Everyday, I check the status of two items:
- Has the State of Florida finally rolled out their promised digital driver license program?
- Has Walmart finally accepted the inevitable and started accepting Apple Pay?
So far, no joy but the two items aren’t really the same. Florida has committed to digital driver’s licenses and although they’re proceding slower than I’d like, I’m sure they’re working through the problems to get to program running.
Walmart is just being stubborn. For years they used their commitment and obligations to the still-born CurrentC consortium as the reason they couldn’t accept Apple Pay. With the disintegration of CurrentC (in 2016) that excuse evaporated but Walmart still won’t enable Apple Pay. The reason, of course, is what it always was: Walmart wants to harvest their customers’ data for targeted advertising and Apple Pay specifically prevents that.
Before the pandemic, I frequently shopped at Walmart because they were convenient and had very competitive prices. When COVID-19 took hold, I started avoiding going into crowded, closed spaces like Walmart stores but I still needed the supplies I used to get there. What I discovered is that Amazon will happily deliver all the things I used to get at Walmart to my door for comparable prices. Really, there’s no reason to go to Walmart during or after the pandemic.
So here’s the deal Walmart: start putting your customers first by—among other things—enabling Apple Pay or lose at least one customer for good. I know you won’t miss me but what if there are others like me out there?