What!? I just heard that Walmart Canada will no longer be accepting Visa payments at their Canadian stores. This is part of their fight against the "unacceptably high" fee that comes with accepting Visa Credit Cards. The changes will start in about a month at Thunder Bay stores (July 18th to be exact), and then the changes will roll in across Canada shortly after.
Walmart says that they spend over $100 million annually in credit card fees. Visa tends to be the most popular credit card in Canada, so I can assume that a large part of that money goes towards Visa payments. I assume that Visa themselves will also be affected negatively by this movement, so maybe they will break and give into Walmart's lower-rate demand. What do you think?
Walmart is notorious for making several changes at once - so when this change comes about, be sure to make sure that your known price-match and coupon policies don't drastically get altered as well.
Other Canadian retailers like No Frills and Costco have already stopped the use of Visa within their stores - but I never thought that this would come about at Walmart as well. I think this will be huge for us online shoppers. Walmart.ca does not offer the option to pay with PayPal, Cash or Debit. So eliminating the option of using Visa really does narrow down our payment options. Especially considering I make all my online Walmart purchases using my Visa-Debit card.
Will you still shop at your local Walmart?
I will probably end up shopping there but only if they have something that I really really want. While I have a points Mastercard and can use it there, my preference is to use my rewards Visa.
I hate to break it to people but many stores don't accept one or the other. And it's not your right to be able to use a particular credit card at a merchant. Many small retailers only accept cash or debit and make you pay a fee to pay by credit.
Let's be honest here, Walmart is not a small retailer by any stretch of the imagination. This decision, like their new policy to charge for bags, is purely profit driven. They haven't stopped accepting credit cards, they are just now accepting the card that they offer. This will put people in the position of having to get a Mastercard if they don't have one and open the door for Walmart to push their own card.
And yet you can use cash, debit, mastercard, amex etc, I love how people are loosing their minds over this. And the fact they are charging for bags like a hundred other chains.
Only if they have something I can't get somewere else. I rarely carry cash and altho I have other ways to pay. Why should I cater to them when in their opinion spending a little to bring in constomers aint worth it. Basically I as a customer am not worth them spending some money on. Meanwhile they are charging for bags(didn't see not price drop go on foods ect any were ) they are outsourceing all their cleaning jobs (janitors) to other companies. Have a friend getting canned cause of (this is all walmarts ) and they hardly pay shit for a wage yet their worth billions. So let's see you now pay more to shop there(bags) they cut service and jobs (janitor s ect ) and now I gotta jump for them to use what they want me to Where the thing customer is always right. Cater to the customer. #downwithwalmarts
If not being able to use your Visa card at a store is a deal breaker I feel bad for you. And FYI tons of stores charge for bags get with 2016