“With a wave of your iPhone 6 or the soon-to-be-released Apple Watch, you can buy groceries or fill up your gas tank at Meijer using Apple Pay,” Shandra Martinez reports for MLive. “This isn’t a case of the Midwest retailer signing on to accept Apple’s new online payment service, but rather that it syncs with mobile pay technology already available at its 213 stores.”
“Meijer installed Near Field Communication technology, also known as ‘tap and pay,’ five years ago for its branded MasterCard and Visa credit cards. Since then, it has been used by customers with other payment methods,” Martinez reports. “‘If a customer has Apple Pay capability, our hardware works with it,’ Frank Guglielmi, Meijer spokesman, said.”
“Apple Pay has grown into the biggest mobile payment system since it was launched Oct. 20, reports the Associated Press. The free service lets people make purchases using a credit card or debit card, and a thumbprint. iPhone 6 owners set up 1 million Apple Pay accounts in the first 72 hours it was offered, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced Monday,” Martinez reports. “Apple Pay, which works with the six largest credit card companies, can be used at more than 200,000 storefronts across the country. Retailers accepting Apple Pay include McDonald’s, Whole Foods and Walgreens.”
“Meijer is both a member of MCX and listed on Apple’s site to use Apple Pay. At this point, Meijer does not plan on blocking Apple Pay. ‘We don’t plan to remove or disable these systems,’ Guglielmi told MLive on Tuesday,” Martinez reports. “The New York Times reported today that retailers who signed up for CurrentC are legally forbidden from accepting Apple Pay. ‘If these retailers break their contracts, they will face steep fines for doing so,’ reports the NYT’s Mike Isaac. But Peter Carstensen, who teaches antitrust at the University of Wisconsin Law School, tells Reuters that approach could be a violation of antitrust laws if there is an organized effort by the retailers to drop Apple [Pay].”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Meijer has stores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. We urge our readers in those states to patronize Meijer and use Apple Pay if at all possible. Meijer store locations are here.
Unlike CurrentC, Apple doesn’t save your transaction information. With Apple Pay, your payments are private. Apple Pay doesn’t store the details of your transactions so they can’t be tied back to you. That is what Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid et al. hate about Apple Pay and why they currently won’t accept it.
Boycott non-cash payment systems from any company that willfully turns off NFC in an effort to block the vastly more secure, much more private, and far easier-to-use Apple Pay service.
[Attribution: 9to5Mac. Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “Jonathan,” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Feeling the heat, MCX CurrentC consortium suggests possible future switch to NFC – October 30, 2014
Analyst: CurrentC retailers likely to blink and support Apple Pay – October 29, 2014
Why CurrentC will beat out Apple Pay in the end – October 29, 2014
How to punish Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, and others who block Apple Pay – October 29, 2014
iPhone users and Android settlers raid reviews of CurrentC payments app – October 29, 2014
Retailer-backed MCX Apple Pay rival has already been hacked; testers’ email addresses stolen – October 29, 2014
Why Walmart, CVS and Rite-Aid really hate Apple Pay: They can’t track your buying habits – October 29, 2014
CurrentC retailers’ conundrum: MCX contract expressly bars Apple Pay acceptance – October 29, 2014
Retailers like CVS and Rite Aid that block Apple Pay are taking a big security risk – October 28, 2014
Apple Pay tussle with CVS, Rite Aid the first shot in mobile payments war – October 28, 2014
In one week, Apple Pay already No. 1; used more than all other mobile payment systems combined – October 28, 2014
Alibaba’s Jack Ma says open to working with Apple on Apple Pay – October 28, 2014
Tim Cook blasts CVS, Rite Aid over Apple Pay blockade: ‘You only are relevant if your customers love you’ – October 28, 2014
Seeking personal data, Walmart, Best Buy, and others won’t let shoppers enjoy Apple Pay privacy – October 27, 2014
Boycott CVS and Rite Aid – October 27, 2014
Bad business: CVS and Rite Aid antagonize their most well-heeled customers by blocking Apple Pay – October 27, 2014
CVS stores reportedly disabling NFC to shut down Apple Pay – October 25, 2014
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Apple’s iOS dominates in richer countries, Android in poorer regions – March 25, 2014
Twitter heat map shows iPhone use by the affluent, Android by the poor – June 20, 2013
iPhone users smarter, richer than Android phone users – August 16, 2011
Yankee Group: Apple iPhone owners shop more, buy more, remain more loyal vs. other device users – July 20, 2010
Sweet music.
Now it is time to send Meijer an email thanking them for supporting Apple Pay.
The flip side of a boycott- “I will patronize your establishment because you look after your customers”.
Done!
also wrote to cvs( got response from them thanking me for my perspective on applepay and mcx’s bulling ways …)
Wrote riteaid and mcx as well … No response
Wrote Doj .
And posted/ post in every relevent forum and blog.
Encourage everyone to do so !
Mcx wont get away with this.. But we all have to do our part
Yay Meijer. I shop at Meijer every Saturday morning for my groceries, and will continue to do so!
And the dominoes begin to fall…
I shop here every week for groceries. I have already used apple pay there 3 times I think. I love it.
What if you take an item back to the store that you purchased with Apple Pay? Can they credit your card using the Apple Pay system?
Damn that’s a good question. I might have to test that out.
From Consumer Reports’ (somewhat flawed) review: the answer is yes, refunds work.
“All of the mobile wallets did well executing refunds. Essentially, they work the same way as a purchase–except in reverse; when you wave your phone or fob near the card reader, the system electronically credits your account with a refund.”
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/09/virtual-wallet-review-apple-pay-google-wallet-softcard-and-loop-wallet/index.htm
Why wouldn’t they be able to?
ApplePay is just a device authorization method in top of an already existing payment protocol there’s no reason why you would not be able to perform a “credit” transaction.
It works just like a purchase but in the reverse. And it’s another new token issued, not a rehash of the old one, so it’s still completely secure.
Meijer is already the place I have used Apple Pay the most at! Last Tuesday evening, the elderly cashier there was so excited when I used my iPhone 6+ to pay with Apple Pay. She thought it was the coolest thing she’d ever seen, asked me how much an iPhone 6 would cost her, and what cards she could use on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has an iPhone 6 now!
I just checked Passbook … I have used Apple Pay 7 times at Meijer since Monday 10/20/14.
My word! Such bold comments!
Meijer stores are like Wal-Mart- only cleaner, nicer and much better run. Sam Walton saw their setup and copied it for his SuperCenters.
Only bad thing is that they are a regional outfit.
What’s wrong with regional?
Unless you’re saying it’s a bad thing because they’re not in your region …
I live out of the service area.
Lived in Michigan until the 5th Grade- long time ago.
Your description is spot on. My family has a small house in Ohio where we stay for several weeks while visiting relatives each year. We regularly shop at Meijer while there.
What’s that, AAPL? Cha-ching? I think so. 😛
Some business people I met in Michigan said that Meijer’s is well-run. Good products, employees and prices.
AND the best/freshest produce!
Unless there was some contractual dispute that forces retailers to only support CurrentC, the fairest thing for customers and retailers would be to let CurrentC and Apple Pay both be available and allow the customer choose between the two.
Give Meijer a call and thank them for supporting Apple Pay. I called and spoke to a very polite representative who said this feedback is important and will be forwarded to the corporate offices. Go to Meijer.com and select Customer Care.
Please write to customer service at CVS, Rite Aid, and especially Walmart and Best Buy and complain. It’s not appropriate for the latter two to sell the iPhone 6 and then not let its buyers use its important fingerprint authentication security features.
Here was my letter.
“I am a long time Rite-Aid Gold Club member (ID 714xxxxxxx) that also spends thousands of dollars on our (family of 6) prescriptions needs at your store on Valley View in Garden Grove CA.
I’ve been happy there and your employees have gone out of their way to be helpful and friendly.
Your decision to deliberately turn off a working Apple Pay system to . . . I’m not sure why you did that.
Was it to force us to use a less secure CurrentC system that now has a PR black eye that it will not recover from?
To collect data from us? You already do that with our Rite-Aid ID.
It can’t be that you do not want to accept credit cards because you still accept the same cards that Apple does.
Please don’t forget that you are not in the banking business but in the business of providing for your customer needs. You will still get my purchase habits when I input my Rite-Aid ID.
I am not going to have a knee-jerk reaction and stop shopping at Rite-Aid, yet. I know it takes time to correct a mistake made by your managers. But my choice is Apple Pay. (with Rite-Ad Club ID) If you don’t correct your mistake by December, I WILL move my business one block away to Walgreens. They also have a reputation for exceptional customer service.
Looking forward to continuing my long relationship with you.”
The anti trust argument is interesting. Is there a restraint of trade when the customer’s payment method is restricted? or Is it Apple’s right to provide the payment protocol that is restricted? You can still use your credit card, no? Does the MCX contract allow ONLY for their payment protocol?
This is what I meant when I said in an earlier comment… “Not all contracts are legal.”
It’s also why we won’t be using CurrenC
Go to Boycott MCX for a list of partners, alternatives, contact info and an easy way to email them all
http://boycott-mcx.com/