Grocery Store Chains Winn-Dixie and BI-LO Begin Accepting Apple Pay

[Gregg Thurman]

Google Wallet

News today is that Google is canceling Google Wallet for ONLINE purchases. Not a good thing for Google Wallet.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I abandoned Winn Dixie entirely because they make you use that stupid card to "save money". "Your pork chop is $8! But if you have this card, it's $6".

Publix just charges you what it says.

Every store here does that. It's something you're used to. No store allows you straight pricing unless it's mom and pop.

 

[deeddawg]

Question: Are any vendors that support Apple Pay limiting the size of the transaction

Not that I'm aware of, but my largest ApplePay transaction so far has been in the US$50 range.

I suspect there won't be a limit because you're authenticating via TouchID, unlike when using a contactless card.

 

[Sasparilla]

Is it a matter of just installing something or just installing/turning on some software for something they may already have? I live in the boonies.

If they already have NFC working (some credit/debit cards have it where you just move the card close to the terminal and it makes the payment - I've had it on my debit card for many years here in the U.S.) then they are good (no additional work needed from what I understand). Now to officially say its accepting Pay, the store chain may need to confirm certain things, but if they have NFC working, Pay should just work.

 

[VeryVito]

This is a fantastic move on both these stores' parts -- not because I use Apple Pay, but simply because I honestly didn't realize either store still existed until reading this coverage.

Winn-Dixie used to be everywhere around here, but I haven't seen one in over a decade now.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Google is just ending an API for some web based forms of Google wallet transactions. That isnt about the Apple Pay analogue. Typical Google though. Throw a heap of ideas around but don't support them, then lose interest and abandon stuff. Attention deficit syndrome in a mega company.

I hope Apple enables Apple Pay in Australia before Christmas. It would just work nearly everywhere.

Question: Are any vendors that support Apple Pay limiting the size of the transaction? I ask because in Australia if you just use tap to pay the limit is usually $100. But tap to pay only requires possession of a chipped credit card. There is no pin verification. To go over $100 you need to insert the credit card and use a pin.

I used Apple Pay to pay for a $214 Car repair; so no limits in the US on PayPass transactions.

They have Chip & PIN too, but why use that when there's Apple Pay!

 

[Wurm5150]

Stater Bros..a grocery store chain in Southern California takes Apple Pay..

 

[deeddawg]

Every store here does that.

Interesting. Publix in GA doesn't do the loyalty card thing for special pricing. That's one of the reasons I prefer them over Kroger. The others being the condition of the proximate stores and the strange complex "buy this with that in Fibonacci number quantities to get this price" that Kroger does sometimes. Just put me off I guess.

Unfortunately Publix is playing with digital coupons now, tied to an online account, enter phone # at the pin pad to have them apply to your order. Hasn't been much in the digital coupon space worth bothering with so it hasn't soured me... yet.

 

[cjc2104]

According to CNBC, Google is ending Wallet. Saw that this morning on a couple news wires.

They aren't ending Google Wallet, they are ending their stand alone service of Google Checkout (PayPal type competitor) by integrating it into Google Wallet on November 20th

 

[Sasparilla]

I am disappointed that Home Depot doesn't yet have Apple Pay working.

They have NFC enabled and the transaction appears to complete (it asks for TouchID, and the amount is the correct amount). But then it says "Declined". But the actual plastic card (i.e. the same account) is accepted. So it's not that this card is declined - just the Apple Pay part.

And the same account in Apple Pay works in several other stores, so it's not a problem with registration or signup etc.

I would really like to not use cards at HD any more but that seems not to be possible. Oh - and their chip-card readers are not yet functional. They are present in the POS device but don't work.

This actually sounds like they turned off (or never enabled) their backend NFC processes (like CVS did)...so the NFC reader on the Pad works but doesn't work beyond that. Would guess Home Depot doesn't have NFC working for anyone - as they shouldn't be able to filter Pay (either NFC should work for everyone or nobody).

I say that only because it sound identical to what happened at CVS to me - worked one day, then they turned them off and I got the same result you just described - the reader would work but the backend process would fail.

 

[Gregg Thurman]

Grocery stores are suprisingly ahead of the curve. In Minnesota, Cub Foods was allowing Apple Pay from Day 1. They didnt advertise anything though.

A Target store employee said that they will enable it by December. Not sure.

That's not surprising. A typical cc purchase takes about ~20 seconds longer to complete than Apple Pay does. That means during peak hours that cashier can process one additional shopper per hour. Five check stations process 40 more shoppers during an 8 hour shift. This is under ideal conditions. But the fact remains that the grocery store can process more shoppers without adding cashiers.

This is the primary reason McDonald's signed up. During peak meal times McDonald's serves one customer every 2 minutes through its drive-thru. Saving just 10 seconds means 3 more orders filled per hour without adding additional staff. Do that 3X a day for a year and your order completion rate goes up by ~4,900.

 

[kdarling]

Winn Dixie is real? Well I never!

I had only heard of this store from the kids movie "Because of Winn Dixie" and never knew it was actually a real store!

The movie is why a lot of people outside the South have heard of Winn-Dixie.

Here's a little Snopes history of the name, along with a bit about another old chain, Piggly Wiggly.

--

Speaking of payment methods:

I remember going to Winn-Dixie (and other chains) with my mother in the late 50s / early 60s.

Back then, grocery stores kept a stack of totally blank checks from different banks at the checkout counter. They had no name or account number on them.

Mothers who had forgotten their checkbook, simply wrote their name and address (and perhaps driver's license number) at the top of a blank one, and used it to pay for their purchase.

 

[Adam490]

Declined at HD

I too had the Home Depot decline, but it took the same card the old-fashioned way. It was a MasterCard so that may have something to do with it. The vending machine with NFC here at work won't take my MC cards either, only VISA.

Great news on WD jumping on board. That's my closest grocery store . I didn't even know they had NFC capable POS systems as there is no markings on them to denote whether or not they have the capability. Definitely going to give it a try this evening on way home from work to buy beer

 

[NMBob]

I think it is a combination of factors. The credit card company are forcing vendors to install hardware that supports more secure payments (NFC, Chips, etc). They are required to have that in place by sometime in 2015 (i think later in the year).

Oh. I didn't know about that at all. Interesting. Thanks!

 

[dotme]

I'm looking at you, Hy-Vee, make it happen!

I shop at Hy-Vee all the time. Would love to see them do this. I may have to wait another year to upgrade, but I'd love to be able to look forward to paying for my groceries using my iPhone.

I didn't know you had HyVee stores. I am in Iowa and they are all over the place since this is there HQ.

Hy Vee is in bed with MCX/CurrentC I'm afraid. Their logo is in the scrolling list here: http://www.mcx.com/

 

[D.T.]

Bit of a bummer, Publix is generally nicer/better than WD, plus we have a Pubs ~2 miles away on our side of the intracoastal , so no way in hell I’m crossing the bridge to use Apple Pay

 

[wikiverse]

Is MR going to write a story every time the discover a new company that is accepting NFC payments?

Almost always one of the top comments is "x company had been accepting apple pay from launch because they already had NFC."

This is just getting ridiculous.

 

[bushman4]

Have no fear more players will be entering the game weekly week. Supermarkets are major players as they see repetive ssles weekly. It's happening faster than people think.

 

[rsmith83]

Bit of a bummer, Publix is generally nicer/better than WD, plus we have a Pubs ~2 miles away on our side of the intracoastal , so no way in hell I’m crossing the bridge to use Apple Pay

Yeah, I live in Florida and I prefer Publix. They're usually cleaner than Winn-Dixie and their meats and produce are better. I have a cousin who works in the meats department at Winn-Dixie, and one who works at the bakery in Publix, and listening to their stories about what goes on at each store makes me never want to shop at a Winn-Dixie again.

Not enabling ApplePay is the second disappointing thing I've heard about Publix this week, though. They also declined to join the Fair Food Program, something even Walmart agreed to do. Get your crap together, Publix.

 

[Verita]

Oh darn. I thought they were gonna say they were selling Retina 5K iMacs in their Fish Department...

May help with the overheating/throttling if they put it on ice!

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Funny that the grocers with an outdated/traditional reputation are on Apple Pay.

 

[rGiskard]

In related news, hard tack suppliers Shermann Martch have announced support for Apple Pay:

 

[euvnairb]

My 82-year old mother, and younger sister, switched to Meijer from the much closer Kroger because of Apple Pay.

They are a little miffed at Costco because it hasn't (yet?) stepped into the apple pay future...

I doubt Costco will. They only accept debit and AmEx.

I hope Albertsons and Safeway does this. Will save me some time and convenience.

 

[me2000]

Apple Pay has been working at my local Jewel Osco since launch... Jewel Osco is a major grocer in the Chicagoland area.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Is MR going to write a story every time the discover a new company that is accepting NFC payments?

Almost always one of the top comments is "x company had been accepting apple pay from launch because they already had NFC."

This is just getting ridiculous.

Then don't read them?

I for one would like to know - and it sounds like it has had a "soft rollout" in some places. Stores test market... imagine that.

Competition is brutal in the retail world, and as I thought, this was going to be a big catalyst for NFC payments in all forms in the US.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Hopefully this trend continues. Using Apple Pay is literally the easiest transaction process I've used, and using a card other than your default is as simple as switching to it in Passbook before making a payment.