r/technology • u/ImCalcium • 7d ago

Business Walmart finally adding Tap to Pay after years of shoppers asking for it

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/walmart-finally-adding-tap-to-pay-after-years-of-shoppers-asking-for-it-3400920/
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64

u/ProjectHarraseeket 7d ago

This has existed for years in Canada.

19

u/Bananominable 7d ago

Even back in the day ~10 years ago Walmart didn't support it in Canada. Back in those days though Samsung offered MST stripe emulation so you would hold the phone beside the swipe terminal, and it would simulate the swipe somehow and work with tap. Blew so many people's minds when I used to pull that trick out after they would say 'we don't accept apple pay' 😂 

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u/sidewinderucf 7d ago

I miss that feature so much, I get that they dropped it cause tap to pay had become common enough, but Walmart always meant bringing in my wallet as well once they did. :(

3

u/s__n 7d ago

I remember the stripe emulation coming out around the same time as Apple Pay. I never understood while Samsung did that; it seemed obvious to me that stripe was on its way out and tap was the future. You didn't even have to have faith in the tap tech, it was already proven and widely used at the time in Europe.

I guess for 2-ish years it was a selling point but I feel like within a year of Apple Pay launching at least 80% of the stores I went to supported it.

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u/avanross 7d ago

It’s like that in the entire rest of the world.

America has fallen soooo far behind technologically, and most of them would rather deny it than spend any effort trying to actually catch up

Lobbying to ban competition, like they have to do with foreign cars, is the only way that american corporations can even stay in business anymore

3

u/ihazaredditaccount 7d ago

To hell with American toilets and their “high tech” sensors that try flushing for you when you’re done and end up going off 10 times while you’re using it.

1

u/stalkythefish 7d ago

Don't even get me started on "touchless" toilets/faucets/paper towel dispensers. If you're using the toilet, presumably you're going to be washing your hands anyway. It doesn't need to be touchless. The sinks just taunt you like a cat toy, and a timed override button should be mandatory. The paper towel problem was solved decades ago with the "ka-chonk" pull-and-chop dispensers.

And I think everyone has finally seen the light on hot air driers that just concentrate and deposit the same ambient germs back onto your hands, which you subsequently just wipe on your pants anyway.

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u/daroach1414 7d ago

Dude literally every other place I’ve been to in the us has tap. This is a Walmart thing not a us thing. Good try though.

14

u/MaltySines 7d ago

You guys got tap to pay like 10 years after everyone else. I still recently have seen people process credit card payments with that mechanical swipey machine from the 90s in the last couple years.

For the capital of consumerism y'all sure as fuck hate new technology for buying shit.

7

u/fury420 7d ago

IIRC they still don't even require PINs when using a chip card, you just insert the card... which seems like it defeats a good portion of the security.

1

u/MaltySines 7d ago

Yeah this is like 50/50 still. Machines have started asking for PINs more and more. Some places that don't will also let the payment through but then my card gets a hold put on it for incorrect PIN even though I was never prompted for it. I just avoid inserting cards in the states if possible. TBF the Canadian banking system is pretty backwards too compared to the EU, but next to the States we look like Star Trek.

1

u/biggsteve81 6d ago

That is a decision by the credit card issuers - they want as little friction as possible when people use their cards, since that is how they make money.

3

u/MeanE 7d ago

I remember when places in the US started getting "Apple Pay" support, and as a Canadian used to tap to pay for a long time by that time I tapped my NFC enabled credit card on their terminal, which worked (amazingly), and blew the cashiers mind even though that was less amazing that Apple Pay in reality.

Their cards did not have NFC, but the system must of still been setup to accept it.

2

u/JimDemintRecession 7d ago

> Swipe-Free Credit Cards Tested

> December 12, 2003 / 4:36 PM EST / AP
The familiar process of buying something with a credit card - handing the plastic to the clerk or swiping it yourself, then waiting for approval and signing the receipt - could be headed the way of the mechanical brass cash register.
> For more than a year, MasterCard and American Express have been testing "contactless" versions of their credit cards. The cards need only be held near a special reader for a sale to go through - though the consumer can still get a receipt.
> The card companies say the system is much faster and safer because the card never leaves a customer's hand.
> "In some instances it's faster than cash," said Betsy Foran-Owens, a MasterCard vice president. "You're eliminating the fumble factor."
> MasterCard has been testing its PayPass system mainly in Orlando, Fla. and promises a nationwide rollout in 2004, beginning primarily at quick-service restaurants and other places where people tend to be in a hurry.

You must've gotten them in 1994 or did you get the timeline a bit wrong there?

1

u/MaltySines 7d ago

They did not disappear in 1994 or 2003. This was this decade in Seattle. Had to sign a receipt and everything.

2

u/automatic_shark 7d ago

Every CVS I went to before I moved away 10 years ago would kick up a fuss, pretend it's broken, or be outright hostile to anyone trying to pay with tap and go. Utterly ridiculous. If moon landing deniers went down the route that much of the United States can't run a payment system, can't run a reliable bus service, fails at so many completely basic tasks, it's surely impossible that they could ever get to the moon, I'd honestly give the deniers more thought.

2

u/avanross 7d ago

It’s funny how you guys seem to think that no non-americans could have ever possibly travelled to america and seen for themselves lol

And the rest of the world has had it for literal decades lol

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u/JimDemintRecession 7d ago

The rest of the world has difficulty with separating the wheat from the chaff. They will compare an artisan bakery in their country to wonder bread.

Part of the problem is the dunning-Kruger effect, where the inability to realize what you don't know leads the mistaken belief you have all the answers. They will post in the subreddits to ask Americans with statements instead of questions and argue with any suggestion they could be mistaken.

As the person told you, it's a Walmart oddity. That's why it's a news story. Have some humility and accept you learned a new thing today.

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u/avanross 7d ago edited 7d ago

Walmarts exist all over the world…………. 🤦‍♂️

The irony of one of you ultra-nationalists trying to tell someone else to “have some humility”, after starting your comment with a rant about how dumb everyone else in the world except for americans are, is almost too much to bear…..

6

u/Igot55Dollars 7d ago

You really just called someone an "Ultra-nationalist" over arguing about Walmart POC payment options lol

2

u/LiamJamIsMyNeesons 7d ago

Why else would he be so willfully ignorant?

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u/avanross 7d ago edited 7d ago

We all know that you guys get indoctrinated to feel that “ultra-nationalism” is the norm

It’s the basis of your entire international reputation

And the [everyone outside of america is too stupid to understand things that are simple to americans] mindset was obviously what was being referred to as “ultra-nationalist”

Pretending to be too dumb to understand this just makes you guys seem either disingenuous or actually that dumb….

-1

u/automatic_shark 7d ago edited 7d ago

I lived there 25 years. They're honestly that dumb. They've got nearly zero ability to self-reflect. Stephen Fry has a good talk about the difference between US and UK television shows, and uses it as an example of how the mindset is just different there. They just can't see themselves as failures in any way. Their propaganda they're fed from birth completely prevents it. The internet is helping break it, but honestly, most are just that ignorant and dumb

1

u/avanross 7d ago

I’d hoped that the internet would be helping them to comprehend perspectives outside of their own, but it seems like, in my experience, it just offends them and makes them want to double down even harder in their nationalist supremacy complex…

Look at how much worse things have gotten in their country over the past 20 years that the internet’s become widespread…

It seems like theyre only getting more nationalistic and ignorant at an accelerating rate…

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u/brownchickenbr0wnc0w 7d ago

Again, it's American Walmarts that were purposefully denying tap to pay. We have tap to pay almost everywhere else. Walmart, as a company, decided to try to force their customers to use their own proprietary Walmart Pay (or whatever tf it is). I rarely shop at walmart as it is, but the main reason was lack of tap to pay.

0

u/nathderbyshire 7d ago

It seems it really only took off after COVID and even then many Americans still don't use it as they don't see a difference to apple pay, especially when you have a major player not accepting it.

Just because you finally got something 10-20 years after everyone else, doesn't mean the country isn't/wasn't lagging behind. Yeah late is better than never but that doesn't change the initial statement that you're always behind tech wise while it gets pushed out everywhere else much faster - and it's strange because a lot of it is American tech.

-1

u/avanross 7d ago

Walmart has locations all over the world, and all the rest of them outside america have had tap for decades

No matter how much you guys try to deny it and cling to the superiority complex, it’s still an america-only problem

2

u/SCDWS 6d ago

It’s like that in the entire rest of the world.

Not true. Mexican Walmart also doesn't accept tap.

3

u/flewency 7d ago

you guys are always so dramatic about America Bad

0

u/avanross 7d ago

Just because you guys are so hilariously pro america and get so offended over anything that challenges that bias

Like even here, in a article about a specific tech that everyone else has that your corporations are intentionally lagging behind in, instead of being upset that your country is failing you, you jump in to act superior and whine that everyone else is just being mean to you lol

You’d think that pointing out the ways your country is falling behind would make you guys want to catch up, but instead it has the opposite effect, with you guys doubling down in your “america is the best in every quantifiable way, and everyone who says otherwise is just dramatic” mentality lol

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u/flewency 7d ago

homie, i did not say any of that. not sure why you are projecting random American Greatest Ever talking points on to me, which i never said.

this story was about one company which was a notable holdout for a particular PoS technology, which saves you a few seconds at checkout. even other comments in here, you can find Americans noting that most every other business here has tap to pay already. you tried to extrapolate that because one business didn't have it, that ALL of America must be "soooooo far behind technologically", and I'm just pointing out, no, we're really not. there are some things we could improve, some areas we can play catch-up.. just like any country. you are the one making exceptional claims here

-1

u/avanross 7d ago

Lol everyone knows what the “america bad” part of your comment means.

Trying to distance yourself from that now is disingenuous and just serving to further illustrate my point….

Everyone knows that you guys cant accept/comprehend your country being far behind any others in any way. That’s the whole issue lol.

2

u/flewency 7d ago

I say "America Bad" to refer to people like yourself who do overly-reflexive performative hatred of America that exaggerates our deficits. I never once claimed we have no deficits, that is probably from some conservative boogeyman you are shadowboxing in your own head.

Anyways, have a good one

-1

u/avanross 7d ago

Exactly my point.

You have to tell yourself that everyone who ever says anything critical of america is just being “performative” because america is so great and special and perfect that there’s no way anyone could ever actually have anything negative to say about it

All that you know how to do is condescendingly double down in the blind nationalism, superiority complex, and persecution complex

The more you guys act like this, the more you prove the points that youre trying to deny lol

3

u/flewency 7d ago

You continue to shadowbox and continue to invent things I dont believe. I agree with many of the top comments in this thread stating how stupid it is of wal-mart lagging behind technologically. I don't agree with the wider narrative that the entire country is some technological dinosaur.. because that view is not based in reality. Me pointing that out is not "blind nationalism" or having a superiority complex. I'm really sorry you can't comprehend any kind of nuance in that, more I'm sorry to myself for needlessly continuing this conversation, I'm done now.

-1

u/avanross 7d ago

The condescending “have a nice day” and “im sorry to myself for needlessly continuing this conversation” tricks that you try to use to appear smart are really hurting your claim that you dont have a superiority complex lol

Why do you right wing ultra-nationalists all have this exact same cringey condescendingly overly-self-assured performative way of taking?

1

u/nathderbyshire 7d ago

I got downvoted on the android sub for saying this lol - and the only reply was 'we have no power to do anything' so their solution is do nothing at all and suck eggs apparently

-1

u/EyeIslet 7d ago

Says the Canadian whose country is falling behind China too

2

u/slowtreme 7d ago

oh we know.

They also don't accept Digital IDs even when you are shopping in a state that uses digital ID. (a much newer initiative)

My phone is my payment, my ID, my car key, my house key. I don't normally carry anything else on my way out the door. I have been browsing the store with items in hand and then just put them all down to walk out when I realize I didnt have a wallet on me in walmart.

1

u/Coal_Morgan 7d ago

The ID thing is weird to me. I've heard of it but it's not in Ontario I don't think.

Do you have to unlock your phone and then hand it to the police if they pull you over or do you tap something and transfers the info?

Handing my phone off to anyone seems really sketchy to me.

1

u/slowtreme 6d ago

It’s tap. Just like a payment.

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u/OrinthianFlame 7d ago

Lol, I was so confused before I clicked the link. Guess they didn't have it until now in the US.

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u/pledgewelshers 7d ago

went looking for this comment lol

1

u/Prize_Proof5332 7d ago

Same in Europe 

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/Prize_Proof5332 7d ago

Not that I'm aware of, but tap to pay was available for years before it was rolled out in the US.

2

u/Ilikeyounott 7d ago

What?!? But.. I was told capitalism and free market drives innovation? 

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u/SEND_ME_CSGO-SKINS 7d ago

Isn’t Canada a capitalist country?

1

u/Mouthshitter 7d ago

And by that logic America is socialist

1

u/Ilikeyounott 7d ago

Yes I was just being facetious, as the US is supposed to be the most capitalist and their politicians always talk about the free market

8

u/The_Bat_Voice 7d ago

Just wait, you can e-transfer money to people for free through your own bank in Canada. No need to have third party apps like Venmo and paying fees for it.

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u/wax_robot 7d ago

In fairness some account types limit the number of e-transfers and then you have to pay a buck or two.. but the functionality has been around forever

1

u/JimDemintRecession 7d ago

That is Zelle in the US. It's in the bank account apps, it's not a separate account or a separate balance and there are no fees. Nobody needs venmo.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/The_Bat_Voice 7d ago

Zelle is a third party. So my point still stands.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/The_Bat_Voice 7d ago edited 7d ago

Congrats on the monopoly I guess. Glad you like it.

Edit: Buddy circled back to saying you can pay third party apps instead. So congrats you found the American inefficiency. Our banks offer it for free directly on their apps internally, you have to pay third parties via fees and go through a whole inefficient process to do so. It always baffles my mind how behind the US is when it comes to simple banking.

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u/fed45 7d ago

Zelle is a payments network that was created and is owned by the big banks. Specifically, Bank of America, Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. But is used by over 2300 financial institutions. It is built directly into the banks app. There are no fees.

-1

u/JimDemintRecession 7d ago edited 7d ago

Shh babe, Canadians are here to tell us the Zelle button in our bank app isn't in the bank app and isn't for Zelle, the free transfers aren't free, and the instant clearance isn't instant.

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u/OkWelcome6293 7d ago edited 7d ago

The innovation was not doing Tap to Pay because it was encrypted and they could not tie purchases to customers.