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> Merchants WANT people to use credit cards. There is nothing stopping merchants from offering a cash/debit price and a credit price since 10 years ago. The fra

> Merchants WANT people to use credit cards. There is nothing stopping merchants from offering a cash/debit price and a credit price since 10 years ago. The frank dodd legislation made illegal for card networks to ban offering discounts for debit card payments, and in Mar 2017, the Supreme Court said merchants cannot be barred from advertising higher prices for credit cards. Many small retail stores in my area (delis, bodegas, restaurants) incentivize cash/debit. Not by charging less for them, but by charging extra for using a credit card. Small retailers pay significantly more for CC processing than large retailers. 5-10x more, in some cases.

djleni 5y ago
Charging less for cash is identical to charging more for credit, is it not?
- nobody9999 5y ago
  >Charging less for cash is identical to charging more for credit, is it not? It is not. It's the converse. And the effect is likely quite different -- discounts for cash are usually significantly less than surcharges for credit cards.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    It is the same thing if the end result is prices differing by the same amount.
    - nobody9999 5y ago
      >It is the same thing if the end result is prices differing by the same amount. Perhaps, but as I said: ...discounts for cash are usually significantly less than surcharges for credit cards. At least that's been my experience.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
I specifically noted it at end of my comment: > Note that my above post specified “most merchants”, not all merchants. Obviously, some merchants do benefit from dissuading credit card use, such as the examples I gave, or many gas stations and small restaurants or convenience stores.
- nobody9999 5y ago
  I'm not sure what you're getting at. Is my comment unwelcome because you said something similar?
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    It is welcome, I had just assumed you had not read to the bottom of my comment.
    - nobody9999 5y ago
      >It is welcome, I had just assumed you had not read to the bottom of my comment. I went back and re-read your comment, and yes I did read the bottom of it. The stores I'm talking about aren't large retailers (like Target and Aldi) as you mentioned. Most of the small stores I'm talking about pay 3-5% on CC transactions, unlike those chain stores who likely pay 1.5% or less. What's more, the volume/revenue of such small stores makes such fees prohibitively expensive, unlike Target or Aldi, who already pay less and whose customers are more likely to spend larger sums. The profit on a sandwich and a beer ($10-12) for such a small store might be a couple dollars. Having to pay 1/3 of that in CC processing fees isn't viable. Which is why those stores have credit card surcharges. That was my point, which is, at least AFAICT, a much different one than you made. Apologies if I misunderstood.
    - nobody9999 5y ago
      And to clarify, my comment wasn't intended as a rebuttal of yours. Rather it was intended to be complementary, or at least adjunct.

djleni 5y ago

Charging less for cash is identical to charging more for credit, is it not?

nobody9999 5y ago
>Charging less for cash is identical to charging more for credit, is it not? It is not. It's the converse. And the effect is likely quite different -- discounts for cash are usually significantly less than surcharges for credit cards.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  It is the same thing if the end result is prices differing by the same amount.
  - nobody9999 5y ago
    >It is the same thing if the end result is prices differing by the same amount. Perhaps, but as I said: ...discounts for cash are usually significantly less than surcharges for credit cards. At least that's been my experience.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

I specifically noted it at end of my comment: > Note that my above post specified “most merchants”, not all merchants. Obviously, some merchants do benefit from dissuading credit card use, such as the examples I gave, or many gas stations and small restaurants or convenience stores.

nobody9999 5y ago
I'm not sure what you're getting at. Is my comment unwelcome because you said something similar?
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  It is welcome, I had just assumed you had not read to the bottom of my comment.
  - nobody9999 5y ago
    >It is welcome, I had just assumed you had not read to the bottom of my comment. I went back and re-read your comment, and yes I did read the bottom of it. The stores I'm talking about aren't large retailers (like Target and Aldi) as you mentioned. Most of the small stores I'm talking about pay 3-5% on CC transactions, unlike those chain stores who likely pay 1.5% or less. What's more, the volume/revenue of such small stores makes such fees prohibitively expensive, unlike Target or Aldi, who already pay less and whose customers are more likely to spend larger sums. The profit on a sandwich and a beer ($10-12) for such a small store might be a couple dollars. Having to pay 1/3 of that in CC processing fees isn't viable. Which is why those stores have credit card surcharges. That was my point, which is, at least AFAICT, a much different one than you made. Apologies if I misunderstood.
  - nobody9999 5y ago
    And to clarify, my comment wasn't intended as a rebuttal of yours. Rather it was intended to be complementary, or at least adjunct.