Yes we pay, but consumers without cards pay the exact same price. Merchants seem loath to charging a credit card fee. I've seen a few gas stations offer a modes

Yes we pay, but consumers without cards pay the exact same price. Merchants seem loath to charging a credit card fee. I've seen a few gas stations offer a modest cash discount, and a few places like Costco won't take most credit cards. As long as consumers don't see the price directly, they have no cause to care. If merchants charged 5 cents for debit but 2 percent for credit, that would wipe out my benefit for "rewards" and my use of credit would be eliminated immediately.