This morning we heard that JCPenney quietly removed support for Apple Pay from its stores. Now we have a better idea why.
The retailer now claims the move was necessitated by the April 13, 2019 deadline in the U.S. for supporting EMV contactless chip functionality. As of this date, all terminals at U.S. merchants locations that accept contactless payments must actively support EMV contactless chip functionality, and the legacy MSD (magnetic stripe data) contactless technology must be retired. JCPenney was not ready to comply, it seems, so it switched off all contactless payment options as a result. However, it hasn’t ruled out re-enabling them later on, it seems.
Check It Out: JCPenney Explains Apple Pay Removal
They don’t have the cash to get new equipment.