So Winn signed, joining others nationwide supporting the c-store industry's fight against credit-card companies.
In Vicksburg, Miss., nine Kangaroo stores owned and operated by The Pantry Inc. began the campaign [image-nocss] Dec. 18 by posting signs on each gas pump and placing petitions inside on counters.
At one Kangaroo store, a manager told the newspaper 396 signatures had been collected in the first week. She said a lot of people who are signing do not realize fees are tagged onto each transaction. The fees amount to 2% or $2 per $100 that customers spend, but the stores insist that fraction claims too large a share of their narrow profit margin.
The North Carolina-based Pantry's campaign leader, Scot Knox, said the company wants to collect 1.8 million signatures at its 1,600 stores in 11 states during the month-long campaign. "We set that figure based on realistic goals per store," he told the newspaper. "That's roughly 35 signatures a day per store."
Across the country, the message is the same: credit-card fees are too high, and it's time to do something about it. As a result more than 10,000 convenience stores have joined the petition drive initiated by NACS.
Stinker Stations in Idaho is another retailer on board. "I think [interchange fees are] outrageous," Jerry Pfeiffer, a Stinker Station employee, told Fox 12 Idaho. "We have to up the price of everything in the store, just to make up for it. So whether you're paying cash or credit, you end up paying for it."
In Utah, John Hill, state director of the Utah Petroleum Marketers and Retailers Association, hopes for a big statewide response, as well.
"We have been approaching Congress for several years to try to require more transparency in allowing retailers to negotiate interchange fees with the bank," Hill told the Deseret News. "Until two years ago, (retailers) weren't even allowed to see all of the 1,500-page contract they signed."
7-Eleven stores have already delivered nearly 1.7 million customer signatures urging Congress to stop unfair credit card fees, and Circle K brought another 500,000. That prompted NACS to open the door for all c-store retailers by offering simple tools to take part in the petition drive.
Convenience stores nationwide paid $8.4 billion in fees in 2008, nearly tripling their share from sales since 2003, NACS told the Vicksburg Post. Other than the cost of goods and labor, the fees are the largest expense the smaller stores facemore than utilities, taxes and all other expenses. In 1995, the association said, 21 percent of sales were by credit card. That rose to 49 percent in 2008.
The association said it wants Congress to address the matter, but the House and Senate already passed one credit-card-fee reform package designed to limit some industry practices. Instead, the legislation has resulted in higher interest charges and fees for consumers, plus higher fees charged to vendors who accept the cards, according to the newspaper report.
Jeff Lenard, vice president of communications at the association, acknowledges to the newspaper that credit-card companies face expenses of technology, fraud and nonpayment by customers. However, he added, "This is a complex issue. The goal [of the petition drive] is to show that this is a big deal that they need to address."
Click hereto view NACS' credit-card petition drive homepage.
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