Make a clean break from dirty money
It’s easier than you think to pay without touching cash, credit cards or receipts — but keeping track can be inconvenient
It’s easier than you think to pay without touching cash, credit cards or receipts.
Chances are, before we battened down our hatches to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, you thought nothing of inserting your credit card into the checkout chip reader at the grocery store. Now, though, it may not be such a simple task.
If you’re still brave enough to go into a grocery store, what if the person who used that chip reader before you was infected with the virus, some which was on their card? It’s possible that, when you use the reader, your card may come away with the virus on it.
And then, of course, there’s the touchscreen and keypad on that retail terminal as well. Oh, you only use cash, you say? You don’t even want think about where those $5 and $10 bills were before the checkout clerk handed them to you as change.
The simple act of paying for something may now be hazardous to your health. But with the right technology and a little planning, you can conduct contactless transactions when you pay for goods and services. Here are some tips for doing this with groceries, restaurants and gasoline:
Groceries. Houston’s biggest grocery chains — H-E-B, Randall’s, Kroger, Walmart, etc. — offer both curbside pickup and delivery services. You order through an app or the store’s website, paying for your groceries in advance. For delivery, you can even add a tip (and sometimes it’s not a choice) so you don’t have to hand cash to the driver.
These are popular services, so often it’s hard to find an available time slot. Delivery services such as Instacart or TaskRabbit can handle grocery shopping for you, and often the same day you place an order. You can do this via the web or an app. Yes, there’s a fee, but it’s probably less per month than the price of the gasoline you burned going to the store.
H-E-B recently added Express Delivery, which delivers a limited set of essential grocery items in two hours or less, for a $5 fee and a separate $10 driver’s tip. For those over 60, a similar same-day service is free through the end of May at favordelivery.com/seniors, but you do still need to pay the tip. In both cases, the transaction is contactless, and groceries are left on your doorstep.
If you insist on going inside for groceries, whether you can do a contactless payment depends on the store. Whole Foods and Randall’s accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and other payment systems that use Near Field Communications chips built into most modern smartphones. This lets you just hold your phone or smartwatch over the terminal to pay. Kroger and Walmart do not, but each has its own app that you can use to pay at both self-service and checker lanes.
H-E-B does neither. But the company is testing H-E-B Go, a self-checkout app, in various stores around the state. Hopefully it will come to the Houston area sooner rather than later.
Restaurants. Many local restaurants, while they’re not open for sit-down meals, offer curbside pickup and delivery. Unfortunately, too many also don’t have some kind of online ordering and payment system, which means you will have to call in your order and then pay when you arrive. If you’re comfortable giving your credit card number over the phone, be sure to specify a tip and ask if you will need to sign something. Bring your own pen and gloves if that’s the case.
Many big chain restaurants have apps that let you order and pay online, and you may be surprised who offers one. Burger King even has a cute TV commercial touting its app’s online-pay feature, calling people who stay home and order via delivery “couch potatriots.”
Gasoline. Yeah, I know, most folks aren’t driving very much, but if you need to buy gasoline, you can do it without paying at the pump at many of the fuel majors.
Exxon Mobile, Shell and Chevron are among the energy companies with pay-by-phone apps. Exxon and Shell also will work with Apple Pay through their apps. Chevron has a limited number of pay options, but has promised in forum discussions in the App Store that Apple Pay is coming soon.
And some gas stations have Apple Pay available at the pump or in the store, including the truck stop chain
Love’s.
You’ll still want to put on gloves when you pump gas into your tank. No app will do that for you.
It’s also worth noting that some credit cards have built-in NFC capabilities — you don’t need a phone, just wave the card to near designated spot on the terminal. Check with your bank or credit card company to see if they offer these.
If there’s a downside to doing this, it’s that you must keep up with many different ways to pay — which merchants takes what? There are some ways to consolidate, such as making sure you patronize merchants who use your preferred payment system. And there are apps that let you find merchants who accept NFC payments, such as All Pay Locator. It may take a little work, but it’s worth it.