No Visa at local Walmarts

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This article was published 25/10/2016 (3447 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Walmart Canada and Visa Canada ramped up their battle over merchant fees on Monday, with the retail giant following through on a threat to stop accepting the credit card at its 16 Manitoba stores and Visa taking out newspaper and billboard ads reminding local shoppers that Walmart isn’t the only game in town.

Visa spokeswoman Carla Hindman said Visa is disappointed by Walmart’s actions.

“We know that shoppers want to choose how they pay and value the rewards, convenience and security of using their Visa cards. We remain committed to actively working with Walmart to find a solution and will do everything reasonable so that Canadians can use their Visa cards wherever they wish to shop.”

Walmart vowed in June to stop accepting Visa at its more than 400 Canadian stores, saying it pays more than $100 million in fees annually for customers to use the various brands of credit cards and Visa’s fees are too high.

It started off by banning the cards at its stores in Thunder Bay in July. Then it announced in September it would be extending the ban to all of its Manitoba stores Oct. 24.

Visa, which is Canada’s largest credit card firm, has said it offered Walmart one of the lowest rates for any merchant in the country, but the retailer wants more.

It said if it had given in, Walmart’s fees would be lower than those charged to local grocery markets, pharmacies, convenience stores, charities and schools.

Walmart spokesman Alex Roberton said Monday the company still intends to extend the ban to all of its more than 400 stores in Canada but a timeline for doing so hasn’t been determined.

He said the impact of its policy on customers in Thunder Bay has been minimal and the early feedback from its stores here was that “it’s been uneventful.”

He said the Manitoba stores have been reminding customers for weeks, through in-store signs and posters, when the ban would take effect. Its store greeters were also reminding them again Monday as they entered the stores.

He noted that while Visa is out, customers can still pay with cash, their debit card and other types of credit cards such as MasterCard.

While Walmart said it’s been reminding customers the Visa ban would take effect Monday, not everyone got the message.

Four customers interviewed Monday after leaving the company’s Empress Street store said they didn’t know about the ban until they arrived at the store. But none of them appeared upset about it.

Sheryl Thiessen, who bought a pair of rubber boots, said she wasn’t planning to pay with her Visa anyway, “so it’s not bothering me yet.”

But that could change if the dispute isn’t resolved by the time the Christmas shopping season kicks into high gear, she said, because her family may have to use its Visa card to pay for some gifts.

“So if Walmart won’t accept it, we’ll go elsewhere,” she added.

Friends Jenn Ford, 20, and Phoenix Combe, 19, popped into the store because Ford needed some almond milk. Ford said she usually pays with her debit card, so the Visa ban isn’t an issue for her.

Combe said it won’t be for her, either, because she has both a MasterCard and a Visa.

Asked whose side they’re on in the dispute, they both said Visa.

“I feel if the other smaller stores can afford to pay Visa’s fee, why can’t Walmart?” Combe added.

Senior Tony Tavares, who bought a couple of loaves of bread, said he was going to pay with his Visa and ended up having to use his debit card. But despite that, he said he’ll continue to shop there because he lives in the area and the prices are cheaper for most things.

In a full-page ad in the Winnipeg Free Press, Visa pointed out its credit cards are accepted at more than 28,000 stores in Winnipeg.

“Use Visa at one of the many local retailers that accept it,” it added.

Visa spokeswoman Hindman said the billboard ads carry the same message.

The Retail Council of Canada, which represents businesses including Walmart, has said the average merchant fee of 1.5 per cent charged by Visa and MasterCard is higher than rates charged in other countries. It has called on the federal government to intervene and lower fees for all merchants.

The Department of Finance said it is assessing the merchant fees to determine whether the costs and benefits of credit card transactions are appropriate.

— with files from The Canadian Press

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca