America is far behind the curve compared to the rest of the world. About the only place I use Apple Pay in the US is at Starbucks. But in the UK, I literally use it for everything. Restaurants, the London tube, taxis, pubs (to pay for a round of drinks!). It's incredibly useful, and it amazes me that America is taking so long to adopt it.
Even more amazing is that the US even changed payment systems to a chip-based system just a couple of years ago, but apparently didn't mandate that everyone adopts contactless payment when updating their hardware. Foolish.
Ha, you should visit Germany. Apple Pay doesn't even exist here [0]. Contactless payments with debit cards are slowly becoming a thing, but that seems to be the height of it.
Well, that is more like a German thing then a Apple Pay/Google Pay thing. Credit cards are frowned upon in Germany, so the acceptance is pretty low compared to other places in the world. Most chains nowadays support card payments but it is still not accepted anywhere. And even stores that accept cards, they will most likely only accept “EC cards”. EC cards are German debit cards that only work in Germany (though some banks offer dual card which use the EV system in Germany and maestro aboard). They have very low fees compared to credit cards though (I believe it is only 15cents per Guaranteed transaction but their pricing model is very confusing).
Credit cards are accepted prettily reliable in supermarkets such as Rewe and Aldi but even other big (and more expensive chains) such as Edeka often only accept EC cards, which is pretty frustrating. EC cards are accepted at more places but you can still find many restaurants that don’t accept any cards at all and many local stores will laugh at you when you try to use anything but cash. If you find a place that takes them, chances are they have some restrictions such as that cards are only accpected for purchases over a certain amount (amount being 10€ or 20€). Most taxis don’t accept them either and those that do charge a 3€ fee.
Whenever I’m with my family and they see me buy a coke or anything under 10€ using my credit card they feel somewhat ashamed because they are not sure why I would do that. Most of them take a credit card quite literally: you only use it when you want to buy something you cannot afford and have to take a credit for that. Now when they see my checking out, they are often surprised how quick the process is (it often takes only a second from them activating they terminal until my card is accept but some stores use slow devices which can take up to 5 seconds).
The reason why we don’t have Apple Pay at all is because we don’t accept cards. And when we accept credit cards, chances are they are also contactless. The only place that didn’t have them are my gas station and the pet store (though the pet store upgraded recently). This means, if you are a foreigner and you find a place that takes a credit card, you can use Apple Pay but the store clerk might be confused and call their manager (they once did that to me when I used contact less payments because they did not know you could use your card like that and also I did not enter my pin and the receipt had no sign here line. They still made my sign the receipt though).
Yeah, you're right. They mostly are a thing now, at least in bigger stores (as in chains). But I do have a feeling Germany is one of the last countries where there's loads of stores where cash is the only accepted option.
Is Apple Pay compatible with those "contactless" debit cards they have in London/UK?
What I mean is, if in the UK I go to a Boots and I ask to pay contactless, can I use apple pay? thanks
You can't "mandate" stuff like that in the US like you mandate everything in the EU. Chip readers at least had a security prerogative and most places still don't have that enabled because it's slow and doesn't work half the time.
Even more amazing is that the US even changed payment systems to a chip-based system just a couple of years ago, but apparently didn't mandate that everyone adopts contactless payment when updating their hardware. Foolish.