Walgreens Officially Launches First Apple Pay Loyalty Rewards Program

[kghoops]

We just input our phone number for balance rewards while the cashier is scanning the items and then use Apple Pay. Never had a balance rewards card, so I would have no idea how to add one to Wallet. If this does balance rewards and Apple Pay at the same time (waiting for someone to field test it and report back), even better.

It used to be that all of our local Walgreens in Houston would require you to input your pin after using Apple Pay no matter the dollar amount, but that just stopped recently. Weird, but now much more convenient.

https://www.walgreens.com/balancerewards/balance-rewards.jsp

What I did was enter the phone number I had been using in the store to sign up with on their site. Once I had my account created, I downloaded the Walgreens app and added my account info there. Inside the app there's an option inside to add the Balance Rewards "card" to your Passbook.

 

[Nrwrit3r]

I have always loved CVS, but their refusal to incorporate Apple Pay has been very frustrating. Because of this, whenever I have the chance I use Walgreens instead. I think it has been a big mistake on their part, and has influenced my brand loyalty drastically.

 

[The Mercurian]

So what about privacy here ? Will Walgreens be able to link your purchase history to your identity, or will Apple PAy maintain anonymity ?

 

[gsmornot]

So what about privacy here ? Will Walgreens be able to link your purchase history to your identity, or will Apple PAy maintain anonymity ?

Yes, I think your identity will link since you're using a rewards card. If you want to remain anonymous then use Apple Pay and no rewards card.

 

[devsfan1830]

So what about privacy here ? Will Walgreens be able to link your purchase history to your identity, or will Apple PAy maintain anonymity ?

Seeing as the card is tied to you and your Walgreen account, pretty sure they have whatever they normally get with the physical card. In which case who cares? They've know when you buy deodorant before, and they will still know now. If you really care that much. Don't go to any store, ever.

They really need to clarify whether or not this card is used at the same time you pay with the card in your Wallet, or if all this does is replicate the bar code scanning. Some stuff may be on sale for card members. This usually requires you to present a card before the total. Or they straight up ask you when checking out if you have one. In which case your supposed to awkwardly say yes and do nothing? Or is the scanner active as they ring you up and you just tap the pad in the meantime THEN again when you pay. This stuff is too new and clarity in messaging is CRITICAL. Gurantee noone in the store knows how this works. I was met with bewilderment when I used Apple Pay the first time on launch day at my local store. Hope someone can try it out and report back soon. I would but I dont need anything today

 

[yg17]

So how will this work exactly? Will you have to use apple pay to enter your rewards card and then again to pay? Although this is still cool, it would be awesome if there was a way to do this where one Apple Pay "swipe" is needed and takes care of both the rewards and payments. Of course Kohl's does this by having the rewards and the credit card all in one, but I am thinking about all the other reward cards that are not part of a credit card. Anyway, glad to see progress.

It's not possible.

Walgreens enabled EMV for NFC transactions, and EMV requires the final purchase amount sent to the "card" (in this case, your phone) for the transaction to be authorized. This is why the NFC reader isn't enabled on the PIN Pads at Walgreens until the cashier finishes scanning your stuff and totals the transaction. Also the same reason why when paying with a chip card at an EMV enabled retailer, you have to wait until the cashier's done before inserting your card whereas before you could swipe while the cashier was scanning. So what this means is ApplePay/Walgreens can't combine the rewards card and payment card into one tap. It needs the rewards card first, then the register has to subtract any discounts you have from it to get the final amount, then that needs to be sent back to the phone to authorize the payment.

Some (okay, most) other retailers are still using MSD mode for NFC transactions. That allows you to tap before the transaction is totaled as it more closely mirrors swiping a card to the terminal and processor and you could theoretically combine rewards and payment into one tap, but MSD is supposed to be going away eventually in favor of EMV. The big difference is EMV NFC, if implemented correctly (and that's a big if because retailers are stupid), will not require you to sign (or enter a PIN for debit) for your purchases because the phone can tell the PIN Pad that you used the phone's fingerprint scanner or PIN to authenticate yourself and you don't need to do it again on the PIN pad

 

[Carlanga]

Wish it was smart enough to know its a Walgreens terminal and have it auto use the card when you pay with apple pay. It should be like, Terminal send RF to device, Im a Walgreens terminal. Then Apple pay should be like, Heres my authorization token and my rewards info. (of course have an option in the wallet card to set if you want it to auto do this or not)

EDIT: Well I guess Apple is very smart and they did add this feature...

Seems to be a basic thought of the feature not a smart one though

 

[rdlink]

Looking at the article, it looks like you select your Balance Rewards card at time to pay and with one swipe, it will pay and give you points because you have already used your finger print for authorization. On the watch you pay by selecting your rewards card. I assume this will use your default card for payment.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...-Launch-Loyalty-Program-Integration-Apple-Pay

I hope you're right, but I think that the text is less than clear, and leaves a lot of ambiguity. It appears to me that what they're saying is you "just select the reward card in Apple Pay and scan it" meaning you don't have to pull out the physical card to scan or punch in a number. But it still leaves some room to interpret (in my view) that you may have to then do the Apple Pay Bump (I may trademark that) to actually pay for your order.

Given the relative kludge of the Walgreens Apple Pay transaction up until now, compared to others such as Whole Foods and Sprouts I would not be surprised if they thought that having to pull up two cards and scan twice is somehow an improvement.

It's not possible.

Walgreens enabled EMV for NFC transactions, and EMV requires the final purchase amount sent to the "card" (in this case, your phone) for the transaction to be authorized. This is why the NFC reader isn't enabled on the PIN Pads at Walgreens until the cashier finishes scanning your stuff and totals the transaction. Also the same reason why when paying with a chip card at an EMV enabled retailer, you have to wait until the cashier's done before inserting your card whereas before you could swipe while the cashier was scanning. So what this means is ApplePay/Walgreens can't combine the rewards card and payment card into one tap. It needs the rewards card first, then the register has to subtract any discounts you have from it to get the final amount, then that needs to be sent back to the phone to authorize the payment.

Some (okay, most) other retailers are still using MSD mode for NFC transactions. That allows you to tap before the transaction is totaled as it more closely mirrors swiping a card to the terminal and processor and you could theoretically combine rewards and payment into one tap, but MSD is supposed to be going away eventually in favor of EMV. The big difference is EMV NFC, if implemented correctly (and that's a big if because retailers are stupid), will not require you to sign (or enter a PIN for debit) for your purchases because the phone can tell the PIN Pad that you used the phone's fingerprint scanner or PIN to authenticate yourself and you don't need to do it again on the PIN pad

Gotta agree with the "because retailers are stupid" part. I was in Crate & Barrel this last weekend, and they have a tap to pay terminal. I asked the woman if it was active, and she said she thought so. I said, "Let's see" and used my Watch. It gave me that satisfying vibration and ding, followed by the friendly checkmark. "How cool." I thought. Then...

Clerk: "Sir, I need the last four digits of that card."
Me: "I don't have the card with me. It's Apple Pay. You know? Secure. Can't use it without it actually being me?"
Clerk: " ..... "
Me: "Sigh. Let me pull out another card and swipe it."

I don't use any rewards programs that don't at least let you just enter your phone number. It's better that way.

Actually, what would be better is if they all would just lower their prices for everyone, and get rid of the damn cards. But that will never happen, because it would require them giving up an opportunity to direct market you.

 

[taoprophet420]

Express was the first app to support loyalty cards with Apple Payand the first app to support store cards. You never corrected the Kohls story when I said it wasn't the first store card.arxpress app has supported its credit cards since September 14th and rewards card since October 10th, both which came way before Kohls and Walgreens. Express also supports loyalty card and store card on Apple Watch.

Popular retailer Walgreens today announced that its Balance Rewards loyalty program can now be linked with Apple Pay and used by its customers across the country. The partnership will allow Apple Pay users to link their Balance Rewards card with the mobile payments service so they can earn and redeem loyalty points without having to scan their physical Walgreens card. Following Kohl's launch of Apple Pay support for its store-branded credit card, Walgreens is the first retailer to support a loyalty rewards program within Apple Pay.

Users simply need to add their Balance Rewards card into the Wallet app, going through the same process as adding a traditional credit or debit card, to be able to use the new feature at Walgreens on an iPhone and Apple Watch. The announcement comes just over a week after NFC abilities were discovered alongside Balance Rewards cards in the Wallet app, hinting at incoming loyalty rewards support from Walgreens.

Article Link: Walgreens Officially Launches First Apple Pay Loyalty Rewards Program

 

[gsmornot]

It's not possible.

Walgreens enabled EMV for NFC transactions, and EMV requires the final purchase amount sent to the "card" (in this case, your phone) for the transaction to be authorized. This is why the NFC reader isn't enabled on the PIN Pads at Walgreens until the cashier finishes scanning your stuff and totals the transaction. Also the same reason why when paying with a chip card at an EMV enabled retailer, you have to wait until the cashier's done before inserting your card whereas before you could swipe while the cashier was scanning. So what this means is ApplePay/Walgreens can't combine the rewards card and payment card into one tap. It needs the rewards card first, then the register has to subtract any discounts you have from it to get the final amount, then that needs to be sent back to the phone to authorize the payment.

Some (okay, most) other retailers are still using MSD mode for NFC transactions. That allows you to tap before the transaction is totaled as it more closely mirrors swiping a card to the terminal and processor and you could theoretically combine rewards and payment into one tap, but MSD is supposed to be going away eventually in favor of EMV. The big difference is EMV NFC, if implemented correctly (and that's a big if because retailers are stupid), will not require you to sign (or enter a PIN for debit) for your purchases because the phone can tell the PIN Pad that you used the phone's fingerprint scanner or PIN to authenticate yourself and you don't need to do it again on the PIN pad

Ok, this is what I was told at the store here. I did turn on the option to automatically select the Rewards card while at the store but didn't notice anything different than any other time. As stated here, the terminal is not waiting on me to scan a rewards card because EMV requires me to wait until the end. I did try to scan my rewards card at the end of the transaction but the terminal just said it was not a valid form of payment. We backed up the screen where a rewards card could be scanned, nothing happened via NFC so we scanned the barcode which gave me the points. I did pay with Apple Pay in the end. The cashier said they have no idea how the rewards card would combine with the payment card unless something changes because as it is now, you can't add the rewards card info until the end. So, maybe something will change and I just could not figure it out but as of today's test, its no different than it was last time I made a visit.

Edit: I just added my card to wallet again to see if anything was different. It asked if I wanted to select the card automatically, I said yes. I did this on the other card that was already in my wallet via a switch in the card info. Doubt this will make a different but thought I would add this detail.

Edit 2: found a link to an article on CNET showing the process they found. If you notice the terminal, it says "Please enter your phone number or tap your device". When I tried today I only had the option to enter a phone number. So, I think I was just a little early to the store I tried and yes, it does take two taps to complete the transaction. One for rewards, one for payment according to this link. http://www.cnet.com/news/walgreens-first-to-link-loyalty-program-to-apple-pay/

 

[alms]

Anyone know if it's possible to enter Walgreens card details manually into Apple Wallet? I don't have my physical card, but I know my card number. Just entering the number in the Apple Wallet app doesn't work though.

 

[sikachu]

Gotta agree with the "because retailers are stupid" part. I was in Crate & Barrel this last weekend, and they have a tap to pay terminal. I asked the woman if it was active, and she said she thought so. I said, "Let's see" and used my Watch. It gave me that satisfying vibration and ding, followed by the friendly checkmark. "How cool." I thought. Then...

TIL Crate & Barrel turned on their NFC terminal!

Clerk: "Sir, I need the last four digits of that card."
Me: "I don't have the card with me. It's Apple Pay. You know? Secure. Can't use it without it actually being me?"
Clerk: " ..... "
Me: "Sigh. Let me pull out another card and swipe it."

You _do_ have last four digit. For the Watch, it's a bit trickier though as you have to go to the Watch app on your phone, to Wallet, and then click on the card. It'll be under "Device Account Number".

 

[sikachu]

According to Apple's document:

Use a rewards card
At participating stores, you can easily receive or redeem rewards using Apple Pay. Add a rewards card to Wallet, then use it when you pay with Apple Pay.

• If you turned on Automatic Selection on the rewards pass, double-click the side button and hold the display of your Apple Watch up to the contactless reader.
• If you didn't turn on Automatic Selection on the rewards pass, double-click the side button, swipe to select the rewards pass you want to use, then hold the display of your Apple Watch up to the contactless reader.

Your rewards card will be applied to the purchase and payment will be made using your default card with Apple Pay. Some merchant terminals might be set up to request your rewards card separately from payment. At these merchants, only your rewards information will be applied at first, then you can pay using Apple Pay after the cashier or terminal requests payment.

I feel like some stores still have no idea how to do this. Would be nice if Walgreens would give us a video on how this process should work on their NFC-not-enabled-all-the-time terminal.

 

[gsmornot]

Anyone know if it's possible to enter Walgreens card details manually into Apple Wallet? I don't have my physical card, but I know my card number. Just entering the number in the Apple Wallet app doesn't work though.

You can't. You will need to install the Walgreens app (and keep it on your device). Through the app you will be able to login to your account and then add your card to "Passbook".

 

[tmiw]

It's weird that they still require two taps since they don't seem to turn on the NFC reader until after everything's done being rung up. Maybe they'll fix that eventually?

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Wish it was smart enough to know its a Walgreens terminal and have it auto use the card when you pay with apple pay. It should be like, Terminal send RF to device, Im a Walgreens terminal. Then Apple pay should be like, Heres my authorization token and my rewards info. (of course have an option in the wallet card to set if you want it to auto do this or not)

EDIT: Well I guess Apple is very smart and they did add this feature...

It would be nice if you could link your rewards card to your credit cards so that you got credit automatically every time you use them at a qualified retailer.

 

[SlipperySlop]

So what about privacy here ? Will Walgreens be able to link your purchase history to your identity, or will Apple PAy maintain anonymity ?

I don't really care. Your prescriptions aren't anonymous anyway. If someone wants to know which laxative I use for constipation, fine. I don't care.

 

[timbrat]

Too bad King Soopers is not on Apple Pay. (or is it in your area?)

Alas, Kroger has been WAY behind the curve technically. They make you got a lot of work for them to track your purchases.

 

[cjake]

...Also the same reason why when paying with a chip card at an EMV enabled retailer, you have to wait until the cashier's done before inserting your card whereas before you could swipe while the cashier was scanning...

Not true. I can insert my chip enabled credit card into the reader at Target before the cashier has even finished scanning all the items.

 

[tmiw]

Alas, Kroger has been WAY behind the curve technically. They make you got a lot of work for them to track your purchases.

Rumor has it that Kroger isn't going to enable NFC any time soon, if ever. Even after they get chip support turned on.

 

[macnewbie91]

Speaking of Walgreens, I saw some stupid lady swipe her chipped card and the terminal took it, even though it's supposed to prompt you to insert the card because it's an EMV enabled terminal. I told the cashier his card reader was broken and he said, "well if you use debit you swipe, and with credit you use the EMV slot." Um, no, you use the EMV slot whenever the payee has an EMV card.

Either way the lady should've known to dip the card and not swipe it there. Chip technology and NFC will never take off in this country... People are just too lazy and stupid here.

 

[gsmornot]

Alas, Kroger has been WAY behind the curve technically. They make you got a lot of work for them to track your purchases.

The registers around here will not scan the virtual card on the phone so I still have my physical card with me. The only one I still carry and have to. I sent a message to their support once asking if it was in the future, they said not anytime soon. They are the largest grocery chain in the US so maybe they do not feel the pressure to move this forward or maybe they do and its just a daunting task. Many of the stores have old terminals still that are not even ready for EMV much less contactless.

Speaking of Walgreens, I saw some stupid lady swipe her chipped card and the terminal took it, even though it's supposed to prompt you to insert the card because it's an EMV enabled terminal. I told the cashier his card reader was broken and he said, "well if you use debit you swipe, and with credit you use the EMV slot." Um, no, you use the EMV slot whenever the payee has an EMV card.

Either way the lady should've known to dip the card and not swipe it there. Chip technology and NFC will never take off in this country... People are just too lazy and stupid here.

I have cards with chips and still its rare that the places take them. I can only think of two stores maybe that ask for the card to be inserted versus swiped. All other places its a swipe.

 

[tmiw]

Speaking of Walgreens, I saw some stupid lady swipe her chipped card and the terminal took it, even though it's supposed to prompt you to insert the card because it's an EMV enabled terminal. I told the cashier his card reader was broken and he said, "well if you use debit you swipe, and with credit you use the EMV slot." Um, no, you use the EMV slot whenever the payee has an EMV card.

Either way the lady should've known to dip the card and not swipe it there. Chip technology and NFC will never take off in this country... People are just too lazy and stupid here.

A lot of retailers aren't allowing people to insert debit cards right now, Walgreens included. It's so they don't have to run them over Visa/MasterCard's network.

The registers around here will not scan the virtual card on the phone so I still have my physical card with me. The only one I still carry and have to. I sent a message to their support once asking if it was in the future, they said not anytime soon. They are the largest grocery chain in the US so maybe they do not feel the pressure to move this forward or maybe they do and its just a daunting task. Many of the stores have old terminals still that are not even ready for EMV much less contactless.

A large number of retailers in the US actually:

1. Really, really resent Visa and MasterCard and
2. Love violating people's privacy by tracking them without consent.

Because of that they'd rather people go back to using cash (because they got fed up with EMV's long wait times) than even think about losing #2 by enabling NFC. Which is why it will take a very long time before NFC acceptance becomes common, if it ever does.

 

[macnewbie91]

I have cards with chips and still its rare that the places take them. I can only think of two stores maybe that ask for the card to be inserted versus swiped. All other places its a swipe.

Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Costco, Walgreens, Best Buy... They all take chipped cards. I'm sure there's some smaller businesses that do too. I find it shocking that Wegman's isn't on that list considering they're usually one of the first to adopt new technologies.

 

[tmiw]

I have cards with chips and still its rare that the places take them. I can only think of two stores maybe that ask for the card to be inserted versus swiped. All other places its a swipe.

The link in my signature might help with that if you really want to use the chip. Though honestly retailers are even screwing that up; US chip terminals take much longer to run cards than ones outside the US.

Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Costco, Walgreens, Best Buy... They all take chipped cards. I'm sure there's some smaller businesses that do too. I find it shocking that Wegman's isn't on that list considering they're usually one of the first to adopt new technologies.

None of my local Costcos accept chip yet. Well, the three that I tried anyway.