>"The fact of the matter is that retail goods and services cost the same whether I pay cash or use a credit card. So might as well take the benefits the card of

>"The fact of the matter is that retail goods and services cost the same whether I pay cash or use a credit card. So might as well take the benefits the card offers" The merchant costs for processing the purchase of those products is baked into price though. The net effect is that the fees the merchant pays push your retail price up. You're not really getting a benefit if you get 2% back and the retail price is 2% higher to account for the merchants processing fees.