Slashdot Mirror
Walmart Now Lets You Pay With Phone At All 4,600 US Stores Via Walmart Pay (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Walmart will now let customers make purchases with their phone at all 4,600 of its stores in the U.S. The feature is called Walmart Pay and it works by letting the cashier scan a QR code on a customer's phone screen to complete their payment. The technology is different than Apple, Samsung, and Android Pay, which involves tapping your phone next to a payment terminal with NFC. The company wants to make shopping easier and faster, and with its own payment app, Walmart can get insights into consumer behavior, though it says it won't use the data without a shopper's permission. Walmart says no payment information is stored on users' phones or at registers -- card information is stored on Walmart servers. Note: Samsung Pay also uses magnetic secure transmission (MST) to make purchases. When a smartphone with Samsung Pay is held against a register with a magnetic stripe terminal, the phone emits a magnetic signal that simulates the magnetic strip found on the back of a credit or debit card.
i'm waiting for Apple Pay
One more fucking way to pay that isn't convenient everywhere. Fuck Walmart.
captcha: simplify (go figure)
"Walmart can get insights into consumer behavior, though it says it won't use the data without a shopper's permission." ...and using Walmart Pay will be considered consent. But I guess the honest statement of "we will data mine the fuck out of all purchase information we can snag, and by using Walmart Pay you maximize our opportunity" doesn't sound so nice.
Right, so I want to have an app for every store. One for WalMart, one for Bev Mo, one for Best Buy, one for Safeway, one for whatever else. I want to link a BANK ACCOUNT to it. You know that is how they do it - there are two points for these guys - 1) get out of the credit card fee, and 2) collect a lot of data on customers. With Apple Pay and Android Pay they get the credit card fee and they can't collect data since they get a pseudo card number. I do NOT want all these stores to have apps with access to my bank account. Way to much potential downside there...
I try not to be elitist about this sort of thing
If you have to exert effort to not appear elitist then you're an elitist so might as well own it. Back in the real world, Walmart's food prices are significantly below the supermarket chains and allow families to feed themselves with better quality food than what would otherwise be possible if they had to pay higher prices. The harsh realities of how poor feed themselves might not make for touchy, feel-good sentiments but it makes for full bellies.
They sell the same stuff as the other grocery stores around here, just at lower prices. The produce is sourced locally where possible (like Kroger and Publix).
Why do you think they sell different stuff?
Or are you the typical cluefuck elitist who thinks that only organic overpriced stuff from Whole Foods is "healthy"?
Do you have ESP?