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

[avanpelt]

MCX will be still-born when consumers find out that:

1. They have to grant authority to debit their checking account.
2. They have to provide their Social Security number AND their driver's license number for "verification".
3. Their bank won't refund disputed withdrawals, and it will be up to the merchant to resolve it.

http://support.currentc.com/#Account-Maintenance

Not to mention that according to that page, if you want to remove your checking account from CurrentC, you have to pick up the phone and call them. What a load of bull. If I want to remove a card from Apple Pay, I can do it right in Passbook in seconds.

CurrentC is DOA and MCX knows it. They're just grasping at straws now by all of sudden enforcing these contracts and getting some of their partners to turn off NFC capability.

 

[Sassers]

I still believe this is about Apple for many posting in this thread. I'm sure I'll also use ApplePay too. But I probably won't hang myself if someplace I shop doesn't support it and I won't change my shopping habits over it.

For me it is and it isn't. Until ApplePay started being discussed, I had no idea there were possibilities that more secure CC transactions were possible. Now that I know (and have experienced the quickness of ApplePay) I'm annoyed that other merchants are going out of their way to disable it for their own scheme.

If given the choice of payment methods at competing merchants, I will choose the NFC supporting merchant, not because it's Apple Pay, but because now I know it's more secure.

 

[tmiw]

I'm guessing the majority will continue to shop at CVS.

The majority of posters in this thread or in general?

 

[caesarp]

I still believe this is about Apple for many posting in this thread. I'm sure I'll also use ApplePay too. But I probably won't hang myself if someplace I shop doesn't support it and I won't change my shopping habits over it.

The fact that you are okay with a big middle finger from CVS is great, But not the point of this thread. Most like choice. Including in payment options.

 

[iapplelove]

I'm guessing the majority will continue to shop at CVS.

CVS stock is at an all time high such a small amount of sales from apple pay customers it won't effect them. CVS corporate is located in my small state of RI so they are everywhere here.

The money they will lose in tobacco sales alone dwarfs the small amount of NFC loss.

 

[rish]

https://whenthingsgopop.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/retailers-vs-apple-pay-the-stupidest-industry-war/

This blogpost captures my sentiments exactly. It is a stupid industry war that I can't see MCX winning.

Good find. Reposting.

https://whenthingsgopop.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/retailers-vs-apple-pay-the-stupidest-industry-war/

 

[Keirasplace]

True or not, what else would Tim Cook say? He knows a battle is coming. And his company stands to make money hand over fist with Apple Pay.

If Apple makes that much money at 0.15%, then everybody wins (except the retailers).

Also, 0.15% is for Credit Card payments, debit payment transaction fees are usually not a percentage, but a fixed fee. Wonder how much of a cut Apple would take from that? 3 cents per transactions? I've got a trouble believing MCX is cheaper for consumers than a debit transaction straight from my account that costs me generally nothing (I've got unlimited number of transactions per month) and costs the merchant 30 cents (which can be much much lower than CC for transactions above $10).

----------

CVS stock is at an all time high such a small amount of sales from apple pay customers it won't effect them. CVS corporate is located in my small state of RI so they are everywhere here.

The money they will lose in tobacco sales alone dwarfs the small amount of NFC loss.

That's what Nokia said 5 days into the original Iphone launch... No sweat... All those stores are virtually the same CVS, Rite Aid, Wallgreen. If you make one of them different by offering something people want, it can have a big impact eventually. Also, those stores run on small profit margins, its not like they can afford to lose 3-5% of people just like that.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Not to mention that according to that page, if you want to remove your checking account from CurrentC, you have to pick up the phone and call them. What a load of bull. If I want to remove a card from Apple Pay, I can do it right in Passbook in seconds.

CurrentC is DOA and MCX knows it. They're just grasping at straws now by all of sudden enforcing these contracts and getting some of their partners to turn off NFC capability.

I would assume it is so they can verify you don't have pending transactions against the account before it's removal.

I'm thankful for the thread. I'm reviewing in my brain a lot of things I have ignored and just accepted. It is forcing me to review my financial "stuff" to end up where I wan to be security and privacy wise. I see more cash in my future coupled with my Apple Pay (which I haven't used yet).

 

[techpr]

Wow over 2000 coments on this stupid post

How stupid is to scan a QR Code (that sometimes cameras don't read) and show it to the cashiers to complete the transaction.

Better pay with cash.

 

[iapplelove]

That's what Nokia said 5 days into the original Iphone launch... No sweat... All those stores are virtually the same CVS, Rite Aid, Wallgreen. If you make one of them different by offering something people want, it can have a big impact eventually. Also, those stores run on small profit margins, its not like they can afford to lose 3-5% of people just like that.

I think the situation is a little different with Nokia than with CVS. I understand you're applying the same logic which is fine but CVS isn't nokia. CVS is a pretty shrewd company that will spite their own face to make a point aka stopping the sales of tobacco etc. lol they don't care about NFC payments at the moment clearly.

 

[Trius]

Disable NFC and inconvenience your customers and you tell them what? Oh, yes perfect time to introduce you're own payment option that isn't here until next year. Morons.

 

[r.harris1]

I can see using Apple Pay if available, and credit cards if not. But sorry...CurrentC isn't at all enticing. Plus, retailers haven't given me warm fuzzies about being able to maintain my financial data without letting all and sundry in for a peek. I got whacked by both Target and Home Depot having to replace cards twice over in a year. That's a lot of hassle. So retailers and a consortium of retailers isn't my idea of security, which I value over any perceived savings using CurrentC.

And let's face it, the savings handed out across their entire consumer base of CurrentC users is most assuredly not going to be higher than the fees they pay credit card companies, otherwise it would defeat the purpose.

Why would I give up what I perceive to be better security, a definitely better experience (point, touch, go, essentially), credit card points, just so Walmart, Rite Aid or Sears (Sears?) can stick it to Visa/MC?

The choice of payment the stores get from me is either Apple Pay or straight-up Credit Card, so they will be paying credit card fees on my purchases regardless.

 

[lowepg]

But I probably won't hang myself if someplace I shop doesn't support it

Hyperbole much?

I won't change my shopping habits over it.

You may not, but I suspect some will.

I will.

I mean, who REALLY cared whether they went to CVS, RiteAid or Walgreens? I never did.... there was usually one on every other corner. Id go to the one with the easiest turn off the road I was on.

However, NOW there *IS* a differentiating feature between all the vanilla Rx stores...,

It might be a blip, but it might be much bigger.

 

[HEK]

Except that the store employees have no say over whether or not they can turn on the NFC terminals. I guarantee you that anybody who could actually make such a decision will never know you did that. So what did you really accomplish?

When it comes down to it, you're doing more harm than good. On a smaller scale, that includes this thread. You've given ammo to the seething Apple haters that are just dying to spin this whole NFC thing into something that makes Apple look bad. And really, if what you're doing becomes commonplace, who can blame them?

Oh so you think the higher ups won't here about it if it becomes common place? They will be informed rite quick.

 

[DaveN]

See how hard it is to do that!

I've also learned that most people that use the statement, "that is a fact," should listen to Inigo Montoya.

I don't get it. I didn't know who Inigo Montoya was so I read the Wikipedia page about him. I still don't get it.

p.s. 4000 is far away...

 

[Keirasplace]

I believe the highest fees are from debit/credit cards attached to a bank account, that also say Visa/MC on them. Over 4% vs AmEx's 3.5%. (plus a per transaction fee, probably negligible as a %) "Regular" Visa fees are below 2%.

Debit transactions, at least in Canada, are a fixed fee, not a percentage. For small transactions, the fee would be less for credit and debit : for more than $10, debit is less expensive for the merchant.

 

[HEK]

MCX will be still-born when consumers find out that:

1. They have to grant authority to debit their checking account.
2. They have to provide their Social Security number AND their driver's license number for "verification".
3. Their bank won't refund disputed withdrawals, and it will be up to the merchant to resolve it.

http://support.currentc.com/#Account-Maintenance

Holy sxxx, what don't they wanna know? This is way worse than I origionally suspected. How are we sure the NSA isn't behind this somewhere. I'm sticking to cash and when they ask for my zip code or phone number, I tell me no way in hxxx. The medical data part is especially spooky. Why does currentc need medical info. That's just plain wrong!

 

[ptb42]

I don't get it. I didn't know who Inigo Montoya was so I read the Wikipedia page about him. I still don't get it.

The character (portrayed by Mandy Patinkin) is famous for this catch phrase:

"You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means".

I believe the OP's point was that when most claim what they wrote is a "fact", it really is an opinion.

 

[iChrist]

2) Retailers DO NOT give a cut of anything to Apple. They pay the same cc fee that they did before Apple Pay.

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.

 

[StyxMaker]

That whole thing about Apple providing a similar service. Remember all the web browsers that were blocked? They don't do that anymore.

It's Apple's store, they don't have to have a reason for not approving an app. Just like they don't have to have a reason for not selling Samsung phones in their retail stores.

 

[Plutonius]

Knowing Apple the fees for Apple Pay are sky high.

Please read up on it before you post your assumptions. The credit card companies pay Apple a percentage from their own fees. It doesn't cost the merchant any more then they normally pay for credit card transactions. The credit card companies are willing to pay a percentage to Apple because how secure an Apple pay transaction is.

 

[ptb42]

Instead, small businesses are standing up for themselves and creating a payment method without fees.

The credit card fees paid by merchants yield at least the following benefits to merchants:

1. Many consumers spend more money when using a credit card, vs. cash or check. Any small businessman already knows this.
2. If the consumer doesn't pay their credit card bill, the merchant doesn't have to refund the money they received.
3. Merchants are also protected from fraud, although there are certain circumstances where the bank will do a chargeback anyway.

This is what the merchant gets for the fee. Compared to check fraud, it's a minimal amount. The merchant also doesn't have to handle a lot of cash, which introduces a whole different set of security problems.

 

[diamond.g]

So has anyone using Apple Pay looked at their receipt to see if the last 4 of the card number change with every use?

 

[AllieNeko]

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.

Really? Walmart is a small business? MCX/CurrentC is lead by an executive from Walmart and it's mostly their brainchild.

 

[HEK]

The angle you're both ignoring is that when MCX was founded by Walmart, there wasn't really a movement towards NFC that was significant in any way. The idea was to beat the CC companies to the mobile payment market and make their system the defacto standard, thus cutting out the CC companies, and so while they envisioned that they would still accept credit cards, the idea was to make it so that the majority of transactions eventually would be through CurrentC thus saving them lots on transaction fees.

Now that Apple is leading the charge with a solution that uses standard NFC that is superior both in terms of privacy and security, one that threatens to turn the tables and instead lock out the merchant instead of the opposite, which MCX had planned, there is obviously a panic moment going on as MCX realises it missed its opportunity as the CC companies, with the help of Apple, have not only caught up, but flew past them.

In an alternate universe where CurrentC was launched in vanilla flavor without all the data collection, say 24 months ago, it had a decent chance of gaining traction, and they could have added on all of their beloved data collection in software updates as usage reached a critical mass. Services like Facebook and to an extent, PayPal, Ebay, etc. took this approach. Offer something for free with no strings attached in the beginning, and then layer on the ads, data collection, fees, etc. after users are hooked in. NFC in the US, and as a result Apple Pay, might have been on the back foot in that case.

As it is, it is going to be very difficult for CurrentC to get any sort of momentum going. Even with some of the big retailers there, they only list half the total retail locations that Apple Pay, and by extension, Google Wallet, SoftPay, etc can be used at now. It could be 3 times the number of locations by the time CurrentC launches. It could be even worse as there will no doubt be a defector or two from MCX before the launch date as one or two BoD's recognize the traction NFC and Apple Pay get during the next 6 months before CurrentC is launched.

That's how I see it anyway.

Very good analysis of the situation. It definitely appears that Google pay system did not seem to threaten. But Apple Pay certainly does. If they would have left it alone, continued to allow NFC transactions, there would not have been such a backlash. Nor such widespread research into currentc. My gut tells me this is a Walmart bully move. But I think they may have shot themselves in the MCX foot.