Family Dollar is a popular discount store chain offering every day low prices on household goods, food, clothing, and more. With mobile payments like Apple Pay gaining widespread adoption, some shoppers wonder if Family Dollar accepts mobile wallet services like Apple Pay in their stores.
How Apple Pay Works
Apple Pay is a mobile payment service that allows users to make purchases in stores using their compatible iPhone or Apple Watch. Here’s a quick overview of how Apple Pay works:
- To use Apple Pay, you need an iPhone 6 or newer model, or an Apple Watch paired to an iPhone 5 or newer model. Your phone must be updated to at least iOS 8.1.
- Add an eligible credit, debit, or prepaid card to the Wallet app. This includes major credit and debit cards from top banks and financial institutions.
- When checking out in store, hold your iPhone or Apple Watch near the contactless reader with your finger on the Touch ID. This verifies your identity via fingerprint to complete the payment using your card on file.
- For transactions over $25 in the United States, a second confirmation via PIN or Touch ID may be required. Signature, PIN or providing a driver’s license may also be needed depending on the retailer’s verification policies.
So in short, Apple Pay allows you to tap and pay seamlessly using your iPhone or Apple Watch, providing a fast and convenient checkout experience.
Does Family Dollar Accept Apple Pay?
Unfortunately at this time Family Dollar does not accept Apple Pay or contactless payments from mobile wallets in any of their retail store locations or online.
Family Dollar only accepts traditional payment methods like:
- Cash
- Credit cards and debit cards with magnetic strips
- SNAP / EBT (electronic benefits transfer) benefit cards
- Paper checks in some locations
So for now, Apple Pay and mobile contactless payments are not payment options when shopping at Family Dollar stores across the United States.
Why Doesn’t Family Dollar Take Apple Pay Yet?
There’s a few potential reasons why America’s second largest discount retailer doesn’t take mobile payments yet:
- Cost of Upgrading Terminals: Upgrading point of sale systems to NFC-enabled terminals compatible with Apple Pay does involve some cost to retailers. As a discount brand, Family Dollar likes to keep costs down so their everyday low prices provide value to shoppers.
- Security Concerns: With security and fraud top of mind, some major retailers moved slowly in adopting new payment tech. Over time as Apple Pay proved effective in practice, most leading chains enabled support.
- Complexity of Rollout: With over 8,000 store locations, launching a new payment method requires extensive planning, equipment updates, and employee training across regions.
However, due to Apple Pay’s increasing adoption and shopper demand, Family Dollar may reevaluate and enable mobile wallet payments in the future.
When Will Family Dollar Accept Apple Pay?
Unfortunately Family Dollar has not announced official plans to accept Apple Pay at this time. The company has not commented publicly or made statements around if or when they intend to take Apple Pay.
However, there are positive signs that point to Family Dollar potentially accepting Apple Pay in the next 1-3 years:
- Industry Trend Towards Contactless Payments – Most major discount and retail chains now accept tap-and-go mobile payments, making Family Dollar an outlier without Apple Pay by 2025. They will need to enable it to match competitors and shopper expectations.
- Dollar Tree Ownership – Parent company Dollar Tree enabled Apple Pay in 2019 across all store concepts (Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree Canada). They have the resources and expertise from that implementation to deploy at Family Dollar locations.
- Ongoing Store Investments – Dollar Tree Inc. continues investing in store renovations, which may include new point of sale systems compatible with contactless payments.
But again, Family Dollar itself has not officially announced plans or a timeline for accepting Apple Pay yet. Some sources speculate it could still be 1-3 years away depending on rollout plans.
We’ll update this article when any official announcement is made by Family Dollar regarding Apple Pay and contactless mobile payment acceptance. So check back for updates!
Related Mobile Payment Questions
Here are answers to some additional frequently asked questions about making mobile wallet payments at Family Dollar:
Does Family Dollar take Google Pay or Samsung Pay?
No. Currently Family Dollar does not accept any contactless payments from mobile wallets like Google Pay or Samsung Pay. They still only take traditional payment methods.
Can I use Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App at Family Dollar?
You cannot use third-party money transfer apps like Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or payment services like Affirm to pay at Family Dollar registers in store or online. They only accept cards, cash, checks, and EBT payments.
Does Family Dollar accept NFC payments by phone?
No. Family Dollar point of sale systems are currently not enabled with NFC readers to accept contactless tap-to-pay transactions from mobile phones or wearables. Apple Pay, Google Pay and other mobile wallets that rely on NFC signals cannot be used to checkout at Family Dollar.
Key Takeaways
- Family Dollar does not currently take Apple Pay or contactless payments from mobile wallets as a payment method in any store locations.
- Shoppers can only pay using traditional payment types like cash, physical credit/debit cards, SNAP/EBT and checks at Family Dollar.
- While Apple Pay acceptance could arrive in the next few years with industry shifts, Family Dollar has announced no official plans yet.
- Parent company Dollar Tree does take Apple Pay after rolling it out to all banners in 2019, suggesting possible future support.
- We’ll update this guide when Family Dollar announces or launches support for contactless payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Conclusion
While Apple Pay and contactless payments continue growing in popularity, bargain retailer Family Dollar does not yet take mobile wallet payments or NFC transactions in its stores.
For shoppers wantingmaximum convenience through their iPhones, this can be disappointing. However with digital paymentsconsidered the future, Family Dollar will likely announce and activate support for Apple Pay across its stores inthe coming years in order to match shopper expectations and keep pace with the wider industry.
So for now, customers should come prepared to pay using traditional cash, card, check, and EBT payment methods atFamily Dollar. But keep an eye out for any updates from the company on enabling contactless mobile pay in the near future!