(Image credit: the Canadian Press).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Attention businesses — the buck stops with you on credit card fees

Oct 12, 2022 | 4:42 AM

PASSING THROUGH THE CHECKOUT the other day, I asked the cashier if the store had implemented the new credit card interchange fees.

“Not yet,” she said. “And I hope we never do.”

But some, or many, stores will. Those fees could go as high as 2.4 per cent. This is to help merchants get around the problem of having to pay fees to the credit card companies for the privilege of accepting plastic.

It’s not about making money, they say, it’s about recovering a cost.

I’m calling BS on that one. Merchants aren’t absorbing the cost of anything. They’re already passing on the cost of credit card service to their customers; we just don’t see it because it’s buried in the price of the item.

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Adding a credit card transaction fee on top of what they’re already charging simply bolsters their bottom line. It’s just another addition to the inflation we’re already experiencing.

Businesses accept credit cards from customers because it’s a convenience to both. Businesses avoid having to handle a bunch of bills and coins, customers avoid having to carry it around in their wallets and pockets. Spending is easier.

Remember the cashless society? That’s the scenario in which cash would no longer be used at all. We’re already at a stage when transactions are mostly digital and cashless, and it seemed as though we’ve been heading irreversibly toward the day when money would no longer be needed or printed.

But piling on credit card fees just might put the brakes on that. We may once again walk around with silver jingling in our pockets, wads of bills fattening our pocketbooks.

You could say the buck stops here. People just aren’t in the mood for having yet another cost thrown at them.

Yes, we’ll use our debit cards more, but we’ll also be very careful where we shop. Businesses that resist adding the new charges will get our business; those that don’t, won’t.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.