MBW 709: Masks and Meringue

Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…

What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!

In the joke about Walmart, they do take contactless payment and it is more contactless than Apple Pay/Google Pay as if a debit card is linked you don’t have to enter your pin into a pin pad. Apple, Samsung, and Google would do good to add Walmart’s method to their payment system of scanning a QR code associated with the order and regardless of whether it is a credit or debit card run it as a credit transaction.

1 Like

QR codes are a pain for payments. Apple/Google Pay is perfectly contactless - hover a couple inches over the reader and that’s it. No PIN, no signature. Is that not the case in the USA?

1 Like

I don’t know about Apple, but that is my experience with Google Pay. No pin, no contact.

I guess it depends on the payment limit too. Here, the limit for contactless payments is A$200 (recently increased from $100), above which a PIN is required - the same for Apple/Google Pay and cards alike.

2 Likes

At the stores I go to that accept Apple/Google pay (Aldi and Winn Dixie are the only stores that I might frequent that takes Tap to pay) since I have a debit card and not a credit card it still requires me to enter a pin.

At Walmart and Publix (both grocery stores that rather than use Apple/Google pay have their own QR code payment system) they if you have a payment method linked in thier app you just open the app scan the provided QR code and it charges your payment method as credit like an online purchase.

It also depends on the store, if they require a pin for actually using the physical card they will still require the pin for Apple/Google pay.

NFC is also a pain as you have to find a phone that has NFC and a number of budget Android phones don’t have NFC, at least in the US, just look at most of the Motorola lineup.

Ah. Yeah, when I first used Google Pay it wouldn’t use my debit card at all. I thought maybe it was my bank since it’s regional and not one of the biggies. Then I tried my credit card and it works like a charm that way. And I don’t have the other stores near me except for Walmart. Walmart Pay works great here though…

I just wave my debit card over the device and the NFC payment is made. Payments up to 25€ are PIN-less, until you have spent 100€ in total, then the next transaction needs a PIN. That works with either the physical debit card or my banks app on the phone.

My wife old Huawei P-Smart (200€ in 2018) and her Nexus 5x before that had NFC, as have all of my phones for the last 6 years or so.

In the US most of the budget phones people will buy are direct through the carrier and are more than likely LG, Samsung, Motorola, or some made direct for carrier brand which unlike the Flagships don’t have NFC.

Also here in the US it depends on the store I think Walmart is the only place I have physically used my debit card and not had to enter a PIN unless it was over a certain amount or I was getting cash back. The places I have used Google/Apple pay (just about the only places where I live that take Google/Apple pay) are also places that requires a pin regardless of amount if I physically use my debit card instead and will require me to enter my pin when using Google/Apple pay.