CVS says no to Apple Pay

CVS says no to Apple Pay

Pharmacy chain CVS has ended its support for Apple Pay in thousands of its stores. CVS is the second chain to stop supporting Apple Pay, with Rite Aid being the first. Both are members of the MCX, which aims to also offer an alternative payment method.

Pharmacy chain CVS has reportedly shut off the NFC pay station option used by services like Apple Pay and Google Wallet at its point of sale terminals in thousands of stores.

Reports of the move began on Twitter earlier today, later being confirmed by MacRumors that CVS headquarters sent an email out to stores with an order for them to shut off NFC features at payment terminals.

CVS is the second store to do this, behind Rite Aid, which, like CVS, is a member of the Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, which is a rival contactless payment platform that was started by a number of retailers. While it has not been confirmed, this may be the reason for shutting off the NFC payment option.

the MCX payment system is called “CurrentC” and would do away with plastic cards altogether. Users would simply show a QR code at point-of-sale terminals in stores, and money would be pulled directly from a bank account. This is great for retailers because it removes the need for them to pay credit card fees.

There are a number of members of the MCX, including Gap, Old Navy, 7-Eleven, Sam’s Club, Kmart, Banana Republic, Wendy’s, and more.

Rite Aid reportedly sent out a memo to employees with a similar order, instructing employees to explain that Apple Pay was not supported at the stores but that MCX would be available starting next year.

While these two stores have pulled support for Apple Pay, the system is full steam ahead with other, much larger chains continuing support. The largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., Walgreens, continues to support Apple Pay.

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