Credit- and debit-card swipe feesor interchange feesare a fixed amount plus a variable percentage of each transaction that Visa and MasterCard and their member banks set and collect from retailers every time a credit or debit card is [image-nocss] used. These fees average about 2% in the United States, the highest rate in the industrialized world. These fees cost the average American household more than $400 per year, according to SSA and NACS, the association for convenience and petroleum retailing, which developed the petition drive.
"As part of the NACS Fight Swipe Fees petition drive, Speedway SuperAmerica is starting a companywide campaign in April with a goal of collecting over 1 million signatures," said Tony Kenney, SSA president and a member of the NACS Board of Directors. "As part of our efforts in delivering an exceptional experience to our customers, we continuously focus on controlling our expenses in order to provide the best value for our products and services."
Credit-card swipe fees today are the second-highest business cost to convenience stores and are non-negotiable, inflating the prices consumers pay for everyday goods and services, according to NACS.
"Credit-card fees are hidden to our customers and have increased at a double-digit annual compound growth rate during the past decade. We expect that our petition campaign will carry more customer voices to Congress demanding that they address the problem of credit-card swipe fees," said Kenney.
Besides in-store petitions, consumers can also make their voices heard through the Web site www.fightswipefees.com, developed by NACS.
Speedway SuperAmerica LLC, Enon, Ohio, is the third-largest company-owned and operated convenience-store chain in the nation and the largest in the Midwest with approximately 1,600 stores located in nine states. Most of the stores are operated under the Speedway and SuperAmerica brand names. SSA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corp.
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