Stores easily make up for the CC fees on volume because it is so much easier for consumers to impulse buy. In fact stores are now happily offering "buy now, pay

Stores easily make up for the CC fees on volume because it is so much easier for consumers to impulse buy. In fact stores are now happily offering "buy now, pay later" deals that cost them much more in fees than CCs because it boosts volume even more than CCs. CC companies are scrambling to catch up there. Merchants grumble because that's what merchants do, but they are coming out way ahead anyway. There was (maybe still is) a cash only restaurant/bar in Boulder back when I lived there. The food and beer were great. They probably could have done an order of magnitude more business if they charged $0.18 more per burger and took CCs. Instead they had an ATM that probably charged the customer 10%. They weren't sticking it to the man, but they sure were sticking it to their customers.