They probably do. The point is that the extra charge is based on people in aggregate using their credit cards. I can’t decide to stop using my credit card and have the prices go down everywhere. All that will happen is that I will miss out on all the benefits of the credit card.
It’s not that the credit card companies are good at marketing. They’re good at economics. They set the system up in a way that provides direct incentives to people to use credit cards and diffuse disadvantages that apply to everyone. It’s the prisoners’ dilemma model. Sure, we’d all be better off (in some ways), if we all agreed to not use credit cards. But for any given individual, there is an incentive to use them at every turn.
It’s not if I see the fee. It’s if the fee is directly applied. I’m well aware that credit cards have to be paid, and that part of the cost increase is borne by all customers. The difference is if the fee is actually selectively applied. If that happened, I’d factor that in to my decision about when to use cash or plastic.
I have no problem, in general, with credit cards costing a specific fee to use. However, for the very few shops who try to impose one now, I do have a problem, because it’s deceptive. They post a Visa/Mastercard logo on the door so you can always see it, but the minimum/fee notice is usually on little post-it note by the register. Sometimes it’s not posted anywhere. You have to get up to the register and have the clerk tell you. If small shop owners want to put a sign up (at least as big as the credit card logos) proclaiming their fee policies, then I can choose to not waste my time shopping there (if I want). Or they could band together and renegociate with the CC companies. It’s pretty clear that, in the long run, if we’re going to switch to plastic for most transactions, the per-transaction cost is going to have to come down from $0.35.
Costs would not change for these things. We make a change run every day - no fee associated with this service from our bank. We pay no fee depending on our deposit amount - I have deposited as little as $3500 and as much as $20000 - no fee at all. Our chain (45-ish stores) has an accounting department, irrespective of cash/credit differences. Because the majority of our credit transactions are pay-at-pump, cash transactions would require more labor in-store, I’d estimate the equivalent of one extra full-time employee per day, about $1500 per month per store… All things being equal, our company would make make several million dollars more in profit if all credit transactions became credit.
How about deciding to pay for all transactions under a certain amount with cash? That’s what we’re talking about here. I’m not proposing anything like not using CCs at all.
Isn’t there an incentive to educate the public about the reality of how cards work and what the so called “bennies” really cost? There’s a good documentary I watched online called “The Secret History of Credit Cards” and it talks about how deregulation has cost the public billions. I repeat. I have no problem using CCs or having CC companies make a reasonable profit. I do think it’s gotten way out of hand and we the public have allowed ourselves to be played. The complaints about small merchants responding to transaction fees is one sign. We’d rather punish them for trying to survive than take a hard look at our habits and what they really cost.
I don’t see the difference. The reason we’re here discussing this is that the CC companies have successfully marketed their product in a way that more people are using them for small purchases. There are several commercials playing now where a small business is having a steady flow of customers swiping their cards and the business is disrupted when a guy decides to pay for his coffee with cash. Everyone stops and looks at him likes he’s some goofy pain in the ass. That’s pretty dam blatant. They didn’t spend a few hundred thousand on that add as a public service. That kind of marketing has taken a serious bite out of merchants profit margin and hurt the merchants selling low dollar items the most. I’m suggesting that merchant is helping us to see exactly how the trend is affecting the marketplace by setting a minimum purchase or having a CC use surcharge for small items. We have a choice to respond by not buying into the illusion of cash back, and other incentives.
Just how large are those logos on the door anyway? I agree that the minimum or a surcharge should be clearly posted but after years of experience in retail I can almost gaurentee that most consumers won’t see it or read it until the issue comes up at the register and someone is complaining.
If I can successfully market my product at .35 per, and everyone needs or wants what I offer then what motivation do I have to reduce my price? The CC companies have most merchants by the short hairs and this thread shows that rather than side with our local merchant to bring transaction fees down we’d rather bitch and have them close up so we can continue to pay through the nose for our convienience.
I think we need a bit more education for the public and some more regulations. That won’t happen while the public remains complacently addicted to convenience, fools themselves into thinking it doesn’t really coat that much, and decides to punish their local merchant rather than understand what’s really going on.
I regularly see armored car services making stops at the larger local stores. That can’t be cheap. Too much cash on the premises is going to attract criminals.
Depending on the store and what they sell accepting CC can attract more criminals of a different type.
Considering small stores that might accumulate a bunch of cash in a day’s business there are ways to deal with it to minimize the risk. Ever seen the signs on the door saying how little cash is in the register.