What are Walmart, Smart&Final, Costco MCC codes?
 

I have two overseas issued cards that are giving like 5-8% cashback on supermarket purchases.

Once I used one card at Walmart one day, I did get cashback, but when I used another card at another Walmart I did not get anything because the bank is telling me that the transaction is coded as 'discount stores' not supermarkets.

So my questions are:

- Are all Walmarts using the same MCC or it could vary?
- Do MCC at the same store (like Walmart) vary if one uses a self-checkout counter vs a manned counter?
- What are MCCs for other stores like Walmart - Smart&Final, Costco, etc?

Thanks

My local Walmart does not code as a supermarket.

Target seems to vary from store to store.

I made a small recent 3 item purchase at the local Walmart that was 100% grocery items and it surprisingly coded as grocery. So it may change depending on what you buy.

Has this store coded as non-grocery previously?

Reasonably sure it has, it is a full line Walmart not a neighborhood market. However I despise Walmart and the only reason I went this time was I had a small Walmart gift card I needed to use so my visits are few and far between.

The owner of each store sets the MCC. And most stores are not corporately owned. But if some stores are co-owned as a group. then tend most often to have the same MCC across the group, but even that's not a given, perhaps because of past ownership not being the same exact group.

All Walmarts and Costcos are corporately owned, as far as I’m aware of.

Some Walmart Supercenters, and most Walmart Neighborhood Markets are coded as a grocery, but you need to test first, to see how it codes.

Is it Supercenter?
Because apparently Supercenters are coded as supermarkets but other types of Walmarts are not coded as such

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...85e9c4a7a5.png

I doubt that MCC depends on the type of purchase. It would be quite difficult to implement.
What are the means to do this? Seems 'Visa merchant locator' was shut down recently.

An individual Wal Mart Store has multiple payment processing things going on. It is possible to literally make a purchase at 1:00 PM at a Supercenter for $25 and have it code as Grocery, then make another purchase at the same Supercenter store at the same register with the same card at 1:01 PM for $25 again and it will code as Discount/General Merchandise.

I don't count on Wal Mart purchases to ever work for any bonus at a Grocery Store/Supermarket because they are too unpredictable.

I have not experimented enough with Neighborhood Market units to see how those code or if they do consistently code grocery...

Smart & Final codes grocery.

If you go to OR/WA/ID, Kroger owned Fred Meyer which is like Wal Mart, also codes as grocery.

If you need gas, a Safeway (Vons) gas station will code as Grocery IF you pay the clerk for the gas (do not pay at the pump). Beware you must go see the clerk after fueling if you do not fuel the entire amount, they may give you cash back or they may credit the card (supposed to credit the card, but the register doesn't force that to happen...).

Is this common across all Walmarts or experience in one particular location?

So far all my transactions in one particular Supercenter in Reno using self-checkout counter are coded as Grocery/Supermarkets.

You need to make a purchase and see how it codes.

Do Chase (United, Sapphire), US Bank (Altitude), HSBC Premier MC cards show the code/type of transaction correctly? These are ards I have.