Thunder Bay Walmart customers mixed on no Visa policy
Some say no big deal. Some say the company should put customer needs ahead of its feud with Visa.
Walmart shoppers in Thunder Bay, Ont. expressed mixed feelings Monday about the company's decision to stop taking Visa at its Thunder Bay stores.
Walmart says it's feuding with Visa over merchant fees and plans to stop accepting the credit card nationwide.
Most customers CBC spoke to said the move doesn't affect them much, if at all.
"I think it's going to sort of decrease their sales a bit," said Gary Erickson, "but I don't have Visa anyway so it doesn't really matter to me."
"We prefer to use our Visa, so it's disappointing, but we have other forms of payment. [We'll] just make do," said Alicia Costanzo.
'It'll help people not have so high a Visa bill'
Walmart customer Sharon Wick suggested the no-Visa policy could even benefit customers.
"It'll help people not have so high a Visa bill. There ya' go!" she said.
But some customers told CBC they aren't happy with Walmart's decision.
"It's not very nice. They make enough money that they can still afford to pay what Visa wants," Norma Chopp told CBC. "They just want more money for themselves. What about the other people? You know, just the regular customers that spend a lot of money there?"
Chris Merkley said he almost never shops at Walmart so the no-Visa policy wouldn't affect him much, but he still found it "disappointing."
'maybe they eventually want us to use their card'
"It seems like Walmart, being a very large corporation, should be able to handle some Visa fees and make it accessible to all their customers," Merkley said.
Julie Drewes said she suspected there was more to Walmart's kerfuffle with Visa than just a dispute over merchant fees.
"I think maybe they eventually want us to use their card, so we'll pay their prices," Drewes said.
"Maybe Visa was charging too much is what we're hearing? But I think eventually they're just going to want us to use their [card] and then they get the profits," she said.
Still, Drewes added that she didn't think Walmart's move was a big deal and said she would simply switch to debit or another payment method.