Walgreens Shoppers Get 3% Cash Back When Using Drive-Thru Ordering With Physical Apple Card Through June 30

[tmiw]

Not like the counter guy is going to run off with it, they do have cameras. I've never been concerned. Not much more risky than giving over your credit card, and ApplePay can't be used once that 60 second period expires, while that card you hand over can be used repeatedly until you disable it (if stolen).

It's not just theft of the physical device but the cashier dropping the phone and breaking it. Plus the possibility of seeing private data from a SMS, etc. notification.

Also, people giving their phones to cashiers makes it less likely stores will actually set themselves up the proper way (by installing customer facing equipment).

 

[Emanuel Rodriguez]

It's not just theft of the physical device but the cashier dropping the phone and breaking it. Plus the possibility of seeing private data from a SMS, etc. notification.

Also, people giving their phones to cashiers makes it less likely stores will actually set themselves up the proper way (by installing customer facing equipment).

1. My phone's in a durable case, unlikely it'll break. (your phone should be too)
2. I'm not too concerned about notifications. I'm not up to anything illegal, so if they see something, it'd just be something for them to laugh about later. I'm fine with that.
3. Most people won't know they can even do this, so I don't think my doing it will affect anything in terms of their setup. I discovered this on my own, but most people aren't analytical enough to figure it out. Plus, like you said, many people probably wouldn't want to anyway, so odds are they'll have to put a reader by the drive-through eventually to appease those sorts of people.

Personally, I would prefer them to just put a reader, but either works for me.

 

[MacAddict1978]

I don’t understand. The whole point of the physical card is for retailers that don’t accept Apple Pay. Walgreens has support it for years.

I think the key word it "at the drive thru" You can't use your phone to pay at the drive thru.

 

[compwiz1202]

At the current time, why do you want people to use the physical card for payment? isn't that a way to spread the virus too?

Exactly. Start aggressively encouraging AP.
[automerge]1586787399[/automerge]

Sure, but I feel like handing a stranger your phone is a bad idea even without the coronavirus floating around. I'm sure there are others who are the same way, too.

As long as the card is always in sight, but yea, don't give someone like a server a physical card that they take out of your sight.
[automerge]1586787629[/automerge]

Drive throughs in the US tend not to hand over the terminal for payment, if they're even able to at all. I've never used the Walgreens drive through but I feel like they're one of the ones that aren't able to.

Also, cards are easier to sanitize than cash, so I'm not sure it's that much riskier than using your phone if you actually do sanitize it after handing it to someone.

Yea I've seen cashiers inside and even food trucks just hold out the little NFC reader for me, so obviously anywhere else drive thru could. That would eliminate the concern of having electronics outside.

 

[tmiw]

I think the key word it "at the drive thru" You can't use your phone to pay at the drive thru.

There are ways to be able to use it, but as mentioned before, US merchants seem hesitant to implement what's necessary to enable that to happen.

As long as the card is always in sight, but yea, don't give someone like a server a physical card that they take out of your sight.

I think a physical card is a bit more okay to have the cashier handling. Not great, of course, due to the possibility of skimming--but at least nothing will break if it gets dropped. (Besides, if it gets skimmed, a simple phone call usually gets you a new card right away and the fraudulent charges dropped.)

Yea I've seen cashiers inside and even food trucks just hold out the little NFC reader for me, so obviously anywhere else drive thru could. That would eliminate the concern of having electronics outside.

I'm seeing that start to happen a bit more but it really shouldn't have taken a pandemic to make it happen.

 

[G5isAlive]

Looking to save an extra 3% has nothing to do with "want" and more to do with attempting to get the best deal possible during this pandemic. Every dollar counts.

Of course it has to do with 'want'. You 'wanted' it enough to say you would pay 94%...you are just balking about paying that 3% extra, or 97%. That's a mighty slim line between want and not want. It seems what you really want is to bargain hunt, and thats fine. But even if what you want is a $1000 bucks (more than most Apple products at Walmart), what we are talking about is $30. Thats not going to mean squat during this pandemic.