Safeway says Apple Pay rolling out across US stores in October

AppleInsider · October 2, 2017 4:05PM

Grocery chain Safeway has confirmed that it's currently spreading Apple Pay to its 912 U.S. stores, a process it expects to last through the month of October.

The company revealed the information on Twitter in response to a public question. It didn't offer specifics on locations, which may force shoppers to ask clerks, keep an eye out for Apple Pay signs, or simply experiment using their iPhone or Apple Watch.

Online anecdotes suggest that some stores are already online. That would be consistent with stealthy Apple Pay rollouts by other retailers, which sometimes hold out on announcements until deployment is finished.

U.S. retail support has been one of the greatest obstacles for Apple Pay. Though hundreds of banks and credit unions support the platform, some national chains and many independent businesses still lack compatibility, making it impossible to treat Apple Pay as a de facto payment method.

Most of Safeway's stores are based along the west coast in California, Oregon, and Washington. Some other U.S. grocery stores offering Apple Pay include Wegmans, Trader Joe's, Winn-Dixie, and Amazon's Whole Foods.

In September, Germany's Aldi brought Apple Pay to all of its U.S. grocery stores, totaling almost 1,700 locations.

securtis · October 2, 2017 4:09PM

about damn time. Now if kroger could come along too....

esper_wizard · October 2, 2017 4:12PM

I agree with Securtis. It's about time. I welcome it, though. Most of what I buy is food and Safeway is the supermarket that I use the most, by far. I will gladly use Apple Pay on Safeway from now on. I have been waiting for this for years.

boltsfan17 · October 2, 2017 4:16PM

That's good news. Now the majority of the chain grocery stores here in California accept Apple Pay.

lkrupp · October 2, 2017 4:35PM

Still waiting for Home Depot and Walmart but I might be waiting a long time on both.

danvdr · October 2, 2017 4:53PM

Good to hear as Safeway is my store of choice. I wonder if this will also include Albertson's (my second store) since the two have recently merged.

eightzero · October 2, 2017 5:02PM

hell yes! best news of the day.

Yes, a stupid comment, but I spend more money at Safeway in more transactions than any other retailer. Be nice to have it more secure, fast, and convenient.

zoetmb · October 2, 2017 5:05PM

Until one can leave their wallet at home because Apple Pay is not just ubiquitous at retail, but also at ATM's, it almost doesn't matter. And most people who drive will carry their wallet anyway, because that's where their driver's license is. At some of the retailers where I use Apple Pay, it's badly implemented. When I use my debit card, which I do for groceries, drugs, etc., I still have to indicate whether it's debit or credit, confirm the amount, sign and indicate whether I want cash back. At the drug store, there are additional steps because it also asks for a telephone number if you don't hand them your frequent shopper card to scan. So it really doesn't take any less time than swiping a card, although it obviously has some security benefits.

all-purpose guru · October 2, 2017 5:07PM

Actually, I would assume this will include the other 5 chains that share infrastructure with Safeway, including Carrs-Safeway in Alaska, Pavilions and Vons in Southern California and Nevada, and Tom Thumb and Randall's in Texas. Safeway has changed over the other chains they own to the Safeway brand so it now stretches coast-to-coast (they used to have about 12 different store names)

I don't believe Albertsons is sharing their infrastructure with Safeway yet (they own Safeway) so it's unknown if they will go along with this change. Would be nice, though.

lkrupp · October 2, 2017 5:26PM

zoetmb said:

Until one can leave their wallet at home because Apple Pay is not just ubiquitous at retail, but also at ATM's, it almost doesn't matter. And most people who drive will carry their wallet anyway, because that's where their driver's license is. At some of the retailers where I use Apple Pay, it's badly implemented. When I use my debit card, which I do for groceries, drugs, etc., I still have to indicate whether it's debit or credit, confirm the amount, sign and indicate whether I want cash back. At the drug store, there are additional steps because it also asks for a telephone number if you don't hand them your frequent shopper card to scan. So it really doesn't take any less time than swiping a card, although it obviously has some security benefits.

I’ve always assumed that retailers implement Apple Pay and other NFC methods out of necessity but are not thrilled with it simply because they don’t get valuable information from it like name, address, etc. They can’t target you in their systems because they don’t know who you are. That’s why they require those extra steps like loyalty cards, signatures and such.

levi · October 2, 2017 5:37PM

lkrupp said:

Still waiting for Home Depot and Walmart but I might be waiting a long time on both.

Particularly frustrating is the fact that Home Depot early on did allow Apple Pay. They only quit ISIS it once PayPal functionality came on board.

dick applebaum · October 2, 2017 6:31PM

The Big Red S...

Finally!

When I was with IBM I worked on project with Safeway:

It was an in-store back-room minic-omputer that held all the store's inventory
It was directly wired to the Cash Registers (remember those? -- no car codes back then) in the front of the house
It could automatically handle discounts for specials, mix and match, multiples, etc.
The store's inventory was updated as the transactions were keyed
It provided the customers with Itemized Receipts with Product Descriptions
it provided Safeway with a way to automatically track inventory and replenish most store items -- a system to handle meat & produce was yet to be developed
it speeded the checkout process and reduced over and under charges
It provided me with the opportunity to take many trips from ChicagoLand to the SF Bay Area (IBM Distribution Development was located in Des Plaines, Safeway was headquartered in Oakland and IBM plant in San Jose built the 29SM mini-computer)

In 1970 we installed a trial system of the 29SM in the New Fremont Supermarket. AIR, there were 12 checkout stations -- we had 2 checkouts connected to the 29SM. The Fremont Supermarket was conveniently located next to the Fremont warehouse. The Fremont Supermarket had a very nice Lunch Counter -- you could buy a steak in the Supermarket and they would cook it for you at the Lunch Counter!

The trial system was a complete success -- customers would stand in line at the 29SM checkouts to get the Itemized Receipts with Product Descriptions -- back then, a typical Supermarket receipts showed product code and amount for each item -- looked like a calculator tape. Safeway was able to accurate track and replenish most inventory automatically and reduce the continuous, inaccurate manual inventory.

In its wisdom, IBM decided to cancel the project -- even though the Big Red S management was raring to proceed.

edited October 2017

dick applebaum · October 2, 2017 6:38PM

One thing I'd like to see with ApplePay is for stores to provide itemized receipts to the customers in digital format.

mike wuerthele · October 2, 2017 6:42PM

All-Purpose Guru said:

Actually, I would assume this will include the other 5 chains that share infrastructure with Safeway, including Carrs-Safeway in Alaska, Pavilions and Vons in Southern California and Nevada, and Tom Thumb and Randall's in Texas. Safeway has changed over the other chains they own to the Safeway brand so it now stretches coast-to-coast (they used to have about 12 different store names)

I don't believe Albertsons is sharing their infrastructure with Safeway yet (they own Safeway) so it's unknown if they will go along with this change. Would be nice, though.

Might be different systems. Albertsons itself has been on the Apple Pay list for some time.

mac_128 · October 2, 2017 6:55PM

All-Purpose Guru said:

Actually, I would assume this will include the other 5 chains that share infrastructure with Safeway, including Carrs-Safeway in Alaska, Pavilions and Vons in Southern California and Nevada, and Tom Thumb and Randall's in Texas. Safeway has changed over the other chains they own to the Safeway brand so it now stretches coast-to-coast (they used to have about 12 different store names)

I don't believe Albertsons is sharing their infrastructure with Safeway yet (they own Safeway) so it's unknown if they will go along with this change. Would be nice, though.

I hope so. Adding Vons and Pavillions would give them an edge over Ralphs for me, which is where I go now.

helibum · October 2, 2017 7:07PM

I have to admit that I'm almost giddy every time I use Apple Pay with my Apple Watch in Walgreen's stores. The closest supermarket to our house, and one we enjoy shopping in, is a Tom Thumb (across the street from the Walgreen's), so I hope All-Purpose Guru is correct.

crofford · October 2, 2017 7:29PM

Perhaps because of merger related activities they've consolidated the credit card processing recently. The Albertsons that I go to has had ApplePay for quite a while, but the other day it didn't work for me and the clerk told me they wouldn't have ApplePay until mid-October. My guess is that they recently consolidated onto the legacy Safeway system and that system will be upgraded later this month.

marketman · October 2, 2017 7:57PM

Mike Wuerthele said:

All-Purpose Guru said:

Actually, I would assume this will include the other 5 chains that share infrastructure with Safeway, including Carrs-Safeway in Alaska, Pavilions and Vons in Southern California and Nevada, and Tom Thumb and Randall's in Texas. Safeway has changed over the other chains they own to the Safeway brand so it now stretches coast-to-coast (they used to have about 12 different store names)

I don't believe Albertsons is sharing their infrastructure with Safeway yet (they own Safeway) so it's unknown if they will go along with this change. Would be nice, though.

Might be different systems. Albertsons itself has been on the Apple Pay list for some time.

Albertsons used to support Apple Pay, but about 3 months ago they switch there POS to the VONS/Safeway POS and stopped accepting Apple Pay.

Hopefully this means it is coming back. Apple Pay is so much easier then the chip, in my opinion.

flydog · October 3, 2017 12:23AM

zoetmb said:

Until one can leave their wallet at home because Apple Pay is not just ubiquitous at retail, but also at ATM's, it almost doesn't matter.

Because you leave your phone at home?

flydog · October 3, 2017 12:25AM

lkrupp said:

I’ve always assumed that retailers implement Apple Pay and other NFC methods out of necessity but are not thrilled with it simply because they don’t get valuable information from it like name, address, etc. They can’t target you in their systems because they don’t know who you are. That’s why they require those extra steps like loyalty cards, signatures and such.

Apple Pay supports loyalty cards and reward programs.

edited October 2017

rf9 · October 3, 2017 3:47AM

zoetmb said:

Until one can leave their wallet at home because Apple Pay is not just ubiquitous at retail, but also at ATM's, it almost doesn't matter. And most people who drive will carry their wallet anyway, because that's where their driver's license is. At some of the retailers where I use Apple Pay, it's badly implemented. When I use my debit card, which I do for groceries, drugs, etc., I still have to indicate whether it's debit or credit, confirm the amount, sign and indicate whether I want cash back. At the drug store, there are additional steps because it also asks for a telephone number if you don't hand them your frequent shopper card to scan. So it really doesn't take any less time than swiping a card, although it obviously has some security benefits.

Not even. Credit card chip readers suck big time. They are very very slow and annoying. Just skipping the chip reader alone is worthwhile. It used to be fast when it was swipe but now that chip has replaced them it’s hellish.

Safeway says Apple Pay rolling out across US stores in October

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