CVS and Rite Aid have stopped accepting Apple Pay, dragging
customers into a confusing and annoying fight over payment politics. The drug
stores are part of a consortium of major retailers who oppose mobile payment
technology like Apple Pay, mainly for two reasons. One, they want to escape the
1.5% to 3% fees they pay every time you swipe your credit card. Two, they want
to keep collecting data on shoppers.
To do this, the group started the Merchant Customer Exchange to
develop their own payment network. The network is called CurrentC, and while
it's only a coupon-and-rewards smartphone app now, it's designed to one day let
you pay at the register without using your credit card.
The new iPhone 6 includes a tap-to-pay feature that
works at any cash register equipped with something called Near Field
Communication technology. It works at McDonald's, Starbucks and
others.
But while CVS and Rite Aid have the radio wave
sensors at registers, they recently turned it off. Customers using any NFC
technology -- Apple Pay, Google Wallet, or Softcard among others --
will now get rejected at the register and told to pay another way.
Rite Aid flipped the switch without warning Friday midday,
and CVS followed suit late Friday night, according to a payment industry firm
that was alerted at the time.
On Monday, both CVS and Rite Aid defended their decision to
switch off NFC payments. Representatives at both companies said they are
currently "evaluating mobile payment options."
Those familiar with this ongoing behind-the-scenes battle
say retailers taking an anti-NFC stance are being shortsighted.
NFC expert Doug Yeager thinks tap-to-pay technology will win
eventually anyway. But until then, expect a nonsense patchwork of payment options.
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