"If I want to stay in business, I have no choice but to accept my customers' credit cards," T.J. Martin, owner of the Emigration Market in Salt Lake City, told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It is extremely costly, though. Every time a credit card gets swiped, it [image-nocss] costs me 2% to 3% of the transaction price."
Although Congress recently adopted legislation to rein in what it perceived to be some of the abusive practices of credit-card companies, many small-business owners argue the government did not go far enough and that charge-card transaction fees are another way consumers unknowingly get gouged.
They now want lawmakers to take a look at the $48 billion merchants pay each year to the credit-card companies in "swipe," or transaction, fees, money that business owners contend ultimately must be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, according to the newspaper report.
But the Electronic Payment Coalition, which describes itself as a "broad-based group of payment card networks, financial services companies and trade associations," argues that small businesses would be harmed by any legislative effort to regulate the fees.
John Hill, state director of the Utah Petroleum Marketers and Retailers Association, said at the current price of around $2.50 for unleaded regular gasoline, credit-card companies are making about 5 cents for each gallon sold. Moreover, unlike retailers who see their profit margins squeezed when the price of gasoline goes up, credit-card companies make even more money because their fees are based on the amount of each transaction.
"Those fees are outrageous," Hill told the newspaper. "Over the past several years, credit-card companies made more from gasoline sales than the retailers did."
This fall, 7-Eleven franchisees delivered nearly 1.7 million customer signatures to Congressthe largest number of signatures collected for a public policy issue in historyand Circle K another 400,000 urging congressional leaders to "stop unfair credit-card fees."
Beginning Tuesday, Dec. 15, NACS is coordinating an unprecedented campaign to generate millions more signatures from convenience customers, encouraging Congress to reform unfair credit- and debit-card interchange fees.
The campaign, the second phase of the industry's consumer petition campaign, was announced on Oct. 21 at the NACS Show in Las Vegas and immediately generated the participation of thousands of stores throughout the country, according to NACS.
Click herefor more information about the petition drive.
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