Rite Aid Reverses Course, Will Accept Apple Pay Starting August 15

[MacRumors]

Rite Aid today announced that its 4,600 stores across the United States will begin accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet starting August 15, nearly one year after the drugstore chain and CVS infamously disabled support for the iPhone-based mobile payments service nationwide. Rite Aid will also support Google's forthcoming Android Pay service when available.

Rite Aid and CVS spurred a controversy last year after disabling Apple Pay and Google Wallet as payment methods last year, likely because both are members of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium, which has its own mobile payments service called CurrentC. MCX launched in August 2012 with a three-year exclusivity period for all members, which ends this month.

“Increasingly, consumers are actively seeking out and incorporating mobile technology into many facets of their life, including their shopping and purchasing decisions,” said Ken Martindale, CEO of Rite Aid stores and president of Rite Aid Corporation. “By accepting mobile payments, we’re able to offer Rite Aid customers an easy and convenient checkout process, which we know is important to them. Investing in mobile technologies is just one piece of Rite Aid’s evolving digital strategy and we will continue to explore, test and implement innovative technologies that will help us to better serve our valued customers.”

Apple responded to the Rite Aid-CVS situation last year by stating that Apple Pay feedback from customers and retailers was "overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic" at the time, and the mobile payments service is now available at over 750,000 locations in the United States and United Kingdom. Other MCX members that remain without Apple Pay support include Walmart, Target and Lowe's.

Article Link: Rite Aid Reverses Course, Will Accept Apple Pay Starting August 15

 

[0098386]

"Nearly one year" contractual obligations I guess.

 

[penajmz]

Haha !!

It took them long enough. They lost a lot of business from me, I drive a little bit further to Walgreens because of their stupid decision of not accepting Apple Pay.

 

[tazinlwfl]

Just in time - I just switched to T-Mobile, picking up two new iPhone 6's. Been trying to use ApplePay as much as I can. The wife is finding it very handy.

 

[blizaine]

your turn cvs

 

[shk718]

Rite Aid today announced that its 4,600 stores across the United States will begin accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet starting August 15, nearly one year after CVS and Rite Aid infamously disabled support for the iPhone-based mobile payments service nationwide.

Took 'em long enough!!!

 

[2457282]

And everyone was giving me lip for my action of always using apple pay and getting declined at Rite Aid. See, it worked! You can thank me now.

Seriously, I am very happy as this is where I get all my prescriptions for the sole reason that it is within walking distance from my house.

 

[transpo1]

Knew it. Every time I go into Rite Aid, I ask the clerks, do you accept Apple Pay? They'll gain customer loyalty because of this.

 

[taptic]

"Embarrassed? Of course not! This was, obviously, our plan all along!"

 

[WildCowboy]

"Nearly one year" contractual obligations I guess.

The MCX consortium launched in August 2012 with three-year exclusivity, so I imagine Rite Aid won't be the last of the MCX charter members to announce Apple Pay support in the coming weeks.

 

[Plutonius]

Too late. Many people dropped Rite Aid and I doubt they will be getting most of them back.

 

[Derekuda]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure just like the new macbook air, apple watch, apple music.... Pretty much everything new created/announced under Tim Cooks awful management. I can't wait until he is canned.

 

[WildCowboy]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure...

Odd thread to express that sentiment in...

 

[keysofanxiety]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure just like the new macbook air, apple watch, apple music.... Pretty much everything new created/announced under Tim Cooks awful management. I can't wait until he is canned.

Umm, the wealth of articles showing that people are now reversing course and accepting Apple Pay would indicate the opposite.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Smart choice. CVS, you're next.

Meanwhile, CurrentC is still to be launched "soon."

 

[citysnaps]

Likely Rite Aid were noticing the impact of their customers going to Walgreens, which does accept Apple Pay.

 

[penajmz]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure just like the new macbook air, apple watch, apple music.... Pretty much everything new created/announced under Tim Cooks awful management. I can't wait until he is canned.

I don't think people are getting your sarcasm...

 

[SleepyHead157]

Good to finally see this. ApplePay comes in really handy when I go to the gym and want to avoid carrying my wallet. Always walked past the Rite Aid because they didn't accept it.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure just like the new macbook air, apple watch, apple music.... Pretty much everything new created/announced under Tim Cooks awful management. I can't wait until he is canned.

It's way too early to say any of that has failed.

Also: Apple TV, Ping, MobileMe... that's all that's coming to mind right now. Those are things that you could have easily called "failures" when they were just 2 years old. Ping went on to definitely be a failure. Apple TV is still in limbo. MobileMe was succeeded by iCloud, which is a modest success, I think.

 

[morcutt11]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure just like the new macbook air, apple watch, apple music.... Pretty much everything new created/announced under Tim Cooks awful management. I can't wait until he is canned.

Nope - we can't.

 

[Popeye206]

But... but... what about CurrentC?

 

[keysofanxiety]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure just like the new macbook air, apple watch, apple music.... Pretty much everything new created/announced under Tim Cooks awful management. I can't wait until he is canned.

I don't think people are getting your sarcasm...

Use /s in future if that's the case Derekuda, there are far too many Apple haters with identical criticisms on this forum, so most people here just take what you said at face value.

EDIT: Argh, all your comments seem to be full of Apple hate, looks like it wasn't sarcasm after all guys. Of all the articles you had to post that Apple Pay was failing ...

Why do I sometimes feel like Poirot on this forum, honestly.

 

[TechZeke]

Thankfully, my area is pretty much 'ruled' and dominated by Walgreens so I've been able to use Apple Pay since day one. Which is a better store than Rite Aid anyway.

 

[morcutt11]

Hopefully their implementation is better than Walgreens' where I'm prompted for a pin, change option, email address, blood type and whatever other questions the terminal asks after accepting my Apple payment. I think that they missed the whole point about Apple Pay is supposed to be quick and easy...

 

[Popeye206]

Can we all please just agree that Apple Pay is a total failure just like the new macbook air, apple watch, apple music.... Pretty much everything new created/announced under Tim Cooks awful management. I can't wait until he is canned.

Hummm... i read just the contrary and under Tim's command, Apple is the most profitable on this planet. I'm sure they'll can him soon.