Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

[HarryDevlin]

Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today.

A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient payment technologies available in the Walmart app, including Walmart Pay and Mobile Scan & Go.

Walmart Pay allows customers to scan a QR code displayed at checkout to pay for their purchase with a payment card stored in the Walmart app. Scan & Go allows Walmart+ members to save time by scanning barcodes on items while they shop, rather than having to scan all of the items at a self-checkout register later.

The spokesperson said the following statement still stands:

Apple Pay launched more than 10 years ago, and it was accepted at more than 90 percent of U.S. retailers as of 2022, according to Apple. Some other major Apple Pay holdouts in the U.S. have reversed course and started accepting it over the past few years, including The Home Depot, Lowe's, Kroger, and Texas grocery store chain H-E-B, leaving Walmart as one of the country's only major retailers not to accept Apple Pay.

Walmart has accepted Apple Pay in Canada since 2020.

Article Link: Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

They would prefer if customers signed up for their Capital One Walmart Mastercard for which they have no doubt negotiated very low fees. Refusing to accept Apple Pay or Google Pay is seen as incentive for customers to apply for the Walmart Mastercard and to use it with Walmart Pay. Of course you can add any credit card to Walmart Pay, and there are plenty of credit cards that offer a flat-rate 2% cashback, including at Walmart.

While most Costco customers do have the Citibank Costco Visa, even though it's not a great card anymore, the big reason is the 5% cash back on Costco gasoline.

I have a Visa card that gives 3% cash back on all NFC mobile wallet purchases, but only 1% when you use the physical card. So I never use it at Walmart.

 

[Carmenia83]

I'm a big Apple Pay nerd but I do pay for a Walmart+ membership and use Scan & Go in the store and it's awesome. You scan the items as you put them in your cart while you're shopping, then just scan a QR code at self checkout on the way out and you're done. It charges to the credit card on my Walmart account.

Walmart+ also includes free grocery delivery if you dont want to shop in store, and a Paramount+ subscription which I have for all the Star Trek content.

I know tracking customer purchases is a big reasoning behind their decision, but honestly, I like that they track my purchases because when I'm doing a grocery order I can just go into my frequent purchases and add the stuff I regularly buy to my cart right from there.

I still think they should offer ApplePay in store for people who want to use it (like they do in Canada!) but for me personally, I'm surprisingly happy with the implementation of their app and payment system. My only wish was that they would just let me pay with Apple Pay *in the app* so my actual credit card wasn't being stored on their server.

 

[orangeadrenaline]

The Walmart credit card is discontinued. I’m getting 5% back with a debit card tied to my Walmart Pay. 5% whether online or in store. 5% back at Costco too.

 

[Momof2.1107]

I'm a big Apple Pay nerd but I do pay for a Walmart+ membership and use Scan & Go in the store and it's awesome. You scan the items as you put them in your cart while you're shopping, then just scan a QR code at self checkout on the way out and you're done. It charges to the credit card on my Walmart account.

Walmart+ also includes free grocery delivery if you dont want to shop in store, and a Paramount+ subscription which I have for all the Star Trek content.

I know tracking customer purchases is a big reasoning behind their decision, but honestly, I like that they track my purchases because when I'm doing a grocery order I can just go into my frequent purchases and add the stuff I regularly buy to my cart right from there.

I still think they should offer ApplePay in store for people who want to use it (like they do in Canada!) but for me personally, I'm surprisingly happy with the implementation of their app and payment system. My only wish was that they would just let me pay with Apple Pay *in the app* so my actual credit card wasn't being stored on their server.

I use my Walmart+ membership for exactly the same thing. It’s even better that my local Walmarts have a self checkout lane dedicated for Spark and Scan and Go, so I never wait in line to check out.

 

[Momof2.1107]

The Walmart credit card is discontinued. I’m getting 5% back with a debit card tied to my Walmart Pay. 5% whether online or in store. 5% back at Costco too.

The crazy part is, I already had the Capital One Quicksilver Rewards card before I applied for the Capital One Walmart card, so that’s probably why they never sent me a new card. I don’t use my Quicksilver Rewards card anyway because of the low 1.5% cash back.

 

[kirky29]

In the U.S., a lot of restaurants are going cashless.

Even given the reasons that they like cash, which has little to do with credit card fees, the hassle and expense of dealing with cash is not worth it.

Tips tend to be less with cash as well, since the credit card payment screen now usually starts at an 18% "choice." I was in a small Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago and tried to pay with cash and they said that they didn't have enough change (about $35) for a $100 bill.

That's interesting! My partner runs a high street shop here in the UK, and cash and card sales and typically almost even daily. Some days there are more cash sales!

 

[garyjones027]

In the U.S., a lot of restaurants are going cashless.

Even given the reasons that they like cash, which has little to do with credit card fees, the hassle and expense of dealing with cash is not worth it.

Tips tend to be less with cash as well, since the credit card payment screen now usually starts at an 18% "choice." I was in a small Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago and tried to pay with cash and they said that they didn't have enough change (about $35) for a $100 bill.

I wonder if these restaurants in USA are using magstripe only card readers to accept card payments. If yes, then they cannot accept Apple Pay and other NFC contactless payments.

I see their reasons for not upgrading to EMV chip payment terminals because of high cost.

There is also no requirement to upgrade to new payment terminals in USA fore restaurants.

 

[orangeadrenaline]

The crazy part is, I already had the Capital One Quicksilver Rewards card before I applied for the Capital One Walmart card, so that’s probably why they never sent me a new card. I don’t use my Quicksilver Rewards card anyway because of the low 1.5% cash back.

I already had a quicksilver card and they still transitioned my Walmart card to a second quicksilver, haha! I was able to switch one to a Savor card. I only put a single 99 cent subscription on the card a month and capital one pays it off automatically.

 

[Xenden]

But they take credit cards via the chip. Not sure how that's any more or less trackable than using NFC/Apple Pay? Obviously using their own app gives them the most information about you, but don't see how NFC/Apple Pay insulates me from being tracked any more than using the chip.

Does Walmart take tap to pay for chip cards?

But Apple Pay makes it almost impossible to track because a new credit card number is generated for each purchase.

I’ve tried to return things at Target by doing receipt lookup with my debit card. If I used Apple Pay, I had to use Apple Pay to do the receipt lookup. If they tried to find the receipt by swiping my card, they cannot find the return receipt.

 

[Momof2.1107]

I already had a quicksilver card and they still transitioned my Walmart card to a second quicksilver, haha! I was able to switch one to a Savor card. I only put a single 99 cent subscription on the card a month and capital one pays it off automatically.

I guess I should be on the lookout for possibly a second card then lol.

 

[InTeCredo]

They don't want to pay credit card fees if they can help it. Their entire statement avoids that simple fact.

Their Scan & Go tech worked to pay by card at Sam's Club last time I used it. If they turned that off they did so on purpose. They could easily integrate it with Apple Pay but choose not to.

More of not wanting to pay Apple the handling fee of using Apple Pay. In addition, Wal Mart wants to know everything about you via credit or debid cards. Apple Pay anonymises the transactions, allowing us more privacy with the purchases. That is what killed CurrentC in the first place when the customers found out what CurrentC did to their personal data, preferences, and purchase habits.

 

[InTeCredo]

In Germany, REWE supermarkets allow us to use its app to scan the items with our smartphones. My experience is that it's really tiresome when the iPhone switches off in between so I have to FaceID it then scan the items so often. That's why I use their own scan guns to scan the items.

When I complete the shopping, the QR code is displayed on the app for the check-out stands to scan. I can choose to tap on the card reader or use the card stored in the app to pay for the items. If REWE can allow us to choose between storing the card in the app or tapping on the card reader, why can't Wal Mart do the same, too?

 

[kcwookie]

They don't want to pay credit card fees if they can help it. Their entire statement avoids that simple fact.

Their Scan & Go tech worked to pay by card at Sam's Club last time I used it. If they turned that off they did so on purpose. They could easily integrate it with Apple Pay but choose not to.

Maybe they should reconsider. I recently resolved a grievance where an employee was fired because they were accused of shoplifting at Walmart because the app did not work properly. We were able to get that employee their job back and have cautioned all of our members to be very careful using the Walmart/Sams app

 

[garyjones027]

Maybe they should reconsider. I recently resolved a grievance where an employee was fired because they were accused of shoplifting at Walmart because the app did not work properly. We were able to get that employee their job back and have cautioned all of our members to be very careful using the Walmart/Sams app

Do you work at Walmart or Sams?

If yes, do you always have complaints from customers for when Walmart or Sams will have Apple Pay and other tap to pay methods everyday?

 

[russell_314]

Does Walmart take tap to pay for chip cards?

But Apple Pay makes it almost impossible to track because a new credit card number is generated for each purchase.

I’ve tried to return things at Target by doing receipt lookup with my debit card. If I used Apple Pay, I had to use Apple Pay to do the receipt lookup. If they tried to find the receipt by swiping my card, they cannot find the return receipt.

No Walmart completely disabled the NFC function on their terminals. The only contactless pay you can use is their QR code reading Walmart pay.

It’s scary how much data Walmart collects on you. They track you through the store with Bluetooth on your phone. I don’t know all the technical details but I know they do it. I bought a new car and that information was automatically loaded into the Walmart app. That kind of disturbed me, but I guess DMV information is public.

I try to avoid Walmart and go to Target whenever possible.

 

[echopulse]

I think this is the last remaining retailer (at least for me here in the US) that doesn't accept NFC payments. For godsakes, Kroger and Home Depot use NFC payments now! And for those stores, if I forget to bring my physical credit card with me, I still can go in there and purchase something because I don't need one. For Walmart, no, I wouldn't be able to go in and purchase something. I think that is really want they are missing out on.

No, Hobby Lobby, Winco, Paper Source, Graybar, and other smaller retailers do not have it.

 

[kurtfoster]

The average person (most people) don't use Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, etc. We just pay with a CC at the store.

Everywhere I shop, people use Apple Pay.

 

[SactoGuy18]

No, Hobby Lobby, Winco, Paper Source, Graybar, and other smaller retailers do not have it.

WinCo doesn't use NFC payments because grocery stores are a very low-margin business and anything to save them money is really important. They will accept EMV-chipped Visa or Mastercard branded debit cards, though.

 

[ijordano]

As a UK resident this is so strange to me - here every single card terminal supports contactless payments, which all work with ApplePay (or google Samsung etc)

 

[lartola]

They don't want to pay credit card fees if they can help it. Their entire statement avoids that simple fact.

Their Scan & Go tech worked to pay by card at Sam's Club last time I used it. If they turned that off they did so on purpose. They could easily integrate it with Apple Pay but choose not to.

They’re actually not avoiding any credit card fees. As long as they still accept credit cards via chip they’re still paying fees. As long as Walmart Pay uses your credit card they’re still paying fees. If they really wanted to avoid the fees they’d go cash only. Obviously the fees aren’t the reason why they turned off contactless.

 

[lartola]

I have a technical question around it: In Europe it does not matter if a company specifically accepts Apple Pay or not. It will work as long as they accept contactless payment (i.e. holding your physical credit card close to the terminal instead of your phone). Is that not the case in the U.S. / at Wallmart?

I am reading the Wallmart statement like they ban all forms of contactless payment but am confused of why the article itself mainly speaks about Apple Pay rather than contactless payments in general.

Walmart doesn’t accept any form of contactless, just chip. The article says apple pay because for americans apple pay=contactless. Contactless cards weren’t a thing in the US 10 years ago, and most businesses there only started enabling contactless to be able to accept apple pay.

 

[lartola]

If you have Walmart+ they already have all the data, they just don't want to pay CC fees.

And how exactly does keeping contactless turned off save them fees? there’s no extra cost for merchants to accept contactless/apple pay, and as long as they take chip cards at the registers and Walmart pay uses a credit card for payment they’re still paying card fees. Your statement makes no sense.

 

[lartola]

That's part of it but the main issue, for them, is swipe/chip fees. They have been at war on CC fees since the 90s, and at one point, their CFO said his goal was to reduce transaction fees to zero, at any cost.

I haven't shopped at Walmart for years, so no idea how it works exactly, but I do use Sam's scan-and-go. It bills to my credit card, not bank-transfer. I think it's an option, though.

then why don’t they just go cash only? that would be the only way to completely avoid cc fees. As long as they have chip readers and their apps take cards they’re really not avoiding any fees.

 

[lartola]

I'm the UK too. My local Turkish barber accepts contactless. I'm pretty sure that many years ago Visa and Mastercard both mandated that all POS terminals in the UK and Europe must be contactless enabled. No idea why they didn't/won't do this in the USA too.

It hasn’t been mandated in the USA yet. And American merchants are extremely reluctant to change. The restaurants still often don’t bring a portable card reader to your table, for example, and take away your card instead.

 

[lartola]

Walmart, you jerk. You could still do an app and have contactless payments. “We instead make payment harder for no reason”.

heck, they could even have a “pay with apple pay” button in their apps.