To me the annoying part isn't that they don't accept Apple Pay (or any phone-app pay except their own). I don't have any Apple devices and I don't use Google Pay (or anyone else's phone-app pay). While TFA is correct that Apple Pay (or Google/Samsung/whatever pay) doesn't
cost WalMart more than a physical credit card - TFA doesn't mention a highly relevant detail: a
phone-app payment company can act as the 'issuing bank' and make a tiny fraction of a percent more (like ~0.3%) for being the clearinghouse. Not all phone-pay apps set up as an issuing bank as there's some overhead but it's more than worth it if you're the world's largest retailer. Note: this fee is
not the same as the 2-3% "merchant fee". The clearinghouse fee is much smaller and never goes back to the merchant - unless the merchant IS is the phone-app company. I think WalMart figures "If anyone is 'playing bank' and making even a tiny rake in our store, it should be us."
The collateral damage is that, as a result, WalMart stopped taking plain old plastic credit card tap-to-pay which I prefer to use because it's faster, more secure and far more reliable than 'swipe card' or 'insert card chip' (because WalMart's physical readers are often flaky on self-checkout stations due to their high volume usage).
I suspect the main reason WalMart attaches a metal plate over the contactless area on their payment terminals which blocks ALL forms of tap-to-pay is simply that credit card tap-to-pay appears the same as phone-app tap-to-pay (because both are 'contactless') and one type of tap-to-pay working while the another type doesn't "would confuse customers". Which is a dumb reason to disallow a faster, more reliable form of payment that some people would like to use. It's not a money thing because to WalMart a credit card tap-to-pay is exactly the same as a swipe or chip insert of the same card, whereas a phone-app tap-to-pay isn't the same - even if the user settles the phone app bill using the same physical credit card.
The collateral damage is that, as a result, WalMart stopped taking plain old plastic credit card tap-to-pay which I prefer to use because it's faster, more secure and far more reliable than 'swipe card' or 'insert card chip' (because WalMart's physical readers are often flaky on self-checkout stations due to their high volume usage).
I suspect the main reason WalMart attaches a metal plate over the contactless area on their payment terminals which blocks ALL forms of tap-to-pay is simply that credit card tap-to-pay appears the same as phone-app tap-to-pay (because both are 'contactless') and one type of tap-to-pay working while the another type doesn't "would confuse customers". Which is a dumb reason to disallow a faster, more reliable form of payment that some people would like to use. It's not a money thing because to WalMart a credit card tap-to-pay is exactly the same as a swipe or chip insert of the same card, whereas a phone-app tap-to-pay isn't the same - even if the user settles the phone app bill using the same physical credit card.