Following the event, more than 24,497 signatures collected statewide from convenience store consumers were accepted by Senator Mike Crapo's (R) office.
"Idahoans made [image-nocss] their voices heard loud and clear: It is time for elected officials to stand up to the credit card industry and large banks and reform credit card fees that today cost the average American household more than $400 a year," said Patrick Lewis, partner of Twin Falls-based Oasis Stop 'N Go Convenience Stores. "More than 25,000 customers took time from their busy days to deliver this message, and it is time for Congress to listen."
Credit- and debit-card swipe feescalled "interchange fees" by the banks that set these ratesare a percentage of each transaction that Visa and MasterCard and their member banks collect from retailers every time a credit or debit card is used. These fees average about 2% in the United States, the highest rate in the industrialized world, said NACS. In 2008, Americans paid more than $48 billion in credit-card swipe fees. These fees are nonnegotiable and set in secret by the credit-card companies and their member banks.
Last year, 7-Eleven stores delivered 1.66 million customer signaturesincluding 1,090 from Idahofrom a petition campaign urging Congress to stop unfair credit-card fees. It was the most signatures ever delivered to Congress on a policy issue in American history, NACS said. Earlier this year, more than 10,000 c-stores across America collected consumer signatures on petitions in their stores in a campaign coordinated by NACS. The 24,497 Idahoans who signed their names to the petitions delivered yesterday were part of that nationwide campaign.
"From coast to coast, customers are fed up with the credit card companies and their outrageous fees," said Charley Jones, president of Boise-based Stinker Stores Inc. "Millions of Americans have asked Congress to fix a clearly broken system and we are delighted to present some of those voices directly to Senator Crapo and the Idaho delegation so that they know how important this issue is to their constituents."
According to NACS, there are 798 c-stores in Idaho; of that total, 489 (61%) are owned and operated as one-store "mom-and-pop" businesses. These small businessesand now consumersare asking Congress to help level the playing field for retailers by giving them a seat at the negotiating table with banks to determine the fees assessed for every sale made by credit card, and ultimately reduce the costs of everyday goods for consumers.
Economists also suggest that credit-card swipe fee reform also presents an opportunity for badly need job creation, NACS said. A recent study, "The Costs of 'Charging It' in America," by Jiwon Velucci and Robert J. Shapiro, former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce, found that if swipe fees were reduced to levels that reflected the actual costs of transaction processing, economic activity would increase enough to create 242,000 new jobs across the country.
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"All we ask is that Congress simply enhance the competition by allowing retailers to negotiate with the dominant banks for the terms and rates of the fees," said Suzanne Budge, executive director of the Idaho Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association.
Meanwhile, NACS has just released a short, interactive cartoon designed to educate consumers about the problem of credit- and debit-card swipe fees and get them involved in a solution.
"Did you know that $2 out of every $100 you pay for products at your local convenience store goes to hidden interchange fees?" asks the narrator. Users can then see the effect that swipes fees have on purchases, whether for fuel, milk, bread, snacks or the daily newspaper. The result likely will be shocking to many consumers, given the low, or even negative, margins that convenience retailers have on small purchases made with plastic, the group said.
"The battle over credit and debit card 'swipe fees' that has been raging on Capitol Hill for the past five years will be heating up again soon," said NACS senior vice president of government relations Lyle Beckwith. "The credit-card industry makes $125 million a day on swipe fees, so it is obvious why they want to protect their 'secret tax' on consumers and retailers. This cartoon is an interactive tool that can help bring together retailers and consumer to tell Congress why swipe fee reform is so essential to Main Street retailers, as well as American consumers."
Beckwith said that the cartoon has been shared with the national media and encouraged retailers and others in the industry to add a link to the cartoon on their websites. It is available at http://fightswipefees.com/cardfeesgame/main.swf.
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