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This is all so weird for a European. Do stores that accept contactless payments have to opt-in to Apple Pay as well or is it the case when a store has contactless payment that they also automatically support Apple Pay?

Here in The Netherlands all stores offer contactless payment and that also means that they automatically support Apple Pay. 79.1% of all counter payments are electronically (of which 0.4% credit, 78.7 debit) and 20.9% cash. Of non-cash transactions, 89% is done contactless.
They turned off contactless payments entirely, to try to force customers to use their extremely ****** app to pay. As you can tell, nobody cared to use the app and just inserted the chip instead. So now, they are finally turning contactless payments on.
 
Both Home Depot and Lowe’s had Apple Pay and turned it off. This change would leave me with just the home improvement stores and Walmart.( + Sam’s as a Walmart brand )

It annoys me every time I go there and see the credit card terminal which I know damn well supports NFC and they just outright refuse to use it, not even with bank cards. They do try to get my phone number twice though. Makes it pretty clear why they don’t want to support anything else. They just want to data mine, chip and pin will work for them until the government makes it illegal.
 
No they don't! In fact Apple Pay charges no extra fees, and the Merchant Fees are slightly reduced compared to standard credit cards. They also get a slightly reduced rate because the tech they use makes fraud harder, so the "insurance" part of the fees goes dow (ie they only pay the NFC rate, not the magnetic swipe rate, for obvious reasons)

At least so claims: https://blog.clover.com/apple-pay-for-business-what-will-it-cost-me/

In fact, Apple doesn’t even charge anything directly to merchants. It’s a widespread myth that merchants disable contactless because they refuse to pay a fee to Apple for accepting Apple Pay. Merchants only pay the usual fees for taking credit and debit cards, there’s no fee specific to apple pay for merchants. Any fee Apple charges for Apple Pay they only charge it to the participating banks that let their customers add their cards to wallet.
 
It’s quite strange from the UK perspective that there are still stores in the US which block Apple Pay.

Acceptance here is 100%, so much so that I can go everywhere with just my phone/watch to pay for things and not even think about my wallet.

And cash? I can barely remember the last time I needed an ATM…
I don't even bring my wallet anywhere anymore, and had to resort to using their crap app, Kroger pay. I am glad I can finally delete this app off of my phone with Apple Pay available here now. Officially everything else is already in my phone, my drivers license, my bus/train cards, my credit card, and with this, I never have to carry a wallet again! Our airport security just recently started accepting mobile IDs, so there's that box ticked too.
 
Because those billions make it impossible for smaller grocers and stores to operate at affordable prices. I do shop smaller when I can but for many things there’s not another good option. Not everyone lives where there are lots of alternatives.

And more relevant to this article, ironically every one of those smaller merchants accepts Apple Pay no problem. Many of them are astonished to realize that they do, but they do.

There is one restaurant which recently inexplicably stopped supporting Apple Pay and went back to magstripe only which I honestly thought was illegal or at least extremely ill advised since they are now fully on the hook for any fraud.

Card processors must want to charge extra for Apple Pay and most people must not realize that they’re paying for it.
Good points. Not an Apple Pay issue but things started to go wrong when Walmart entered areas and the residents, attracted by the lower prices, started to do their weekly shop there rather than the local shops who served them well for many years. We only have ourselves to blame. We ask why the local small and medium size business have closed, mainly because we stopped using them to save a few bucks.
 
It amazes me how far ahead Europe is when it comes to this stuff. Totally different world. Here in the US using a physical card is still a daily occurrence, Apple Pay terminals are more common than they once were but they’re still the exception rather than the rule. I still often get looked at like I just did some crazy wizard stuff when I try to use Apple Pay here. And in any restaurant, handing over your card is still the standard procedure. There’s no way to use Apple Pay even if you wanted to.

On the other hand, Just spent a week in London and I didn’t so much as even LOOK at my card the entire time, not even once. Or paper money either, for that matter. No matter where I went, even restaurants. Apple Pay/tap to pay terminals are e v e r y w h e r e and that’s what you’re expected to use. Just a normal part of daily life, as it should be.
 
Kroger is the only grocer in my area. So of course, the whole family has starved for years until we can cut Apple in on each food purchase transaction. The kids are only about 65% as tall as their classmates and we can count all of our ribs from 20 paces... but who needs basic nutrition if Apple can't have a bite of every dollar spent? ;)
Skinny legends! 😍 Thanks, Apple!
 
About time...

My local Kroger (Smith's) used to accept Apple Pay. They did so for like 5 months. The reason they said they stopped was that it took down their entire system at times...

Sooooo glad to see this return. I know there have been many times I've driven to a store farther away than Smith's simply because I forgot my wallet and only have Apple Pay on me.
 
It amazes me how far ahead Europe is when it comes to this stuff. Totally different world. Here in the US using a physical card is still a daily occurrence, Apple Pay terminals are more common than they once were but they’re still the exception rather than the rule. I still often get looked at like I just did some crazy wizard stuff when I try to use Apple Pay here. And in any restaurant, handing over your card is still the standard procedure. There’s no way to use Apple Pay even if you wanted to.

On the other hand, Just spent a week in London and I didn’t so much as even LOOK at my card the entire time, not even once. Or paper money either, for that matter. No matter where I went, even restaurants. Apple Pay/tap to pay terminals are e v e r y w h e r e and that’s what you’re expected to use. Just a normal part of daily life, as it should be.
You are correct. The retail and banking systems in North America, particularly in the US, are decades behind. Here in Finland they have not used paper cheques for more than 20 years and government agencies in Canada still try to send me cheques. They also request me to fax documents. I can do so by either breaking into a museum which has a fax machine on display or going to the one post office in Helsinki which so far keeps one working fax machine for those suckers who must deal with the countries stuck in the past.
 
It’s quite strange from the UK perspective that there are still stores in the US which block Apple Pay.

Acceptance here is 100%, so much so that I can go everywhere with just my phone/watch to pay for things and not even think about my wallet.

And cash? I can barely remember the last time I needed an ATM…

They don’t block just Apple Pay, they block all contactless. Even contactless cards.
 
Are you talking about HEB Go? Because you are forced to "scan and go" and you aren't able to just go to a register and use it to pay like you can with Walmart Pay.
HEB Go, yes; and I wouldn't know because in order to find out which stores actually accept HEB Go, you're forced to download the app & set up an account; they don't even tell you when you look up stores on their website.
 
It’s wild to me that these stores deactivate a feature which they could easily support. Does that mean you can’t do tap to pay with your credit card at those stores either?! Not supporting tap to pay with credit card is like only offering cash. It would alienate so many potential customers here

Each time a customer uses Apple Pay, the store does not receive any useful information regarding the customer's buying habits. Apple does not share that information, which is why retailers may choose not to support that payment method. They want data to analyze for marketing purposes.
 
Each time a customer uses Apple Pay, the store does not receive any useful information regarding the customer's buying habits. Apple does not share that information, which is why retailers may choose not to support that payment method. They want data to analyze for marketing purposes.
The thing is, Kroger and its associated stores have a loyalty card, so the payment method shouldn't matter one bit.
 
I think payment networks should mandate NFC support by a specific date already. There's no reason for it to NOT be supported these days. Stores are disabling it for stupid reasons like trying to force customers to use their apps, which people generally don't want to do.
 
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About time...

My local Kroger (Smith's) used to accept Apple Pay. They did so for like 5 months. The reason they said they stopped was that it took down their entire system at times...

Sooooo glad to see this return. I know there have been many times I've driven to a store farther away than Smith's simply because I forgot my wallet and only have Apple Pay on me.
I also live in a Smith's area! I hope this bodes well for Smith's accepting Apple Pay soon!
 
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