I don’t like being angry or frustrated. But I swear, stores that you make you purchase a certain dollar amount of merchandise in order to use a credit card make me want to punch a baby. Yes, it’s that irritating.
Sure, it doesn’t happen a lot. Only a few stores I know of have this stupid policy. But that actually makes it more irritating because it’s always a surprise when you find out you can’t pay with plastic! The nerve!
For those of you who actually have a life and don’t keep up on official credit card policies, Visa/MasterCard/Disover/AMEX take a certain percentage of the sale price as a processing fee. If you’re only buying a $1.75 candy bar, the store might lose money on the sale.
Stores don’t like this obviously, so some of them force you to either buy more or pay with cash. I understand that a business needs to make money. I really do. But I also want a convenient way to pay. If the door has a Visa sticker, I want to pay with my Visa damn it. I shouldn’t be forced to jumped through hoops just to pay.
This type of “discrimination” (yeah, I just called this discrimination) was actually prohibited by the credit card companies. Until now. I learned from Five Cent Nickel that the financial reform bill changed the rules and card companies have now adjusted their policies. Fantastic.
If I was running a business, I wouldn’t mess around with this BS. Sure, I might make a tiny bit more profit if I adopted a minimum. Maybe. But I wouldn’t run the risk of pissing off my customers. Even if they give in and buy more, they’re likely leaving the store with a bad taste in their mouth with a side of annoyance. That could translate into not coming back – even when they were going to spend far over the minimum.
Businesses: Please, end the madness! Either accept plastic or don’t. Don’t cheapen your brand by forcing me to change my payment method to avoid overspending!
Finally: I’ve read about some people who say they’d be “embarrassed” to use a credit card for a low amount – say less than $10. Why? What’s the big deal?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
In addition to a percentage charge, some small credit card processing contracts also have a flat fee. (Try making your accounting software understand that…ironically the cheap ones used by small operations are not wired for flat fees.) So charging $2 at the mega chain grocery store is fine – the processing %age is built into the price of what you’re buying – mom and pop operation can literally pay more in processing fees than you’re spending.
Mom and pop operations are also on much tighter budgets. Losing $100 a month to tiny purchases on credit cards can meaningfully affect their take home pay. So choosing to be annoyed at minimum purchase requirements is a philosophical argument that you’d rather support the convenient mega-corps that can negotiate a better deal with the bank, than a local store owner.
On the whole, if you find out there’s a minimum purchase, you’re left with the choice to either walk away, buy more, or pay cash. This is why it’s usually good to have a small supply of cash for these occasions.
I would say then that a businesses, any size business, shouldn’t accept cards unless they can afford it. Overall, accepting plastic is going to help business or hurt it. Every business owner has to make that decision themselves. I just don’t like random rules.
I don’t really have strong feelings towards either type of business. I feel like some people (not you necessarily!) act like small businesses are unicorns and only exist to make our lives better. But at the end of the day, their goal is to make money.
Maybe I’m just being pessimistic.
I’m curious, but why do you think it has to be white or black issue. Either accept or don’t?
If a store can get a processing contract that charges more but allows them to set a minimum purchase limit, why shouldn’t they. If it helps their business to be able to accept credit cards, but helps even more to only accept credit cards under certain conditions, why should they not be able to do that?
On the whole, I’m perfectly okay with businesses making money. I just fail to see why accepting cards has to be a yes/no decision, instead of falling somewhere on the spectrum in between. If a minimum purchase limit will lose them a customer, that’s the price they pay for implementing it, and it should be factored into their cost/benefit analysis when deciding if/when/how to accept payment cards.
I’m just not someone who would change my buying habits because someone has a minimum, and I’m not entirely convinced that it’s a rational thing to do.
I want it to be a black/white issue because it’s annoying when you walk into a store and don’t find out you can’t use a card until after you’ve already picked up your merchandise and waited in line.
Case in point:
I stopped by a local ice cream shop and ordered a milkshake. Once the girl handed it to me, I gave her my Visa and she said “To pay with this, we have to charge you an extra $0.50.”
Um…what? There was no sign anywhere posted and the display outside the store happily announced “WE ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS NOW!” I agreed at the time, but if I could redo it I would refuse and walk away. (I had no cash on me.)
I don’t know why any business owner would want potential customers to be frustrated for any reason.
Ah, well, lack of signage is another issue altogether. I’ve never encountered a minimum purchase requirement without a sign announcing it. That would piss me off, too.
Easy for you to say. When someone tries to run a credit card for a $1 purchase at my store, basically I’m paying some bank so someone else can take my product (and get their credit card reward points) and I lose money. Sorry. Find four quarters or quit being so cheap.
I understand that you might lose money on a few items, but you also have to realize you might be harming your brand in the eyes of consumers if people think “Store X makes it harder to pay.” I don’t get how I’m being “cheap” by paying the price on the tag? I didn’t address this in the post (maybe in the future!), but cash handling carries a cost with it too. Trips to the bank cost money, cash/coins are more prone to loss, time taken to count money, etc.