Some Trader Joe's Stores Accepting Contactless Payments, Including Apple Pay

[CyBeRino]

Why is it that I still have to sign a receipt when using Pay? I thought that authenticating the payment with my thumb print was going to be sufficient. When Apple introduced Pay I believe that a signature wasn't required...

That is between you and your bank, really. The deal is with EMV the issuing bank can set up rules as to what kind of verification is required and when. In the case of contactless card payments, they'll usually say something like 'up to $50 is ok without a PIN, above that a PIN is needed'. The same can be done with Apple Pay.

 

[tmiw]

That is between you and your bank, really. The deal is with EMV the issuing bank can set up rules as to what kind of verification is required and when. In the case of contactless card payments, they'll usually say something like 'up to $50 is ok without a PIN, above that a PIN is needed'. The same can be done with Apple Pay.

It's definitely EMV related but I've found that the priority rules are the same regardless of the card that you add to Apple Pay ("mobile device authentication", then signature, then "no authentication" if none of the other two are supported). For non-EMV transactions only the last two are supported. The first two are usually skipped for small transactions but this is store-dependent.

I wonder if PIN will take the place of signature if/when AP comes to other countries...

 

[Tech198]

So, while then Pay is easier as u don't need go fishing for that plastic card or cash, the time required to stand and sign anyway would make it all worth while to just hand over the cash/CC, since it would be the same amount of time anyway, and less fuss since you would have to sign regardless, depending on the store

 

[sunwukong]

This is why the Apple Watch is awesome. I use my card a LOT ... they wear out quickly and have to be replaced a lot.

They get lost or left or misplaced, also. Easier to just have something better on your wrist than some physical card that anyone can use and if you lose it you gotta go through a big ordeal to cancel it and get a new number issued. Worse if you lose your whole wallet with several cards. If you don't have to pull it out is less likely to be lost or left.

 

[quietstormSD]

They had this same terminal at the trader joes in Pacific Beach, San Diego. However Apple Pay didn't work on it. I think they are probably slowly rolling the contactless payment system out slowly

 

[RedOrchestra]

I should eat more like they do...

Yeah, I don't know - microwave brussels sprouts ... YIKES.

 

[musicpenguy]

I noticed this last night while shopping - wine purchasing made easy

 

[oliversl]

Watch out, there is a wild arugula out there!

 

[RobNYC]

It's funny to me that people on Macrumors of all places are willing to pay for what is easily the best of the best when it comes to their tech but when it comes to food so many of you seem happy to shop at sub par places like Trader Joe's. This is your body, your energy, and your health that we are talking about.

Not to mention taste. Two buck chuck wines that you can pay for with your $600 iPhone or $350+ Apple Watch?! Are you kidding me?! The stuff is ****. Exactly what I expect from a wine that costs a few bucks.

You hold yourself to a higher standard when it comes to your tech but not the the food and drink you put in your bodies?

Mind blowing.

Well you'd be wrong. They're the #2 rated grocery chain in the US behind Wegmans.

And no, people don't buy iPhones because it's the "best." That's subjective. They buy an iPhone because they like the OS.

 

[l00pback]

It's great more stores are adding Apple Pay but who actually shops at Trader Joe's ?

I do. You're not from California, are you?

 

[voyagerd]

Yeah, I don't know - microwave brussels sprouts ... YIKES.

Yeah... I'd rather stir-fry or broil those.

 

[zOne31]

I live in Chicago. The new payment terminals have been installed for the past month or so. Just noticed the Apple Pay logo last night when I was buying groceries. I don't have an iPhone 6 or Apple Watch to use but I'd assume it works or would work in the near future.

And TJ's isn't bad. It's like a Whole Foods lite. But they could really work on their produce section.

 

[ackmondual]

I've already become accustomed to putting my phone away when it's time to pay out of the whole social stigma of not being rude.

BTW, any info on how well the security is on credit cards with embedded chips? My MasterCard has this, but many terminals still don't have a chip reader, so I have to swipe it anyways, which defeats the purpose of it (although I'm told they use it a lot all over the rest of the world)

So 2 questions I'd have with Apple Pay are:
1) not Apple nor the vendor gets your cc #? It sounds like Pay Pal where they do a thing (using tokens) to make the transaction work without sharing this info?

2) if you lose your iPhone or need a replacement, you're hosed? Or at the very least, need to fall back on credit cards until you get a replacement phone?

 

[phreebsd]

tax on that amount here would have been $9.38

 

[tmiw]

I've already become accustomed to putting my phone away when it's time to pay out of the whole social stigma of not being rude.

BTW, any info on how well the security is on credit cards with embedded chips? My MasterCard has this, but many terminals still don't have a chip reader, so I have to swipe it anyways, which defeats the purpose of it (although I'm told they use it a lot all over the rest of the world)

There are vulnerabilities that allow PIN to be bypassed but that's not too relevant for the US since we're a chip and signature country. The chip itself is still secure and the encryption hasn't been broken.

So 2 questions I'd have with Apple Pay are:
1) not Apple nor the vendor gets your cc #? It sounds like Pay Pal where they do a thing (using tokens) to make the transaction work without sharing this info?

2) if you lose your iPhone or need a replacement, you're hosed? Or at the very least, need to fall back on credit cards until you get a replacement phone?

If you deactivate your lost/stolen phone via icloud.com Apple Pay stops working as well. You'll need to re-add your cards to your new phone since the generated card numbers are specific to the device.

 

[Diode]

I've already become accustomed to putting my phone away when it's time to pay out of the whole social stigma of not being rude.

BTW, any info on how well the security is on credit cards with embedded chips? My MasterCard has this, but many terminals still don't have a chip reader, so I have to swipe it anyways, which defeats the purpose of it (although I'm told they use it a lot all over the rest of the world)

You are correct (defeats the purpose as the chip has nothing to do with swipe transactions) - come October though when we will, as of now, switch to chip only transactions, this will no longer be a concern. This is because machines will begin refusing to accept swipe transactions and will only require chip - which is almost impossible to duplicate. The rule in October is merchants will become responsible for fraud transactions if the transaction is not done with a chip (instead of a swipe). So it won't be all places but most should be online by then. Chip transactions are performed by inserting the card into the machine rather then swiping. You can see the slot for this at a lot of the newer terminals that accept ApplePay. Some already work now so it's good practice to start using them.

In the absolute worst case scenario - someone steals the info off of your magnetic strip and tries to use it at a swipe terminal - when the merchant tries to validate the transaction with your bank they will deny it as the bank knows it should have been a chip transaction.

 

[chadsteruw]

tax on that amount here would have been $9.38

I know, I was amazed too! 2% tax, where do I have to move for that?

You must be from Seattle as well..?

 

[Diode]

I know, I was amazed too! 2% tax, where do I have to move for that?

You must be from Seattle as well..?

Lots of states tax groceries differently then sales tax. D.C. has no tax on groceries (but it's normal sales tax is applied to prepared foods - i.e. chips, snacks etc).

 

[rodriguise]

woah!

That's the largest TJs bill I've ever seen.

 

[CyBeRino]

BTW, any info on how well the security is on credit cards with embedded chips?

No breaches (of the chip itself) just yet. There have been some instances of the communication with the chip being vulnerable I believe, depending on the exact implementation.

My MasterCard has this, but many terminals still don't have a chip reader, so I have to swipe it anyways, which defeats the purpose of it (although I'm told they use it a lot all over the rest of the world)

If it's an American card, then you may as well not use it anyway -- you're still going to have to sign rather than use a PIN code. Chip-and-signature is barely any more secure than swiping. Sure it's harder to skim and then copy a card, but you're still a lot more worried about theft of the actual card.

Also, we don't just "use it a lot" all over the rest of the world -- the US is pretty much the *only* place that still uses a) magstrips and b) signatures. It's almost embarrassing how far behind you guys are.

So 2 questions I'd have with Apple Pay are:
1) not Apple nor the vendor gets your cc #? It sounds like Pay Pal where they do a thing (using tokens) to make the transaction work without sharing this info?

Apple gets it when you set up the card -- they have to because they need to find out what bank to contact to find out of you are the legitimate owner of the card. But after that, it's replaced with a device-dependent token (which is basically a credit card number that can only be used with some additional information) and no one gets your real cc-number during transactions. Instead, the token is used which is then mapped to your real number once the transaction gets to your bank.

2) if you lose your iPhone or need a replacement, you're hosed? Or at the very least, need to fall back on credit cards until you get a replacement phone?

Well define hosed? If you lose the phone, you can't use it to pay anymore of course so indeed you'll need to fall back on either a backup phone or a regular old plastic credit card. The device is secured against fraudulent use of your cards though and of course you can (using find my iPhone) disable the cards on the phone -- without affecting your real cards at the same time.

 

[cr2]

... yeah. right. Let me tell you - I used to work in food retail (back in Germany for the parent company of TJs) and most stores have the same suppliers for the basic products... the gallon of milk at WF comes from the same company that also produces milk for Walmart and Target... and guess how many big cattle producers/slaughterhouses are in the U.S. ... a relatively small amount. So it's doubtful that there is a dedicated WF slaughterhouse in Nebraska with dedicated WF cattle... the only exception might be produce from very small farms or certain organic produce. But the majority what WF sells is standard non-organic produce where they just hike up the price. The quality is no better or worse than other stores who sell that produce.,..

Wow! I know many people would go out of the way to Whole Foods for milk, meat and other products because they have kids. I wonder why no one ever tells you these things.

 

[cr2]

"Buy me a pie"

Thanks

 

[tmiw]

If it's an American card, then you may as well not use it anyway -- you're still going to have to sign rather than use a PIN code. Chip-and-signature is barely any more secure than swiping. Sure it's harder to skim and then copy a card, but you're still a lot more worried about theft of the actual card.

Also, we don't just "use it a lot" all over the rest of the world -- the US is pretty much the *only* place that still uses a) magstrips and b) signatures. It's almost embarrassing how far behind you guys are.

"Might as well not use it at all" is a bit harsh. It's still a whole lot better than swiping, even with signature. AP is arguably better than even chip and PIN precisely because of the additional stuff like Touch ID and tokenization.

BTW the US isn't the only chip and signature country (PDF; page 5) but it is likely the biggest.

 

[GMCloud27]

For those wondering in the Midwest--We began supporting Apple Pay and Google Wallet beginning 5/11 for Illinois but EMV support is still in the works. Pretty exciting! I'm thrilled and it works almost perfectly (Whole Foods processes transactions automatically as a credit and no prompts for small purchases) as you still have to press "credit" and agree to the transaction amount.

 

[cub850G2]

For those wondering in the Midwest--We began supporting Apple Pay and Google Wallet beginning 5/11 for Illinois but EMV support is still in the works. Pretty exciting! I'm thrilled and it works almost perfectly (Whole Foods processes transactions automatically as a credit and no prompts for small purchases) as you still have to press "credit" and agree to the transaction amount.

I've heard EMV support is coming in August, but locally the Contactless is turned off still and no one knew what the plans are about Contactless, as they only knew about EMV. I hope it really is May 20th company wide, but Trader Joe's has always been slow on tech so I bet nothing will change.