Major League Baseball has announced that both Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and AT&T Park in San Francisco will be accepting Apple Pay, starting with tonight’s game one in Kansas City.
While Apple Pay is a convenience for folks who have the right setup, in a venue with long lines, Apple Pay is a convenience for everyone. Simply put, Apple Pay makes lines move faster.
To get a sense of why, think about the time cost for a single transaction. If you pay with a credit card, you have to reach in your pocket or purse, pull out your wallet, find your card, hand it to the vendor. The vendor then scans the card, waits for approval, waits for a receipt to print, hands you back your card, food and receipt. You put your card back in your wallet, put your wallet away, grab your food. And that excludes the case where you have to sign your receipt, hand it back to the vendor, who then compares your signature with that on the back of your card.
With Apple Pay, you reach in your pocket or purse, pull out your phone, touch Touch ID and tap the terminal. The vendor waits for approval, waits for the receipt to print, hands you your receipt. While waiting for approval, you’ve put your phone away. When the transaction is approved, you take your food and receipt and go.
By my analysis, the biggest time saving is the difference between pulling out your phone versus pulling out your wallet and then your credit card. For some people, pulling out a credit card means unpacking a purse or backpack and then balancing the contents of an overstuffed wallet to keep the contents in place. I’ve got my wallet and my phone in one pocket and a fairly minimal wallet. But even in that case, pulling out my phone and touch-tapping with Apple ID is always going to be faster than opening my wallet, finding my card, handing over my card, waiting for the vendor to slide the card, getting my card back, putting it back in my wallet, putting my wallet away.
In a situation with a small line, this is not a big deal. The time difference is measured in seconds, not minutes. But in a baseball stadium, there are time multipliers at work. Some concession stands have long lines that last through most of the event. A small time savings is multiplied, turning into a big time savings by the end of the evening, translating into more customers served and less waiting time per customer.
Bottom line, if I pay with Apple Pay, that’s less time waiting in line for everyone behind me.
I have a technical question. Will Apple Pay be effective against the Kansas City bullpen?
No.
I hope that the installation of Apple Pay ready terminals is a permanent one, as I won’t be attending tonight’s or tomorrow’s games, but I would love to be able to use Apple Pay next year during the season. This will be a prime example of how something like Apple Pay can make a significant difference in time savings. Very rarely is a point-of-sale under so much pressure that Apple Pay will result in a significant time savings, but sporting events are going to be the long-term exception. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out and if there are enough iPhone 6 owners in Kansas City with compatible cards to have an impact on the lines tonight.
I used Apple Pay for the first time yesterday for lunch at a fast food restaurant. I can attest that it is marginally faster than using a credit card (mainly because I dont fish around for my card). I can also say that there is less room for error, as a credit card may often be misread and I have to swipe again. no such issue with Apple Pay.
Go Giants!
OrangeOctober
I had lunch at the “Italian fast food” launch partner yesterday, and yes it was much faster than using either cash or card.
But the Giants were.
Keep Calm
– and –
P A N I K !!!
Don’t remind me. It was hard enough to watch live, let alone relive it in my mind.
I used it at Walgreen’s to pick up some photo prints and it was very, very fast. I had my phone out and ready to go and payment occurred immediately upon the pay terminal being ready to accept payment. It was pretty awesome.
And not having to tap anything on the display to move on afterward saved a large percentage of time, as well.
Go Giants.
This is it. Game 7. May the best team win.
Watching the game with Bumgarner on the mound. Terrific game and series. I’ve come to really respect the Royals during the last week.
They should have sent Gordon home. The KC fans should get the MVP – classy, loud, and cheering right to the end.
I agree. I thought the same while on the couch. As much as I love the idea of Perez batting him in, the odds were NOT in his favor.