TAMPA, Fla. -- The Asian American Convenience Stores Association (AACSA) at its third annual convention held at Tampa, Fla., in early December decided to approach the major credit-card companiesMasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discoveron the issue of high credit-card fees they charge from the convenience stores and gas stations across the United States, which significantly eat into their members' profit margins.
The AACSA has decided to partner with the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) to fight against credit-card fees, Satya Shaw, [image-nocss] AACSA president, said after the end of the day-long conference. "This is the issue of our survival. We have to bring down this high credit card fees, otherwise either we would have to close down the shop or shift to some other business," Shaw said.
"Because of the high credit-card fees imposed by these companies, the profit margins of almost all the convenience stores have come down significantly in the last few years. We are poor people. We work very hard to run the business. It is time that these credit card companies should consider our request and review their fees for the convenience and gas stores," Chandra Kant Patel, chairman of the AACSA, said.
During the conference, the c-store owners who had come from all over the country, identified other major factors responsible for their declining profitsincreasing rentals, utilities fees and other governmental taxes.
Shaw said details of how to "fight it out" with the credit-card companies is being worked out and would be revealed soon after discussion with key leaders from the industry.
The AACSA was established in 2005 under the leadership of Shaw and Patel. The group estimated that there about 80,000 Indian-American-owned c-stores in the United States. Collectively, the owners have a turnover of $80 billion per annum, it said.
[Pictured (from left): Chandra Kant Patel, AACSA chairman; Satya Shaw, AACSA president; Pooja Gupta, Actress; Ayushkha Singh, Miss India USA 2006; Bipin Patel, Asian American Retailers Association (AARA) president; and Viajy Gandhi, AACSA board member.]
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