weep:

http://support.currentc.com

Holy crap. That's a good catch -- thanks for pointing that out.

That alone will kill MCX. Only complete idiots (or people that have really bad credit) will provide that information.

 

[dukeblue219]

Can't you opt out of Obamacare and get free market healthcare?

You do realize there is no health plan called Obamacare right? That it's basically a system setup to increase competition and allow consumers to choose from multiple health plans where previously they had few or no choices, particularly if they had preexisting conditions?

There are plenty of things wrong with the ACA... but it IS NOT a type of health insurance. It is a system of regulations and subsidies but the actual plans are still provided on the "free market." If the previous poster is locked in to CVS because of Obamacare it means they picked a crappy plan from their exchange.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

I think it will also appeal to some people that don't use credit cards, either by choice or because they don't qualify for credit cards.

But I agree with you: they are the low end, with respect to economic demographics. It's not a sustainable business model, except perhaps for Wal-Mart.

Not even for Walmart. Even people that don't use credit cards use debit cards with Visa/MC on them, and lots of those are able to be used with NFC payments, either Apple Pay or GoogleWallet, SoftPay, etc.

 

[JAT]

Only contact info? As if that's reassuring?

Oh, come on Sam. You can't put a positive spin on that? As compared to the Target fiasco? Your bias throughout this thread is hilarious. I would think you'd be thrilled that the hackers stole contact info, I'm assuming marketers will be buying it under the table in droves.

 

[iososx]

Wow. You are sooooo wrong:

First off personalizing this, attacking me as wrong is very immature.

I simply posted, just like we all do, observations and thoughts. You've failed as you cannot anger me.

"If I’m reading this right, and I think I am, these retailers who are shutting down their NFC payment systems are validating that Apple Pay is actually working, that people are actually using it. And remember ember, it only works with the month-old iPhones 6. Think about what happens a year or two from now when a majority of iPhones in use are Apple Pay enabled.

At no time did I say why they're shutting it down other than to say it didn't work for them.

Think about what they’re doing. They’re turning off NFC payment systems — the whole thing — only because people were actually using them with Apple Pay. Apple Pay works so well that it even works with non-partner systems. These things have been installed for years and so few people used them, apparently, that these retailers would rather block everyone than allow Apple Pay to continue working. I can’t imagine a better validation of Apple Pay’s appeal.

And the reason they don’t want to allow Apple Pay is because Apple Pay doesn’t give them any personal information about the customer. It’s not about security — Apple Pay is far more secure than any credit/debit card system in the U.S. It’s not about money — Apple’s tiny slice of the transaction comes from the banks, not the merchants. It’s about data.

They’re doing this so they can pursue a system that is less secure (third-party apps don’t have access to the secure element where Apple Pay stores your credit card data, for one thing), less convenient (QR codes?), and not private.

I don’t know that CVS and Rite Aid disabling Apple Pay out of spite is going to drive customers to switch pharmacies (Walgreens is an Apple Pay partner), but I do know that CurrentC is unlikely to ever gain any traction whatsoever."

It appears based on what you've written you are guessing and assuming. Sadly you're misleading yourself.

I'd encourage you to educate yourself on this topic. Spreading FUD makes you look clueless.

 

[Jimmy James]

Exactly, not all cvs customers have iPhones. This other system will work eith every smart phone.

I have a tap to pay credit card. I don't need to look for a system. Why do I need a system if I add said card to apple pay?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Ummm. You DONT understand The issue. People are not upset at places that don't implement it. There are Thousands Of such places. People are upset where the capability exists but where it was taken away purposely and solely to thwart ALL NFC payments, including Apple Pay. And to promote a system that doesn't exist yet and is clearly worse. That's why. Now do you get it? Or do you just want to pretend you do so you can post holier than thou responses?

It's not about using credit cards or cash, it's about a dick move by a retailer.

As I said, if Apple wasn't involved, I doubt there would be an uproar about it.

 

[mlenger]

Selling personal data

I wonder if CurrentC is collecting all the data they can out of the transaction. we know Apple does not and the retailer does not even know your name. So CurrentC might pull a facebook and sell they personal data they do collect allowing them to have a lower transaction fee and collecting money from selling the data.
if that's the case I hope Apple Pay wins out, because I like privacy.