Droid MAXX: Google and Isis wallets working great!

[TJH132]

Since I'm vacation this week, I've made a point of visiting some Tap to Pay retailers to see what's up.

1. Panera Bread advertises only Apple Pay but accepts Google Wallet just fine, though their registers aren't able to scan my loyalty card because they use mag-strip cards.

2. Staples (in my area, at least) updated their systems and now advertise Apple Pay on the NFC bump, but Google Wallet worked fine. The hand scanners couldn't read my loyalty card, but the clerk happily typed it in manually.

3. McDonald's - by far the easiest place to use NFC - now advertises Apple Pay, Google Wallet (W logo) and SoftCard on a door mounted sticker. Nice to see equally billing.

4. Walgreen's scanners easily read the loyalty card and tap to pay works perfectly.

5. Home Depot, as I reported, starts to work then flashes a warning to the clerk stating a card needs to be swiped.

6. Subway has a clunky swiping pin pad located away from the customer. If the clerk presses Charge on the register, a pay pass symbol appears on the LCD. Tapping then works, though you feel like you're invading the clerks space!

7. It's been a couple months since we tried, but the Nike Employee Store in Beaverton, OR, hasn't worked since the weekend Apple Pay went live. Not sure if it's limited to this outlet or chain-wide and if Apple Pay is accepted.

8. Roth's Fresh Markets (a Willamette Valley grocery store chain) installed new terminals with tap to pay capabilities. Despite having no markings or branding on the LCD, tap to pay works fine, as long as the clerk knows what to do on their end (hit and miss).

9. Office Depot works well with scannable loyalty card and tap to pay.

10. PetCo works with scannable loyalty card and tap to pay, but I usually only shop here when I have a coupon!

Let's keep tabs on retailers supporting GW and those who are not.

TJH

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[doogald]

Anyplace that takes Apple pay will take Google wallet or, I am pretty sure, Softcard. There is nothing proprietary about Apple pay's point of sale terminals - they use the same standard the other ones do. In fact, several days before Apple pay was live I was using my tap to pay Mastercard at panera. That's also the same standard.

 

[TJH132]

Anyplace that takes Apple pay will take Google wallet or, I am pretty sure, Softcard. There is nothing proprietary about Apple pay's point of sale terminals - they use the same standard the other ones do. In fact, several days before Apple pay was live I was using my tap to pay Mastercard at panera. That's also the same standard.

In theory. There's still odd success/unsuccessful stories at different places. Why did some vending machines only accept ISIS and not GW? Why does Nike accept Apple Pay when Google Wallet fails? I was only relaying my personal experiences with tap to pay.

TJH

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[Sandman333]

Is there a feature in GW that will find local merchants that accept it? I haven't found any near where I live.

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[doogald]

Do you have any McDonalds near you?

But, yes, there is a search. From Google Wallet's web site: https://www.google.com/wallet/ they link to this location to search for merchants: Contactless Locations | MasterCard Contactless Locator | MasterCard®

The app also has notification settings that are supposed to alert you when you are near a merchant, but from the wording it seems to have something to do more with loyalty programs? Look in the app, open the sidebar, hit settings, notifications.

 

[XDCX]

Thanks for the update concerning Home Depot. Based on the response you received it sounds like Home Depot has disabled Google Wallet at all of their checkouts - both staffed and self-serve.

The next time I'm at HD here in the Phoenix area I'll check it out. I was there a week or so ago and was going to use Google Wallet at a staffed checkout but there was an old couple in front of me that was moving at a glacial pace. I was right next to the self-serve checkout and used that instead - and as before, Google Wallet didn't work at the self-serve check out.

I thought of this thread when I was at HD yesterday. I went to a staffed check out and verified that Google Wallet no longer works at HD.

It's too bad because at one point HD had one of the quickest/most intuitive Google Wallet interfaces of all the retailers. In this case it's one step forward, two steps back.

 

[CharlesH]

I know this thread has migrated to be about just Wallet, which is just as well, since Softcard dies on March 31. RIP

 

[TJH132]

My local Trader Joe's has installed Tap to Pay terminals with the new Android Pay logo. Worked great!

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[CharlesH]

I suspect that due to Apple's marketing prowess, merchants are installing Tap to Pay terminals to support Apple Pay, and while they are at it, configuring them to also handle Google Wallet.

 

[doogald]

Apple Pay and Google Wallet use the same tap to pay technology standard, which is the same as the two tap to pay credit cards that I've had for years. Unless Apple makes an exclusivity deal with somebody (Major League Baseball), if it works with one, it will work with the other.

 

[TJH132]

No surprise that the service worked, since NFC is NFC. I guess I was more surprised to see the Android Pay logo.

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[doogald]

I was just as Trader Joe's today and their terminal has an Android Pay logo. (I didn't use it. I hardly ever do. It's faster to use a CC honestly.)