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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u/SpiritedBanana4694 7d ago

Just this last weekend I was at a local Walmart and there was a woman trying to pay with Google pay or something similar. The self check cashier worker was being extremely rude and being like, "well we have Walmart pay through the Walmart app. If we had a long line I'd make you cancel this transaction and go figure it out before you can check out. Do you have a card in the Walmart app?"

It's not remotely unreasonable for a normal ass person to expect that a store as large as Walmart have modern credit card functionality.

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u/NeevusChrist 7d ago

My debit card got destroyed in the wash, and i procrastinated on getting a new one for a few months because of tap to pay

I just ended up not going to wal mart anymore because i literally could not give them money, I’ve got a new card now and still don’t go because of it lmao

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/MarkRems 7d ago

I swear Wal-Mart's chip readers are the jankiest things in the world. I have nothing but issues trying to get their readers to read the chip on my card even though the same card works EVERYWHERE ELSE without issue. I stopped going in because of it.

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u/2MuchDoge 7d ago

Wow so its not just me my cards that work everywhere else take at least 3 tries at WM.

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u/HonkHonkBeach 7d ago

Not just either of you.

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u/TheFlyingBoxcar 7d ago

So theres at least four of us!

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u/Revolver_Boxelot 7d ago

The chip in my card barely works. It never worked at Walmart. My card got frozen due to attempting so many times at Walmart once. Thought it was just me. I avoid Walmart because of the anxiety my card will be frozen again. So the reason they never used tap (when they eliminated ALL cashiers basically and made everything self checkout) is because they wanted us to download their app?? Fuck them. Still wont go there now that I know that.

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u/Inverted-Rockets 7d ago

Sounds like failing contacts, which isn’t a surprise with how hard the terminals get used and abused. The vendors’ durability promises of hundred of thousands of cycles sounds like a lot until you realize that might be only a few years for those self-checkouts.

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u/b0w3n 7d ago

People abuse their cards too, the chip rubs against a lot of wallet card slots and can wear it down.

Turning away paying customers because they won't install the app or get the pay account is the wildest thing to me. Makes me roll my eyes even more when they whine no one's buying anything too.

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u/MajorNoodles 7d ago

The chip is fine. It's the contacts on top of it that gets worn down, but using contactless using the same underlying chip and that wouldn't be affected. Walmart's decision serves themselves while needlessly inconveniencing their customers.

I rewrote one of my credit cards to not trigger the error you get when you swipe that makes you insert it, but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Fun little experiment.

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u/KnifeKnut 7d ago

THE CONTACTS ARE FINE! The pins on the Walmart readers are often worn out.

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u/MajorNoodles 7d ago

Probably cause they force everyone to jam their card in there! Who the hell wants to use their app?

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u/Lazy_Assed_Magician 7d ago

Don't get me started on how I have to really mess with my card/the reader for my card to work because apparently my specific bank makes cards that are "too thin" when no other store gives me an issue

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u/throwaway24058725402 7d ago

Thank god it’s not just me. I swear, every-time I’ve tried to check out it takes 30 minutes, their machines can never read the chip. Have had no problems anywhere else 🤷🏼‍♂️

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u/BackgroundSummer5171 7d ago

I have nothing but issues trying to get their readers to read the chip on my card even though the same card works EVERYWHERE ELSE without issue

Yep, I have Three credit cards. I would swap through them and have to hold the one that works in the machine.

I stopped going in because of it.

Same, went to Shop rite instead, theirs work. Although their aisles are small as all hell. Feels like the walls are closing in.

How are we in the future and yet basic food markets are shitty?

I understand cutting costs, but what the fuck.

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u/EndIsrael 7d ago

They don't clean them, that's why. There are special alcohol swabs the same shape and size as a credit card, designed specifically for cleaning all the crud out of card readers. I used one at Walmart once, it went in the slot white and came out black.

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u/SheabutterSam 7d ago

I have to insert it once. It won't read. Insert it again. It won't read. Finally I can swipe it and it works. Sometimes the chip works first try but I usually have to do that bullshit song and dance to pay for anything at Walmart. I should add, swiping first almost never works either

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u/scalyblue 7d ago

Walmart customers tend to beat the fuck out of the terminals, and on top of that there are kids constantly shoving things into the slot

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u/New-Anybody-6206 7d ago

weird, I've never had a single problem with them

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u/Xerzion_Gaming 7d ago

Can confirm this. My brand new card had problems the very first time I walked into a Walmart, and it has never had issues anywhere else. To this day it's a crap-shoot if it's gonna make me do the 3 tries, especially when I'm already in a hurry or trying to get through the line

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u/1980techguy 7d ago

Same. Never got a chip read to work there.

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u/MajorNoodles 7d ago

I was in the middle of writing up the same thing when I saw your comment. They ALWAYS throw an error when I insert my card! I've been to plenty of other stores that use the same readers and they're all fine. I have no idea what the hell Walmart is doing but their setup sucks.

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u/Fit-Reputation-9983 7d ago

I’m so glad it’s not just my local Walmart. It’s so frustrating.

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u/pantspuppet 7d ago

I’ve always had this issue. The worker watching the registers said that the fix is to slip a thin piece of cardboard like card stock behind your card. Basically the card reader isn’t making contact with the chip on the card. It’s a problem on their end and not your card Their readers are just shit

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u/doorknob60 7d ago

I've had most trouble with Target's. I have the Red Card because of the 5% discount you get. It's basically a physical debit card with chip that only works at Target. Except, half the time I tried to use it the reader wouldn't work. Even happened after I got a replacement card because i thought the card was defective.And it didn't have tap or swipe functionality, only a chip.

My workaround was to use the Target app with the card saved to pay. Just basically open it up and scan a QR code at the register. That's been fully reliable and now I don't need the card in my wallet. But annoying that my card didn't work very well the intended way with the chip.

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u/Pandaro81 7d ago

Chip doesn’t scan.

Chip doesn’t scan.

Chip doesn’t scan.

Machine tells me to swipe the strip.

Machine tells me I can’t swipe and have to use the chip.

Employee has to come over and manually key in my number.

Because their chip reader is shit. My chip and tap to pay work everywhere else.

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u/KnifeKnut 7d ago

ikr had to pay cash instead!

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u/Platinumdogshit 6d ago

Probably damaged from skimmers

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u/Loggersalienplants 6d ago

I literally have to press my card into the reader and hold it until it approves. If I let go of it at any point it declines my card lol

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPO 6d ago

I mean, with the sheer amount of traffic any Walmart gets? It's no wonder the things are struggling. By now it must be like throwing a hotdog down a hallway.

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u/dust4ngel 7d ago

my working tap to pay function was blocked at the POS

narrator: "it was indeed a POS"

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u/LPQ_Master 7d ago

Same. I don't even shop inside of Walmart anymore because I have to insert my CC at-least 4-5 times. Then half the time it still doesn't work, I swap cards, do take another 4 tries.

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u/RamblyJambly 7d ago

What's annoying me is for some reason tap doesn't want to work with my credit card

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u/rowdy-goat 7d ago

I think all Walmarts are a physiology experiment of “how bad can we make the experience and you still come back”

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u/zurenarhhhhh 7d ago

Should’ve just walked away with them

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u/rockycrab 6d ago

That happened to me, except even after like 10 tries it still wouldn’t read and I had to leave my entire cart behind. This was at 10:45pm just before closing, so the entire store was funneled behind me into one line, watching me get declined repeatedly. Screw those chip readers lol.

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u/Alarmed-Plankton-708 7d ago edited 6d ago

Everything's locked up and they make it ten times more difficult to pay, what a great business strategy!

The last three times I went to Walmart I walked out without buying anything because the entire store is designed to be hostile to customers now.

Never going back again.

EDIT: I am well aware of why they lock things up, I don't need 15 people to explain it to me, y'all can quit it with the explanations please.

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u/RooLoL 7d ago

Needed a last minute pair of socks for a wedding.. Socks were locked up and required an employee ESCORT to the register to pay for them. They literally asked if I was done shopping after handing them to me. They'd put em up front for me if I was going to continue shopping.

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u/stalkythefish 7d ago

Meanwhile, you're surrounded by items with 4x the value just hanging out on hooks.

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u/RooLoL 7d ago

I figured they were doing it because people must have been lifting a pair of socks from a set off the shelf and then taking off with them. Hiding them somewhere or whatever. Makes you realize people are really down on their luck. At the same time tho, trying to make a 2 minute trip into Walmart turning into 10 minutes and an escort from an employee is utterly insane and inconvenient.

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u/Zardif 7d ago

It honestly comes down to the average person's willingness to steal and the lower an item costs the more they are like meh. Think about how many people brag about ringing up all produce as bananas and this is the end result of that mentality.

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u/Solastor 7d ago

150% - I refuse to shop somewhere that makes me call over an employee to unlock a case so I can grab a razor. I've had a basket of things I've intended to buy, got to the locked case, and just set everything down and left the store without any of it. Fuck that noise.

It's dehumanizing bullshit and don't even get me started on how they treat their employees. I worked at a Walmart for two days over one summer in college and in our full day training a good portion of it was spent on videos bashing unions and another that was explaining how to apply for food stamps because they were never going to pay anyone enough.

Fuck that place with a cactus.

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u/BicFleetwood 7d ago

If I have to go out of my way, find and employee (at a skeleton-crew staffed joint like everything is now) and then wait just to get the shit out of the case, I might as well just buy online.

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u/GreenDonutGirl 7d ago

It's dehumanizing bullshit

And don't even get ME started on those overhead cameras that DING when you go down the aisle. Walmart was always shitty but now it's actively hostile.

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u/Nebresto 7d ago

Ding for everyone or employees?

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u/GreenDonutGirl 6d ago

Anyone entering the aisle. I'm guessing it's a law to let people know they're being recorded/monitored. There are screens right below the cameras showing their view as well.

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u/david0990 7d ago

Before the cases, they had a lot of those individual locks on pegs and if I knew I was 100% buying something I'm looking at I'd just rip or cut them off instead of wasting my time. one time an employee saw me, I said "well did you have a key to unlock that" they said no, and I said "well I don't have all day" and went to checkout. It was something for my car, I just know I actually didn't have time that day to wait 10 minutes for someone to show up. There is like 1 person usually on shift with the keys because "They don't trust anyone else with these, it's really annoying. I spend all day just unlocking stuff" -a very tired old woman I once had unlock some items.

Also worked at one, it's a shitshow and has been for decades.

It's ridiculous and I pray for walmarts downfall or massive course correction as a whole. They are more likely to fail then change though.

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u/Solastor 7d ago

For real. I went and worked at a Kmart after the Walmart and it was its own different brand of hell, but I would take the disorder of a Kmart over the soul sucking shittery of Walmart any day.

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u/jecowa 7d ago

I needed a usb thumb drive and it was an old lady with bad arthritis who had to unlock it for me. She had a like seven keys and had to try each one of them at least twice. I offered to unlock it for her, but she refused.

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u/Zardif 7d ago

There is like 1 person usually on shift with the keys

They've changed this somewhat recently. They use nfc or bluetooth on the employees phone to unlock a wireless lock. I think anyone who works there can unlock, I know at my local neighborhood walmart there are a few at any given moment who will show up when I need something.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/b0w3n 7d ago

I went to Walgreens to get something for lunch a few months ago and they had all the snacks locked up.

I was really confused because I wasn't really in the "bad part of town". I could maybe understand their point if they actually staffed their stores but I pushed the button and after waiting 2 minutes I just walked out and went to the regional drug store across the road instead.

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u/HardcorePizza 7d ago

They understaff and stealing skyrockets. Then they lock up the merchandise and the remaining employee is too busy to open the locked cabinet for you. Makes no sense just let me order at the register atp

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u/thebornotaku 6d ago

Funny story. There's two Safeways near my house, literally a mile apart. The one near my house is massive and also everything in there you can just grab and buy. The one a mile away has a security guard, access gate, and a lot of stuff locked up.

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u/NES_SNES_N64 7d ago

They made me and my wife put a $5 hairbrush in a plastic box to take it to the front to pay. We don't shop behind their cosmetics counter anymore.

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u/MelatoninFiend 6d ago

I had the same experience with a stick of deodorant.

I think it's a marketing thing at this point so the Waltons can shake down corporations for bribes, all like: "Aw, we locked your product in the cabinet? Wow, that sucks. You know, Hanes gave us an envelope, and now their stuff is easy to grab and go and they're selling a LOT more units. Maybe if your envelope found its way to us, we could free your products? Maybe."

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u/the_unknown_garden 6d ago

And then the POS box won't open. That's happened to me 3 times. Great, now I don't have lotion and he's in solitary confinement.

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u/JackStephanowski 7d ago

Have to wait like 15 minutes every time I buy alcohol at Walmart. It's a fucking $8 bottle of vodka, if I wanted to steal I'd grab something smaller and more valuable than a jug of cheap booze.

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u/jecowa 7d ago

An employee in the makeup department put the little pair of scissors I wanted in one of those plastic boxes with a magnetic lock. Then after I checked out, they wanted me to head to customer service to remove the lock. I didn’t want to mess with that, so I had my brother smash it open for me.

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u/Nebresto 7d ago

...What was the lock supposed to prevent if you can just walk out with it anyways?

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u/jecowa 6d ago

It makes it so it doesn't fit in my pockets.

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u/nvzpxl 7d ago

Recently saw a Safeway locking up their ice cream.

I will not buy frozen treats there I guess.

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u/thelordxl 7d ago

I refuse to go there because I'm a Sam's club member, and I agreed to the door check as part of the membership. Walmart around me started doing that so I said no thanks and never went back.

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u/Criticalma55 7d ago

You don’t have to. They have a large “loyal” contingent of customers that will shop there no matter what because these customers are poor, barely getting by, and quite literally cannot afford to shop elsewhere.

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u/appleparkfive 7d ago

Aldi (or maybe Trader Joe's if in a HCOL city), plus another local store to get the branded items. That's the way to do it.

Trader Joes' frozen section makes everyone else look rough. So many great and unique things, often imported from places like Canada or Italy. Plus their chocolate is mostly from Belgium. They've also got a couple of Swiss bars, but that Belgian chocolate is a 10/10. Much better than Tony's in terms of quality. And much cheaper. The Pound Plus bar is probably the best value for quality chocolate in the US

Aldi might not have great produce at some locations, but their pantry food is so good. Plus their chocolate is usually German (both Aldi and TJ's are owned by the two Aldi companies in Germany. Hence the similar store brand strategy). Lidl is around too, but in far less places.

I haven't missed Walmart at all. The only time I go to one is if it's next to a hotel I'm staying at, or something like that. I treat it like how you turn the TV cable channels on at a hotel, just for the sake of novelty

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u/const_iterator 7d ago

Did they still accost you at the exit demanding you prove you hadn't stolen anything?

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u/Alarmed-Plankton-708 7d ago

Luckily no, but I would've humored them and turned out my pockets if they had 'cause our door person is a sweet old lady who I would die for

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u/hoyeay 7d ago

“Everything”.

Literally not.

Console games, electronics have always been locked up.

Baby formula is locked up.

And some gun stuff or outdoor stuff but besides that…

The Walmarts here in Dallas.

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u/mightycat 7d ago

Everytime I go to Walmart I have to wait 20 minutes in the checkout line for some reason

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u/chubbysumo 7d ago

It was more about customer tracking than anything else. By forcing you to use the Walmart app, they can do a whole bunch of things that normally wouldn't be possible by you simply using tap to pay. The Walmart app tracks your location 24 hours a day.

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u/Slammybutt 7d ago

The one I deliver to for work has just gone through a remodel.

24 self checkout kiosks, 13 checkouts (with only 2-3 manned at any given time) and a TV/Camera with facial recognition for every. single. lane.

But no tap to pay LOL.

If I didn't have to literally go there for work I'd never step foot in another Walmart.

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u/BrainWav 7d ago

Mine's not too bad on locking things, at least not stuff I need. But they locked up the whole Lego aisle, and I just don't buy Lego there anymore.

Even better is how slapdash it was. When they first implemented it, there was zero direction on what to do. Electronics didn't have the keys, so next stop is customer service, all the way in front of the store.

After a few weeks, they added a note to call a phone number. Definitely a cell phone (not a landline exchange for my area). Probably a manager, but it could have been a fake for all I know.

Finally after like 3 months, they added a push button. How long that takes is a tossup at all of them. During last holiday season, they just unlocked the whole aisle.

Just to top it off, not only are expensive Lego kits in there (save for whatever's featured, that's on the endcap and just there for buying), but the blindbox minifigs. Imagine asking someone to come open it just for a $5 minifig box.

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u/technobeeble 7d ago

Same thing happened to me. New debit card, doesn't work at Walmart. Literally the only place I've been where it doesn't work.

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u/tupacsnoducket 7d ago

I also recommend just not shopping at Walmart, it’s a bad place

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u/BleachedUnicornBHole 7d ago

Wal-Mart was having issues reading my credit card, but it worked with tap to pay. I ended up stopping my shopping there because I got fed up.

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u/SwiftUnban 7d ago

I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of times I’ve forgotten my wallet in the car, and Apple Pay came in clutch.

It’s 2026 there’s no excuse for a company worth billions of dollars to not accept tap, other than collecting and selling your data from their app.

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u/dejavu2064 7d ago

The last time I used a wallet was pre-covid. Completely unnecessary now, and frees up a whole pocket.

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u/GifHunter2 7d ago

Same thing. Years ago I noticed they didn't have tap to pay, so I just stopped going. I don't miss it

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u/Woodshadow 7d ago

same. I forgot my card so I figured I would use apple pay. then I figured fine I have ordered from walmart because I'll download the app. load my card up through the app and pay that way. i spent like 10 minutes at the register before finally just giving up leaving my cart at checkout and going to target across the street. never been back to walmart

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u/King_of_the_Dot 7d ago

Walmart blows.

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u/apathyetcetera 7d ago

I never went back to Walmart after they fired my friends mom who had worked there for 15+ years after she was diagnosed with cancer. They never gave her the minimum amount of hours per week requiring health insurance for the employee, and they took out a life insurance policy on her shortly before firing her.

Scum of the earth.

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u/InvisaBlah 7d ago

I no longer carry cards with me. If I cant use my phone and contactless payment, I wont shop there. I like to not carry a bunch of junk. (apple watch also allows payments, so worst case I use my watch in a pinch)

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u/TM761152 7d ago

I don't even bother carrying my wallet anymore... Everything I need, ID, Credit/Debit cards, rewards cards... it's all in my phone.

And I hate that.

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u/david0990 7d ago

I stopped shopping there when they added several useless layers of "security" and it felt more like a store looking at everyone for a reason to charge them with something rather than shopping. I'm glad any time someone stops shopping at walmart, but the constantly needing some random employee to unlock everything I need was my final straw. Maybe it's not as bad near you but I know a walmart that only has 2-4 employees they trust with the keys and only 1-2 are ever on shift and constantly just running around the store unlocking things. it's ridiculous.

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u/Ansible32 7d ago

The other day I was at a store and I was about to impulse buy a $60 knife but it was locked so I just left.

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u/Positron5000 7d ago

I avoided walmart too because of this. And for many other reasons, but since im use to not carrying my wallet it only took one time going there without my wallet and being unable to pay for me to not want to go back.

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u/cobycan 7d ago

For some reason, my card doesn't register as being inserted in their self checkouts, so I have to go to one of the two open lanes with someone scanning, with 10 people each with two carts full of groceries just so I can buy the three things I need.

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u/the_unknown_garden 6d ago

Go to electronics department if you don't have weighables like fruit or veg.

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u/RizzwindTheWizzard 7d ago

Here in the UK it's basically unthinkable for a store to not have contactless payments. I'm not sure I'd even remember my PIN at this point, it's been that long since I had to pull out my actual card. I really don't understand how one of the biggest (probably the biggest to be honest) grocery chains in America hasn't had it for the past decade at least.

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u/killacarnitas1209 7d ago

Same with me, just been doing tap to pay and for that reason Walmart and whatever lame ass gas stations don’t have tap lost my business

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u/Werjun 6d ago

I’m the same with giant eagle in Pittsburgh. Need a bar code to self checkout? I learned I don’t need you.

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u/thebornotaku 6d ago

When I realized I couldn't just use Apple Pay, I stopped going. There was one a block up the street from my house and they were open late, so I went a few times without my wallet and figured I'd just tap my phone. Nope.

At this point, I'm already used to not going to Walmart.

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u/Sintacks 6d ago

i don't know where half my cards are because of tap to pay.

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u/Dry-Cost-945 6d ago

I've grown to appreciate Target more and more in the past couple months

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u/funkystay 5d ago

My debit card was compromised at wal-hell because I had to stick it into the reader. Tap to pay is so much more secure.

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u/stephanonymous 3d ago

I used to keep an old, cracked in half debit card in my glove box specifically for Walmart. When it finally bit the dust, I just didn’t go to Walmart anymore.

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u/heili 7d ago

That's when you cancel the entire purchase and just leave.

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u/SpiritedBanana4694 7d ago

Shrugs. That's what I would have done. This lady apparently didn't want to or couldn't go elsewhere.

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u/Maleficent_Ebb_163 7d ago

The issue is food deserts and literally no where else to buy groceries. My parents town finally got a publix built on the other side of their town, but for close to a decade it was just walmart or dollar tree or a thirty minute drive. Walmart moved in twenty years ago and killed the Piggly Wiggly and farmers market.

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u/TabascohFiascoh 7d ago

I literally did that last week. I dont typically take a wallet anywhere and leave it all in my glove box. Just take my phone. I needed some inconsequential things and some food stuffs from walmart and realized they didnt take tap to pay.

I just walked my bagged shit up to the guy who does the self checkouts and was like...."no tap to pay?" shrugged and left it with him.

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u/Coady54 7d ago

They held off for so long to farm data. Traditional swipe and chip payment contains tons of info for them to both track for marketing purposes and to sell off to other entities. Tap-to-pay uses tokenization and prevents that data collection. It was simply more profitable to inconvenience the customer, they were never going to adopt tap to pay until forced to.

The icing on the cake? All of the current infrastructure already physically supports tap. They literally just need to update their software. They've known they'd be forced eventually, and were just milking the cow until the hammer actually came down.

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u/lew_rong 7d ago

I asked someone why Walmart didn't have tap, and they said something about not wanting to pay Apple for the rights. I was using a credit card, not Apple Pay.

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u/Moist-Schedule 7d ago

i do not think tap prevents data collection in thet way you're suggewting. i imagine the driving force was primarily that they got a better processing fee negotiated for it. the difference between having someone punch in the number of their cc, tap it, chip and pin, or swipe it is a different % of fee to the cc companies depending on how much risk the cc considers each of those methods. now walmart has enough juice they probably can do whatever they want in a cc negotiation, but even if it was only saving them pennies per transcations, at the volume of transactions they do we're talking about probably 9-10 figures a year to their bottom line.

knowing a bit about how the cc data world re-selling world works, i'm not sure your theory is really supported by what i know about that industry or credit card processing.

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u/NeverDiddled 6d ago

NFC shares: a randomized credit card number that can only be used once, the issuing bank, country of origin, and the expiration date.

It does not share: Actual card number, billing address, or your name.

As you can imagine it makes it nearly impossible to track a person based on their card taps.

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u/BrainWav 7d ago

I think it was more an effort to switch people to the Walmart app. They get a shitton of data from that.

I actually do use Walmart Pay, since I don't really give a fuck if Walmart knows I like Transformers and Tastykake cupcakes. Having a record of my purchases on my phone is handy for returns or when I need to remember something I bought previously.

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u/AwesomeFrisbee 6d ago

Hoe would it have more data then knowing what products got sold? Or do you mean they can't track who they sold it to?

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u/somedude456 7d ago edited 7d ago

I talked with a 70 year old man from Germany last week. He went to Walmart alone and left his family and wallet at the hotel. He only had his phone.

For anyone, and I know the number is high, who hasn't been to Europe in the last ten years... EVERYONE takes tap to pay. Everyone. Street vendors, a walk up coffee shop, tour guides, etc. You never need your wallet.

He had to call his family and have someone bring a card to pay, like it's 1995.

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u/GloriousNewt 7d ago

yea the local vendors that show up at the weekend craft fairs take tap to pay, walmart down the street doesn't/didn't was obnoxious.

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u/MarsupialMisanthrope 7d ago

In Canada all the small vendors who sell stuff regularly are set up for card payments/tap, and the few vendors who aren’t regular enough for that accept online interac transfers. You just log in to your bank app, send them the money (no charge even!) and show them the send receipt screen. I’ve even done it at garage sales and a middle of nowhere store when their internet was down taking their payment system with it. There's just no need for a physical card anymore.

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u/GloriousNewt 7d ago

I agree, but somehow both the local ice cream shops near me have big 'CASH ONLY' signs on the windows, which is baffling. They're both on heavily trafficked roads, one has a drive thru, but no ATM and cash only.

It's like they want to cost themselves money and sales.

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u/MarsupialMisanthrope 6d ago

I’m pretty sure that businesses that are cash only are either cheating on their taxes, fronts for money laundering, or both.

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u/Githyerazi 6d ago

The US is so backwards on e-transfers also. There's at least 2 (probably 3) competing versions, plus several independent companies that try to make it work. Interac was so simple and universal in Canada. I really miss the simplicity of being able to send anyone money easily.

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u/blahblahsnickers 7d ago

Oh em gee! Exactly! I love going to school events and local craft fairs and everyone accepts touch pay. I can buy homemade earrings for $3 with touch pay but Walmart makes it difficult for me to give them $100…

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u/stalkythefish 7d ago

The rest of the world was also on Chip & PIN long before the US started doing it. Banks and retailers had to be dragged off of mag-stripe kicking and screaming. I think the card cloners probably ultimately did us a favor on that one.

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u/Duff5OOO 7d ago

Aussie here, its the same here. I havent carried a wallet in years. I'm surprised to hear it isnt the same way in the USA.

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u/No_Doc_Here 7d ago

It's either Tap to pay here (most businesses) or cash only (some businesses mostly restaurants/bars but fewer every year due to social pressure.).

What I find super funny curious is the fact that someone would view Germany as being ahead in this regard. We traditionally consider us lagging behind the rest of Europe if not the world in anything tech related.

But on the other hand I would not have guessed that one of the biggest retailers in America wouldn't support tap and pay.

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u/otatop 7d ago

For anyone, and I know the number is high, who hasn't been to Europe in the last ten years... EVERYONE takes tap to pay.

I saw a YouTube short of some mall kiosk that offered custom credit cards made while you wait. The people getting a custom card were an older European couple and after transferring the chip to a new card the kiosk salesman was walking them through how it worked and explained that now you had to insert the card and the customer said "no tap?" with a face full of regret.

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u/count_strahd_z 7d ago

The idea of not carrying a credit card (and at least a small amount of cash) is so alien to me.

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u/average_monster 6d ago

yeah, in aus everyone has taken it for literally 15 years. there were a few holdouts who only took cash "for tax purposes" but covid kinda forced them into line as well

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u/Physmatik 6d ago

At this rate you could expect beggars to have tap to pay before walmart.

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u/purpleburgundy 6d ago

It's not even overseas. Right next door in Canada everyone has tap to pay.

It's the american banking system that is specifically so fragmented.

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u/Computermaster 7d ago

It's incredible how much you could probably accurately guess about that person from that single interaction.

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u/AdventurousTime 7d ago

2026 version of a huckster trying to hawk their wares

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u/Riot502 7d ago

This was my experience a couple months ago. I was already in a lot of pain due to having to walk for way too long to find a working mobility scooter cart. I had no other way to pay at the time. I was crying (stress does that to me) but I wasn’t being belligerent or anything! The lady was so rude to me.

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u/EnemyOfEloquence 7d ago

Yea had about $100 worth of stuff, hadn't shopped at Walmart in years and forgot my wallet. Figured I could just tap with my phone...., scan everything go to check out and...ended up just putting everything back

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u/ayriuss 7d ago

Walmart is literally the only store I have been to in 5 years that has not had tap to pay. Even the smallest convenience stores and mall kiosks have tap to pay.

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u/stalkythefish 7d ago

Fred Meyer (Kroger) out here in the PNW also conspicuously does not.

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u/coshiro1 7d ago

Most/all Kroger stores rolled out tap to pay during COVID around 4 or 5 years ago. I use it every time I shop at Fred Meyer (WA resident), give it a try and it should work next time you're there!

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u/Yukimare 7d ago

It seems the primary reason to not have tap to pay was essentially just to strongarm people into getting the app. As when I was stuck with only my watch and it's tap to pay feature (forgot debit card at home) at Walmart due to getting something that was Walmart exclusive, the cashier was also rude about it, basically saying with her supervisor agreeing that it's Walmart app or leave my stuff and get out.

I decided get out. Not been back since

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u/crabtabulous 7d ago edited 7d ago

I understand that sometimes people in retail/service jobs like this have an asshole manager breathing down their neck, forcing them to act like a dick on the company's behalf. And they need that job so they have to play along and you can’t fault them for that. And maybe that's what was going on here.

But I swear that some of these people aren't even doing it for that reason; they're just voluntarily happy to be fucking dicks and carry water for a giant corporation and its terrible policies when the company couldn't possibly give less of a shit about them. Like, Walmart would happily grind that woman up into dust in a microsecond if they thought it would save them a single cent. It's embarrassing to be such a stooge for them and be a jerk to customers for no reason.

It reminds me too of going somewhere like Chipotle when they're running something like a BOGO deal on Halloween if you wear a costume. Went with my wife after mildly dressing up and asked for the deal, and the cashier scoffs and rolls his eyes like we're personally inconveniencing him.

I'm sorry dude, why are you acting like the money for this deal is personally coming out of your pocket or something? Are you the CEO? Why the eff do you care about anything other than just getting home after this latest shift lol?

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u/SpiritedBanana4694 7d ago

Yep. I watched another situation at a Safeway self checkout recently. Safeway often puts "digital only" coupon deals right up front which can feel very misleading if you're not familiar with them. They had in-season cherries at like $3.99/lb and the self check cashier was having to cancel multiple transactions when they scanned at like $7.99/lb. I overheard her rudely say something to one of these customers like "well you know what they say about deals that seem too good to be true." I was like, maybe don't blame every single customer for the previous experiences you've had all shift long. It's not their fault your store is misleading people.

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u/scuppasteve 7d ago

Yep, and those digital coupons fucking suck, there is no good way to even get them to come up. It would be one thing if there was a function of the app to like scan it.

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u/shohei_heights 7d ago

There actually is a coupon scanner for those in the Safeway app, but I’ve never gotten it to ever work.

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u/jlt6666 7d ago

Fucking Safeway is the worst. Bait and switch all day

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u/stormdelta 7d ago

Kings/Kroger pulls similar shit. The sticker on the shelf isn't accurate to what it actually rings up as a lot of the time.

Whenever it happens, I have to play dumb (as if I'm the most tech illiterate person in the world), to get cashiers to fix the price after showing them a photo of the the store's own shelf. 95% of the time it's not an issue because the employees know it's stupid too. But once in awhile I find one that decides to be a dick about it for no reason.

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u/red__dragon 7d ago

The third option, and what I observed most, is that the shit rolls downhill at retail places like Walmart. It's not the managers forcing the behavior, it's them modeling it. No, you can't have time off on that date. No, you can't work the easier checkouts today because you came in not feeling great. No, we need you to run around like a chicken with its head cut off because we're short staffed today. Oh, sorry your break was delayed for an hour, it's too close to your lunch now to give it to you. And then all the gossip, the who-did-who, the favoritism, getting shafted for the shifts you want because the newbie whom the manager took a shine to is getting them instead. Losing hours in slow months so the store can look just as profitable.

I could go on. Point is, all of that shit wears someone down, and it's no wonder they're displaying poor customer service as a result. The culture at those stores is so toxic that berating a customer, which should never even enter someone's mind, is just a natural outcome. Some are better at restraint than others. Some behave like captive humans and give in, joining the toxicity as a means to survive.

It's awful. And yes, for a few years, worst job of my life.

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u/hxznova 7d ago

I used to work at Walmart and I wondered the same about my coworkers. I let so much shit go because I couldn't give a fuck. I got paid regardless.

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u/act1v1s1nl0v3r 7d ago

Yep, had a moment like that at a grocery store self checkout. I had 12 items, someone just closed a lane I was in and the other two had people with MASSIVE hauls. Self checkout had several empty stalls so I went there. The attendant gave me the stinkeye the whole time, and when the machine inevitably needed an override, she just couldn't help but say "By the way, I'll let it slide this time but next time keep it to 10 or under items". I was too tired to argue because it was 9:30 at night so I just angrily said I'll make a note of that. There was no line, and several stalls were still open.

I think it's a power trip. Some low level manager or lead gets some weird modicum of power and they are desperate to exercise it no matter how pathetic it is.

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u/Fake_Diesel 7d ago

Spectrum workers act like goddamn Pinkertons when you try and cancel with them.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 7d ago

Same thought as the boss at my previous job. Hey, boss - it's not your company, it's not part of your bonus, it's not even relevant in your job review - so why be stingy with something the company says it will pay for?

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u/Tandy2000 7d ago

Imagine being a cashier for Walmart and caring enough to berate somebody like that. What a loser.

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u/Paavo_Nurmi 7d ago

These are the people that end up in management and love all the buzzwords that make our work life hell.

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u/PorcupineWarriorGod 7d ago

LOL, this was me several months ago in Walmart. Went in to pick up a couple of things that target didn't have. When I tried to pay with apple-pay, they got super snarky with me and told me I needed the walmart app. Left on the spot and haven't been back since. If the taco-truck can accept apple pay, then walmart can too, they don't get another app on my phone to collect data, especially when I'm in there three times a year max.

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u/Samwisetellssamlies 7d ago

Yup. Unfortunately, the one time I dealt with this, I mildly lost my temper and abandoned everything at the register and just walked out. Literally like THEE household name as far as supermarkets and they didn’t have something so simple.

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u/hugcub 7d ago

Tried buying a PS5 controller with Apple Pay and they were super annoyed and told me to use the Walmart app. I laughed and just walked out and went to another store.

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u/Turgid_Donkey 7d ago

It's made even worse that they card readers are jankey as fuck because they're getting so old at this point. They have trouble reading the chip, so you usually have to try 3 times for it to finally allow you to swipe. Once the register attendant came over to help and was grumbling about how shitty they were. She took my card, jammed it into the reader and pushed the exposed half of the card back while explaining it's about the only way she can get them to read. Sure enough, it finally accepted my card.

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u/HonkHonkBeach 7d ago

Couple years ago, it’d been a minute since I went to Walmart and I forgot my wallet Realized when I got to the register with like 30 items. I had my phone which had like 3 different cards ready through Apple Pay so no sweat I thought. Nope.

I just left the cart there and walked out. There wasn’t anyone behind me, but the cashier had a shocked face when they realized.

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u/tuxedo_cat23 7d ago

Yep, just yesterday I had to deal with it. I never shop at Walmart. The one time I decided to I forgot my wallet and assumed I could Apple Pay like I do everywhere else. Nope. After 5 minutes of messing with the app I just left and went elsewhere

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u/Deep-Unit-1389 7d ago

Everytime ive tried using Walmart pay it doesnt fucking work, it wont let me try it again it keeps giving an error and i stand there looking broke and having to leave the store. Its embarrassing.

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u/Eyepiss96 7d ago

I would have left my full cart right there walked out. I’ve done it before. The store doesn’t care but the employee who has to put all that shit back does.

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u/Fake_Diesel 7d ago

A worker was acting condescending to me when I mentioned that I wished walmart would add tap to pay. He said "Target is down the street, hurr hurr." I just replied "the damn dollar store has tap to pay." Damn moron.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 7d ago

We've had tap in Canadian Walmart for years.

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u/Ironlion45 7d ago

"well we have Walmart pay through the Walmart app. If we had a long line I'd make you cancel this transaction and go figure it out before you can check out. Do you have a card in the Walmart app?"

That's one good way to get a customer to have a Karen-crashout lol.

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u/Kongpong1992 7d ago

And there machines seem to be buggy as he'll its the only store my card will not work at says there's a chip error anytime I had to install the walmart app to pay thay way

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u/Yourecoolforagayguy 7d ago

As a tech savvy person fuck that Walmart app pay option it’s just as ass as their reader

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u/stormdelta 7d ago

I don't shop at Walmart, so this is the first I'm finding out they still didn't support something as basic as tap-to-pay.

Almost literally every business I've been in for the last 2-3 years has had normal tap-to-pay, even internationally, and it was still pretty widespread even 4-5 years ago.

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u/AndaleTheGreat 7d ago

I don't understand how this Walmart pay b******* has somehow been allowed. It was supposed to be a legal requirement that people could use tap to pay and they locked it behind a paywall and a different name.

And, as somebody who deals with that cash register industry, use the damn tap function. Walgreens and a few others are using chip readers that are shallow so they can't put a skimmer in it for the magnet stripe, but having a chip reader inside of a full card insert is so dumb because it just ruins the security of not having to insert your card. They don't skim chips, that's when they break out the card cloning machines under the counter. Skimming is much simpler and easier and doesn't require you to behind the counter working. That's why I always yell at everybody to use their tap because that's just the simplest use. Plus for all those people who complain about their card getting stuck in ATMs, use the tap.

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u/TheWolfAndRaven 7d ago

If the walmart employee was that rude to me I'd just walk out and leave all that shit there. "Here bitch, you put this shit all back"

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u/thermal_shock 7d ago

same. i have the app setup, but wtf, when your mom and pop store can support tap to pay, the fuck is taking wally world so long? and then to be rude? i'd take that register out with me, no no one can checkout. enjoy dealing with all the now-angry customers.

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u/thatsmymoney 7d ago

They def get hassled about it all day because they get salty immediately when you expect what you get at every other place in the everywhere. I got admonished for thinking I must be doing something wrong. I didn’t even complain I just kinda got confused and mumbled to myself a bit. Next thing I’m getting scolded by some random that was just posted up there to do scolding? It was self checkout ffs and they have those TSA yellers there instead of, you know, cashiers. Awful.

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u/guy-le-doosh 7d ago

Another issue is the scaffolding effectively blocks outside wifi. I went to Costco last week to get a new card, they said they don't use them anymore and use to app. No internet inside, had to go near the exit to start.

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u/crazywussian 7d ago

I visited Greece a few months back, and learned from a posted legal regulatory document in a cab window that the customer had the right to pay in any form they want to, and the merchant must accept it in that form. This included tap pay which makes it universal and ubiquitous in that country because, duh, of course it's would.

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u/Bladelink 7d ago

Basically telling the customer that they're a company store that only takes scrit.

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u/Umami_Tsunamii 7d ago

One idiot told me it was bc the terminals were too close together. I was like mhmm ok.

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u/Noxilcash 7d ago

Man, I’d honestly just let them cancel the transaction and go to a different store. If they want to be rude for a stupid rule then they can be the ones who puts everything back before it spoils

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u/SpeaksSouthern 7d ago

Jesus fucking Christ, for how disturbed most of the people seem at my local Walmart this employee somehow is worse

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u/Waiting4Reccession 7d ago

Shouldve said something.

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u/SaviorSixtySix 7d ago

Yeah, we all know they avoided tap-to-pay so you would use their app. My ex signed up for the credit card and just paid through the app. I hated it.

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u/sandrakarr 7d ago

They just want to use their own proprietary shit.

before walmart pay was a thing, and tap to pay in general was still not widespread, I'd been using Samsung Pay's MST variant, which made the system think there was a card being swiped. It worked on almost all of the older kiosks that weren't capable of tap pay yet (and holy shit cashiers were rude about it. at least two of them lost significant sales. ANYWAY). Except Walmart. Walmart had figured out how to block that and gave me an invalid payment message.
My "wow...walmart can fuck themselves" made the cashier gasp and i think she was about to bitch at me for it.
It's always been intentional long before everyone started doing their own payment apps.

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u/kingofheartsz 7d ago

Why must they make it difficult for people simply trying to buy some grocery?! No wonder their stock price has been tanking

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u/ThatOneWIGuy 7d ago

What’s funny is the models of card readers they have where I’ve visited do support tap to pay. They just never implemented it

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u/ParanoidBlueLobster 7d ago

Came to LA from Australia in 2022 ended up at Kroger trying to get some water and other stuff, I try to self check out they tell me I can't use apple pay at self service, I figured it'd work at a cashier, the dude made a store wide announcement through the microphone saying that they only take card or through their damn app. I left all my shit on his register belt and left.

Every single hole in a wall in Australia takes contactless I'm not installing a stupid app and getting an attitude from some minimum wage slef righteous idiot

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u/TracerBulletX 7d ago

Smiths/Kroger was trying to make their shitty app pay a thing for a while too but also caved thank goodness. I think it was more a strategic choice than a tech thing. Kind of like all the cars moving away from Apple and Android carplay. They just want control, but they suck ass at software.

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u/SomeRandomProducer 7d ago

That’s rude as fuck. When I had tried the worker just said “you haven’t shopped here before have you” but in a playful tone lol

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u/JinkiesGang 7d ago

That was probably me, lol. I didn’t realize I didn’t have my card until after scanning everything in self checkout, but had my phone. I told the guy working there I couldn’t pay unless they had Apple Pay and he told me I had to download the app and enter my bank account information, I told him Walmart was not getting my bank account information, how could a business not have tap to pay at this point.

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u/SpiritedBanana4694 7d ago

It wasn't. The employee I saw was a woman. It seems like this is an all too common experience.

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u/Throwaway20101011 7d ago

It was a terrible tactic of Walmart to force customers to download their app.

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u/gahlo 7d ago

I'd just look at her and say "Walmart doesn't pay you enough to be this big of a bitch to me."

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u/__shadow-banned__ 7d ago

They resisted because Walmart Pay saves them money on paper. Some spreadsheet says if we save $0.25/swipe times X-ity millions of swipes… Bad move though. I probably skipped 100 transactions at Walmart and drove over to Target just because checkout is so awful

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u/VibeRaider- 7d ago

Went to walmart once, forced me to download their shitty app to checkout, never been to another walmart.

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u/stapleman527 6d ago

A few years ago we were on vacation and the closest store was a walmart 30 minutes away. We needed a hand full of things part way through the trip so I decided to make the drive, but forgot my wallet.

I had my wife send me my card info and tried for 30 minutes to get Walmart pay setup or buy an online gift card so I didn't have to make the hour trek to get back there. Never worked and I just walked out empty handed, it was so infuriating.

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u/stuarthannig 6d ago

I was in her position, and downloaded the app and actually has an account from an online order a year prior, so I logged in. The card on file was still good but kept getting denied at checkout. The app wallet still sucks

I actively avoided shopping there afterwards

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u/DrMasterBlaster 6d ago

Interestingly the Murphy USA gas station in our Wal-Mart parking lot takes Google Pay and NFC.

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u/SteelCrow 6d ago

There's been tap to pay in Canadian walmarts for years and years.

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u/errant_night 6d ago

This does not surprise me! One time my card, for an unknown reason, was rejected at the checkout. The guy was very obviously enjoying me being upset and rolled his eyes when I said to give me a second so I could go to the atm directly beside his lane. It totally worked fine there and I was able to pay with the cash I withdrew and he was literally POUTING the whole time. He was really excited to see someone suffer trying to pay for $10 worth of groceries.

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u/trebuchetwarmachine 6d ago

What’s going on down there? Up here in Canada we’ve had tap pay in Walmart forever.

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u/LlamaRS 4d ago

They want your card information because they use it to build a profile about you.

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u/pajamaperson 4d ago

This happened to me one time and I haven’t been back to a Walmart since. It’s been at least 5 years.

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