Smith's Supermarket(Kroger subsidiary)

[SWharton]

Be aware that Smith's does not accept Visa Credit Cards any longer. I don't know if that implies that all Kroger Supermarkets do not accept Visa CC. Smith does accept Visa Debit, just not CC. I had to leave my shopping cart behind as I did not have any other card with me at the time. The cashier did not know why.

[Kirk W]

According to a press release, the grocer will continue to accept other forms of payment, including: Mastercard, Discover, and American Express; cash and checks; electronic benefit transfer cards from SNAP and WIC programs; and Mastercard and Visa debit cards both with and without PIN and health savings account cards.

The change was originally announced on March 1.

[Darryl&Rita]

When travelling, I seldom look back 7 months in the press releases to  buy groceries. They want a cart of groceries left at the till, that's how they'll get it. Corporate mentality at it's finest.

[LindaH]

Fred Meyer still accepts Visa.

[Barbaraok]

As does Fry's in Arizona.   But they don't take ApplePay /AndroidPay (Safeway and Costco do) so they won't get much of my business until they do.

[Twotoes]

What ever happened to paying with cash?

[docj]

8 minutes ago, Twotoes said:

What ever happened to paying with cash?

We routinely use our debit cards for all our small purchases, including groceries.  I hate carrying cash.

[2gypsies]

We always use our Cash Back credit cards & pay them off monthly. It's amazing how much money you can get back by using them for everything.  We carry $20 change and rarely use it.

We carry Visa, Discover, Mastercard.  Discover is used solely for our Auto Payments for bills. That way if a Visa or Mastercard is compromised we don't have to set up our AutoPays again.  AutoPays are pretty safe vs. using a card for retail.  We've never had a problem with Discover but have with Visa and Mastercard.  We now get alerts when the cards are used, especially for fuel and haven't had a problem since.

[SWharton]

We use our cash back cards as much as possible and pay off each month. We are full believers in the cashless society, so much easier from our view point and gives us good tracking of expenditures plus some protection. I really only carry the one card with me, have another, luckily a Master Card, we use if needed but I was only going to the supermarket!!!! 

Debit card is only used when we need cash once or twice a year from the ATM. Kept locked up.

Happy the rest of the Kroger stores still accept Visa.

 

[Barbaraok]

2 hours ago, Twotoes said:

What ever happened to paying with cash?

We use that for restaurants, every thing else is on a card.

I really like using ApplePay (or Android) because a single use number is generated for the purchase.  Much safer than the chip, etc.  whenever possible that’s what we use.  

[Lou Schneider]

So you went to the grocery store and were inconvenienced because your magic card didn't work?  What a shame.

Going cashless is fine, except when it doesn't work.  If/when you happen to be in an area where the Internet is down, you're out of luck.  I use cash back cards for the majority of my purchases and pay them off each month.  But I also keep enough cash on hand to carry me through a few days in case stuff happens.

I've been in rural areas where the Internet has gone down for several hours to a day or more. One instance was last fall when I was in Chama, NM for a few days to ride the Cumbres and Toltec train.  It turned out there's only one data link in or out of that little community and an unexpected mountaintop snowstorm disabled a relay station, taking out the local Internet provider and slowing the wireless services to a crawl.  One restaurant still accepted charge cards because they had an old school telephone modem card reader.  The local grocery store and most other businesses posted "cash only" signs because their faster card readers relied on the Internet.

The wildfire that burned through Santa Rosa, CA a couple of years back took out Internet service for a couple of days throughout the Redwoods and along Highway 101 from Santa Rosa to Eureka.

In both cases I just paid cash for the duration, then repleneshed my stash when I got to an area where the ATMs were working.

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Lou Schneider

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, Twotoes said:

What ever happened to paying with cash?

We use very little cash nowadays, paying mostly with a card that gives 2% back on all purchases. We have stopped using our debit card to purchase but rarely when we need cash back, because of the security issues. Our cash purchases today probably total no more than 5% of our spending. 

[FL-JOE]

Like many others we use a couple different credit cards that gives us cash back on monthly purchases.  As far as our debit card we generally only use that at Walmart which is where we purchase about 50% of our groceries plus get 90% of our cash.  I carry some extra "emergency" cash but we really haven't been in a situation where we needed much.  

Coming out of the Grand Canyon area last month there was a big storm that killed power and internet to a wide area.  We needed gas so we just hungered down at a station and waited until power came back up.  Cash wouldn't have gotten us gas any sooner.

[scouserl41]

We shop at Kroger stores all the time for the gas discounts. their prices are very competitive.  Smiths is just a part of the Kroger group as is Fred Myers. We got their credit card as well which gives us online coupons and bonus gas points for Kroger brands plus for the first year an additional 25C a gallon off fuel. We find for the most part that their gas stations are built so we can get the MH and toad in and out although some Smiths stores in MT we couldn't get into.

We carry several CC's as there are still odd restrictions here and there but shop with our debit cards in the main and we've had no problems doing that.

BnB

[chirakawa]

11 minutes ago, scouserl41 said:

We shop at Kroger stores all the time for the gas discounts. their prices are very competitive.

Are you only referring to their gas prices or groceries also?  That's interesting because I've had a different experience.  The Krogers I've shopped at, including a couple of locations where I now am, are not competitively priced.  And, if you don't have one of their memberships, they are very high.  Maybe I'm spoiled to HEB, but even in areas where there was no HEB I found Kroger to be higher than the competition.

I don't like grocery shopping at Walmart, but must admit that their prices are very low compared to most of the big chain stores I've gone in, including Kroger.

[scouserl41]

Both gas and groceries are competitive in the places we've shopped. Of course that varies week to week so we don't shop there exclusively.  Where we winter the choices are Safeway, Fry's and Walmart. Walmart is clear across town.

Their "Membership" is free so why would that be different? Walmart offered us a credit card that would give us 3% off when used in their stores but when we applied they didn't like our address. We shop there too when it suits us.

I'm not familiar with HEB? 

BnB

[Barbaraok]

HEB are big in Texas.   Most of them are nice stores.   Would shop there is they were in the Phoenix area.   

We use Safeway and Fry's (Kroger) because of the ability to get fuel discounts.  Especially at Safeway, I've been able to get $1/gallon off several times by using their loyalty program.   Now, with our hybrid, we don't use as much fuel, but every little bit helps.  

[Lou Schneider]

4 hours ago, scouserl41 said:

Walmart offered us a credit card that would give us 3% off when used in their stores but when we applied they didn't like our address.

I got a Walmart credit card because it offered a $25 credit on my first statement, and I happened to be making a $25 purchase with another CC.  The cashier offered it pre-approved and would place that purchase on it.  So I got that merchandise for free.

When the permanent card arrived, the terms changed to 3% off orders placed on their website and 1% back on in-store purchases, the same as using it in any other retailer.

Ironically, I only use the Walmart branded card at Smith's supermarket since it's a Mastercard and my other cards are Visas.  Walmart purchases get a Visa card with a larger percentage rebate.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Lou Schneider

[bobsallyh]

A couple of weeks ago we stopped in Smiths in Henderson, NV. Had no gas points but they were running a promotion that when scanning your loyalty card it automatically gave you 3 cents off per gallon like Fast Freddy Myer. No such promotion here in Yuma at Frys. But I'm assuming it is in all of Arizona, Frys gives gas points on beer, wine liquor purchases the same as your groceries here in Yuma.

[Blues]

On 9/26/2019 at 6:44 AM, SWharton said:

Be aware that Smith's does not accept Visa Credit Cards any longer. I don't know if that implies that all Kroger Supermarkets do not accept Visa CC. Smith does accept Visa Debit, just not CC. I had to leave my shopping cart behind as I did not have any other card with me at the time. The cashier did not know why.

I ran into this at Smith's in Taos, New Mexico, a couple of months ago.  There was a sign at the entrance about it, even though the policy had started back in April.

Kroger first did this a year ago, at Foods Co stores, which are all in California.  At the time, people worried that it was a harbinger for other Kroger stores, but so far, it's been only Smith's.

[Barbaraok]

1 hour ago, Blues said:

I ran into this at Smith's in Taos, New Mexico, a couple of months ago.  There was a sign at the entrance about it, even though the policy had started back in April.

Kroger first did this a year ago, at Foods Co stores, which are all in California.  At the time, people worried that it was a harbinger for other Kroger stores, but so far, it's been only Smith's.

Which really is kind of weird, as if this is a trial balloon to see whether they so do this system wide or not.  Personally, because they don't accept Apple Pay (Android Pay) they won't be getting my business anymore.  

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Blues said:

Kroger first did this a year ago, at Foods Co stores, which are all in California.  At the time, people worried that it was a harbinger for other Kroger stores, but so far, it's been only Smith's.

Only at Smith's, or at Smith's and at Foods Co?

[agesilaus]

They aren't doing this randomly, VISA apparently has increased the fee that retailers pay to use the VISA CC. Above what Mastercard charges. So the stores are just refusing to pay it and if enough stores do the same Visa will have to back down.

I say good for them. It is the essence of capitalism to refuse to buy something when the price is too high.

[Barbaraok]

Yes it is.   Just as it is up to consumers to decide what services they require  to part with our money.

[Carlos]

On 9/26/2019 at 8:52 AM, Twotoes said:

What ever happened to paying with cash?

It became obsolete and foolish, as well as a huge waste of time.  Right now the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is paying us back 6% on groceries (yes, six percent, not a typo), and 3% on gas/diesel.  It would be crazy to use cash.  And it takes longer to get it, and use it, and deal with change.

Back on topic, Fry's here in Phoenix doesn't show any indication of not taking any cards.  Some stores used to be anti-Amex, and that's been my primary card for a while, so I'd just go to other stores.  Vote with your dollars.  There are lots of options.