Comments on: Charge it http://atomicmike.com/2008/09/charge-it Coffee is better than sleep. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:59:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Evan http://atomicmike.com/2008/09/charge-it#comment-15 Evan Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:22:53 +0000 http://atomicmike.com/?p=113#comment-15 I pay cash at small, family-owned businesses, and I encourage everybody I know to do the same. It's a huge pain in the ass, given that I carry cash infrequently, but I try and make a habit of it. Call it my "soft spot" growing up in a family that owned small businesses, and owning a small business (albeit not one that accepts credit cards) myself. If you've never gotten a chance to review the fee schedules associated with accepting credit cards, as a merchant, you really should try and get your hands on one. The fees I'm seeing in my father's small business for Visa and Mastercard processing approach 2.5% of the gross sale amount with a flat "swiping fee" (50 cents, if I remember correctly) on top of that percentage. Fees vary depending on the sale amount, whether the sale was "pay at the pump" versus handled by a cashier, and what type of card the Customer uses. The whole thing is designed to be as convoluted and incomprehensible as possible such that you, as the merchant, end up entering into a multi-year contract with no way to predict the effective percentage rate of the fees until after you've been in awhile. The credit card system isn't "evil" or anything, and I don't want to do anything loopy like having a government oversight panel set fees, but I do wish that individuals would be more aware of how the system worked. Paying with cash at the local indepedent neighborhood fair trade imported organic vegan fruit smoothie bar and quality hemp-based clothing retailer ought to be as trendy as shopping there in the first place. (*sigh* Did I just type that?) It amazes me that, given how much higher us credit card interchange fees are than the rest of the world, more credit card associations haven't popped up to try and undercut the big ones. I know, I know-- the "network effect" is in play (why own a fax machine if you're the only person who has one, etc.). I dunno-- I can't say I've ever researched trying to start a credit card association. *smile* I would think that captialism, with the help of technology, would sort this mess out, eventually. (Shouldn't technology eventually wipe out the need for these parasite middle-men to anyway? *sigh*) I'll continue trying to milk the system for everything I can (paying 100% of balances on time, favoring "reward" cards, taking advantage of float, in general, etc), but the soft spot in my heart for family-owned businesses makes me loathe to use a credit card when I know I'm taking a bite out of a deserved and oft too low profit margin. I pay cash at small, family-owned businesses, and I encourage everybody I know to do the same. It’s a huge pain in the ass, given that I carry cash infrequently, but I try and make a habit of it. Call it my "soft spot" growing up in a family that owned small businesses, and owning a small business (albeit not one that accepts credit cards) myself.

If you’ve never gotten a chance to review the fee schedules associated with accepting credit cards, as a merchant, you really should try and get your hands on one. The fees I’m seeing in my father’s small business for Visa and Mastercard processing approach 2.5% of the gross sale amount with a flat "swiping fee" (50 cents, if I remember correctly) on top of that percentage. Fees vary depending on the sale amount, whether the sale was "pay at the pump" versus handled by a cashier, and what type of card the Customer uses. The whole thing is designed to be as convoluted and incomprehensible as possible such that you, as the merchant, end up entering into a multi-year contract with no way to predict the effective percentage rate of the fees until after you’ve been in awhile.

The credit card system isn’t "evil" or anything, and I don’t want to do anything loopy like having a government oversight panel set fees, but I do wish that individuals would be more aware of how the system worked. Paying with cash at the local indepedent neighborhood fair trade imported organic vegan fruit smoothie bar and quality hemp-based clothing retailer ought to be as trendy as shopping there in the first place. (*sigh* Did I just type that?)

It amazes me that, given how much higher us credit card interchange fees are than the rest of the world, more credit card associations haven’t popped up to try and undercut the big ones. I know, I know– the "network effect" is in play (why own a fax machine if you’re the only person who has one, etc.). I dunno– I can’t say I’ve ever researched trying to start a credit card association. *smile* I would think that captialism, with the help of technology, would sort this mess out, eventually. (Shouldn’t technology eventually wipe out the need for these parasite middle-men to anyway? *sigh*)

I’ll continue trying to milk the system for everything I can (paying 100% of balances on time, favoring "reward" cards, taking advantage of float, in general, etc), but the soft spot in my heart for family-owned businesses makes me loathe to use a credit card when I know I’m taking a bite out of a deserved and oft too low profit margin.

]]> By: Justin Kohnen http://atomicmike.com/2008/09/charge-it#comment-14 Justin Kohnen Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:25:00 +0000 http://atomicmike.com/?p=113#comment-14 You are oh so mean. Very sly, but still oh so mean. You are oh so mean. Very sly, but still oh so mean.

]]>