A study by research firm Phoenix Marketing found “Two-out-of-three Apple Pay users have reported a problem at checkout.” How can a product be so beloved, yet fail so often? Maybe Apple Pay wasn't designed to make payment easier. Rather, there must be some hidden benefits.
Polly-O String Cheese, Mozzarella
Retailer That Accepts Apple Pay - Winn-Dixie
Price Without Apple Pay - $3.98
Price With Apple Pay - $3.98
Hidden Benefit of Apple Pay - In the 25 seconds it takes you to switch from register to register, searching for an NFC (Near Field Communication) payment point that is working, the cheese has aged to perfection.
Ronnybrook Farms Chocolate Milk, 12oz
Retailer That Accepts Apple Pay - Walgreens
Price Without Apple Pay - $1.98
Price With Apple Pay - $1.98
Hidden Benefit of Apple Pay - One of the more frequent complaints has been people waving their phone near the NFC payment point only to find out it's not working. All this waving (while also trying to hold the fingerprint Touch ID), is a perfect way to mix your chocolate milk—as is the motion it takes to reach into your wallet to pull out cash.
GoFit Extreme Massage Bar
Retailer That Accepts Apple Pay - Sports Authority
Price Without Apple Pay - $29.99
Price With Apple Pay - $29.99
Hidden Benefit of Apple Pay - Apple Pay makes your phone vibrate to let you know payment went through. Once you feel the soothing relief of this vibration, you will no longer need a GoFit Extreme Massage Bar, so you can return it and get your money back.
Pool Swimmies
Retailer That Accepts Apple Pay - Toys "R" Us
Price Without Apple Pay - $7.99
Price With Apple Pay - $7.99
Hidden Benefit of Apple Pay - Because Apple Pay saves you the trouble of looking through your hundreds of other credit cards, you can now use those credit cards to re-tile your pool, just like Martha Stewart. The swimmies will be for your child to use as they float and ponder how much easier this would have been if you had drained the pool first.
Plane Ticket to Orlando
Retailer That Accepts Apple Pay - JetBlue
Price Without Apple Pay - $124
Price With Apple Pay - $124
Hidden Benefit of Apple Pay - For all its reported flaws, Apple Pay does seem to be ridiculously secure. However, that means those of us relying on identity thieves to give us the attention that our father never did are out luck. That's why it's good to know JetBlue takes Apple Pay because, if you deliberately leave your seat in the reclined position during takeoff, flight attendants have no choice but to talk to you.