The county where I live nipped that right in the bud. I can't understand why, no skin off their ass.

My county charges a fixed fee to accept the card but its small compared to the cash I get back.

I honestly don't understand where the money is coming from.

It comes from people that pay the minimum balance/maximum interest each month.
We were lured over to their cards with incentives that some people just can't take advantage of,
because of -reasons- and we get to reap those benefits, surely to the chagrin of the powers-that-be. My dad once told me that credit card companies call the people who pay off their card each month 'deadbeats'.

My county will charge an extra 4% if you pay your taxes by CC or debit card. For a CC it's what it cost THEM (i.e. what the bank/CC charges THEM), for a debit, it's a rip-off .... a debit only cost them pennies an a tax bill that could be thousands. Pay a 10K tax bill by credit .... the bank/CC makes $400 .... nothing is "free" ..... the card industry skims off a % of every single purchase .... even if you pay on time and never incur the "loan shark-ish" rates.... they've got the public to buy into their B$ imo.

I used to worked for 2 of the largest banks in the US (in IT, not as a banker ;)) decades ago, and part of my gig was making sure the $$$ flowed ... 10s of BILLIONS every single day. Say a Walmart is making a 4 Billion $ transfer .... and say 1/4 of that is via CC purchases .... that's a cool 4 million for the bank/CC industry they skim off the top. Cards add to the cost that all of us pay .... for everything... debit card fees are reasonable imo... CC charges are not.

And that's before the profits they rack up on folks who carry a balance @ 18-20% interest.

NOTHING is free!

It is for me when I use my CC. There is no annual fee, and I have never paid interest in decades of using it. I get charged the exact price on the bottom the receipt. Then I get a percentage back as an incentive to use their card and not my debit card.

I love using pay at the pump for gasoline. I never have to set foot inside the store.

Same here. I dont even have a debit card. Cant remember last time I went inside to pay for gas. Cash is a pain, having to wait for the teller to count change.

You're right of course. I'm a happy idiot getting 3.25-5%.

But the truth is that everything (except rare 'cash price' stuff like fuel) has had its price jacked up so the banks can skim their cut.

Here I was so happy that I'm getting cash back, but everyone (except the banks) would be happier with that skim gone from every price. Everyone gets 'cash back' all the time.

I suppose they'll claim the fees are needed to support this amazing system but lets see their accounting and what the costs really are.

I have experienced a 3.5% fee using a credit card at restaurants in the Chicago area. Kinda irritates me because no one wanted cash at stores during the pandemic. I don't carry allot of cash and never carry pocket change.

I shop at a local little grocery store several time per week. With my debit or credit card, wave it at the card reader, and bam, it is paid for, and I can grab my stuff and go. Often I seem to have my typical luck of some "little old lady" wait until the total is rung up to dig into the bottom of her purse to get out her wallet, pull out cash and have to wait as the change is counted out, or even worse, as she digs in her coin purse to get the exact change, and then put everything back in her purse, and grab her stuff and go.

I use my debit card all the time .... love the convenience, and it doesn't cost the merchant squat compared to a CC. And no .... I don't worry about it either....

The banks will NOT kill their Golden Gooses .... err .... Geeses :D