Visa cards no longer accepted at Walmart as of next month

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Jacks

This has nothing to do with transaction fees, if it did they would have stopped taking AMEX a long time ago. AMEX charges merchants ridiculous rates, that's why most places won't take it.

This is about them pimping their own Mastercard, they want to make the big interest on unpaid balances.

This. Our AMEX fees are almost 1.5% higher than Visa fees.

The average transaction at Walmart is $65, and they are doing $34 million per hour IIRC. Their Visa fees are very low.

AMEX lost Costco in the US though because of high fees.

[Lubicon]

My wife helps with the books at a couple of small businesses and showed me their statements from the various credit card companies yesterday. Of the three (Visa, Mastercard, and Amex) Visa was the lowest rate. There is more to this than just Visa's rate with Walmart.

[Hack&Lube]

The best hope is for Visa to kowtow and cut their rates for Wal-Mart so the rest of us can go on with our regular lives.

That is unless, Wal-Mart Canada is dead-set on pushing their Mastercard. I feel bad for their cashiers pushing it on every customer. They must have some extraordinary drills or pressure or incentives put on them every day to sign up as many people as possible.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

My wife helps with the books at a couple of small businesses and showed me their statements from the various credit card companies yesterday. Of the three (Visa, Mastercard, and Amex) Visa was the lowest rate. There is more to this than just Visa's rate with Walmart.

Visa is our lowest as well.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Walmart Clerk: "Sorry, we don' take Visa
Me: 'Guess I won't be purchasing anything in that case'. Leaves items at till and walks out of store.

I'm not a huge Walmart shopper but they are just so damn convenient for many things that I do go there frequently. That will come to an end if they stop taking Visa.

I do wonder if this is a negotiating tactic and they will end up making peace with Visa.

Clerk: "okay, I honestly don't give a #### about your business and walmart will do just fine with out you...smoke break"

[rohara66]

Their cashiers pushing their stupid in house credit card already pushed me to return to that stupid store as little as possible.

"Would you like to make this purchase on our wally mart MasterCard"
"no"
"Well, would you like to sign up for one today"
"no"
"Well, there is a low interested rate of blah blah blah..... on and on BS blah blah blah...."
"......"

as I hold my West Jet MasterCard ready to pay and GTFO already.

[DoubleF]

Does anyone else ever stare in confusion when paying at Walmart and realizing you can't tap pay? I find it weird I can tap pay in random coffee shops and other big businesses for small purchases, but not Walmart. I sometimes stare at the machine for like 5-10 seconds in confusion waiting for the tap prompt before realizing I have to chip pay. Are all Walmarts like this? Or just Deerfoot Mall?

I don't know who is providing that payment infrastructure for Walmart, but the mention of it being inadequate (not sure if that's VISA or someone else's fault) does deserve some spotlight IMO.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Clerk: "okay, I honestly don't give a #### about your business and walmart will do just fine with out you...smoke break"

This is funny. That about sums it up. The ego never wins.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

This is funny. That about sums it up. The ego never wins.

Yup, I remember when I worked at Walmart, customers would tell that to me all the time, like somehow they thought I'd care whether they came back or not.

[polak]

Unless you're in some mom and pop shop, the cashiers and other people you're bitching at couldn't care less about your gripes with the business.

They're not paid enough to care. Would you care about customers being mad about some change your company made for 11 bucks an hour?

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Does anyone else ever stare in confusion when paying at Walmart and realizing you can't tap pay? I find it weird I can tap pay in random coffee shops and other big businesses for small purchases, but not Walmart.

If I were to take a guess, I'd say it's for a few factors:
- There is a risk shared between the bank and the merchant with tap, and the merchant tells the bank how much they'd be willing to risk. Some coffee shop it may be $10 or $20, somewhere like Superstore it would be closer to $100. So with that risk comes cost, and Walmart is about keeping costs down.
- Add to that the "don't give a crap" factor of their employees, and if they saw something shady they may not even report it.
- With tap you lose cash back. How much money does Walmart save by needing fewer armoured car pickups for cash?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Regorium

Man, I don't know why people make such strong proclamations without knowing anything other than their own preconceived notions on whether an idea works (also see: carbon tax).

Here's a link for you.

As of right now they are the cheapest kitchen garbage bags available. They'll have to charge a lot more to get me and others to change.

[Stay Golden]

Visa offered Wal-Mart the lowest retail rates in Canada. Wal-Mart still refused. I don't think there is much more Visa could do. This is more about Wal-Mart preferring to force consumers to purchase the Wal-Mart MC.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Dion

As of right now they are the cheapest kitchen garbage bags available. They'll have to charge a lot more to get me and others to change.

Fair enough, and heck, I spend the 10-15c on bags at superstore even though they still have holes in them (in the same two spots too, so double layering doesn't even work).

But, it works extremely well on an aggregate level - up to 80% reductions in plastic bag usage has been reported.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

This is worse for VISA than it is for Walmart.

Walmart clerk: "Sorry, we don't take Visa."
Customer: "Okay, here's my debit card / MasterCard / cash."

There are multiple ways for customers to pay Walmart, but there is only one way that VISA can make money from that transaction.

I can see many people not having another credit card and/or the cash to complete the transaction. In my restaurant and student days, I only had one credit card, and needed to shop at Walmart for household items. My VISA had a low limit, and I couldn't get another one. There were many times when I would buy things on my card, and didn't have money in the bank yet. I figure most of the people who shop at Walmart are in a similar situation that I was in at the time.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Dion

As of right now they are the cheapest kitchen garbage bags available. They'll have to charge a lot more to get me and others to change.

I bought bags for the kitchen when I got sick of cleaning the nasty juices flowing at the bottom of the bin. This often involved washing, gagging, liberal use of cleaning products. Probably the price difference right there. Composting probably could have reduced that... but I'm a heathen that puts rotting stuff into land fills. I usually get about 100 that are similar sized to grocery bags for $6 ish at either Superstore or Walmart. Worth the extra penny IMO to not have to deal with that grossness.

https://www.wholesaleclub.ca/Home-%2...EA?isPDPFlow=Y

(ie: This type of bag... but Superstore is showing $9 for some weird reason for the same box vs $6 at Real Canadian wholesale which is the same group IIRC)

Those bags work fine for predominantly dry garbage such as a bathroom or den though and I still use old grocery bags for that purpose.

Originally Posted by Regorium

Fair enough, and heck, I spend the 10-15c on bags at superstore even though they still have holes in them (in the same two spots too, so double layering doesn't even work).

But, it works extremely well on an aggregate level - up to 80% reductions in plastic bag usage has been reported.

I pay that amount when I forget to put the reusable bags into my trunk before going shopping. Browns shoes have some damn good durable ones that are a great size.

[OMG!WTF!]

I wouldn't worry about this too much. I intend to write Wal Mart a VERY strongly worded letter.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

I wouldn't worry about this too much. I intend to write Wal Mart a VERY strongly worded letter.

Dear Walmart,

OMG!WTF!

Best Regards,
OMG!WTF!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

My wife helps with the books at a couple of small businesses and showed me their statements from the various credit card companies yesterday. Of the three (Visa, Mastercard, and Amex) Visa was the lowest rate. There is more to this than just Visa's rate with Walmart.

Ditto. I take almost all forms of payment except AMEX because of their insane transaction fees.

I was once offered a Goat in exchange for a tax return. I politely declined but when my options were 'Goat or AMEX' I seriously gave that goat a second thought...

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

I can see many people not having another credit card and/or the cash to complete the transaction. In my restaurant and student days, I only had one credit card, and needed to shop at Walmart for household items. My VISA had a low limit, and I couldn't get another one. There were many times when I would buy things on my card, and didn't have money in the bank yet. I figure most of the people who shop at Walmart are in a similar situation that I was in at the time.

I keep a single card - a Visa - with a low limit by choice. Walmart's decision here means that they simply will not be an option if I need/decide to make purchases that require a credit card. And that's fine. I'll spend a couple dollars there, but bigger purchases will always be elsewhere.