Sick of paying high merchant fees to swipe credit and debit cards at her restaurant, Keli Coscia tried an experiment to save money.
Coscia, who owns the Country Folks Deli in downtown Longview, calculated how much the fees cost her business in a year, and she was surprised at the result: $18,049.71, enough to hire at least another part-time employee.
"That's a huge amount of money, all for people being able to pull out a piece of plastic and swipe it," said Longview resident Coscia, who bought Country Folks nearly a decade ago with her husband.
This summer, she posted a flyer highlighting those costs next to the cash register along with a request to pay cash, and saw immediate results. In the two months since the flyer was posted, cash payments rose by 6 percent, saving Country Folks hundreds of dollars in pesky merchant fees.
"It's less (money) going into the credit card companies and more going back into the business and paying employees," she said.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop .
Nationwide, merchant fees are a $20 billion business for banks and credit-card companies and a sore spot for businesses. Some, such as Country Folks Deli, are taking matters into their own hands. Meanwhile, new federal laws are attempting to curb the costs for merchants, creating a cat-and-mouse game with bank fees.
On Oct. 1, federal regulators capped the amount banks can charge retailers for swiping debit cards at 24 cents for most purchases. Business lobbying groups declared victory, but banks are already looking for ways to make up billions in lost revenue.
Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. reportedly are planning to nearly triple the debit-card fees charged to merchants — to around 23 cents per transaction for small-ticket items — industry analyst Thomas McCrohan reported last month.
Also last month, Bank of America announced it would charge customers $5 per month to use debit cards, and this summer Wells Fargo announced a test program to charge debit card holders $3 per month in five states, including Washington and Oregon.
Once reserved for emergencies and special occasions, credit and debit cards have become as ubiquitous as the $5 bill. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 181 million Americans carried at least one credit card in 2010, a 14 percent jump over the decade. About 77 percent of consumers nationwide carry a debit card,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET . according to an April 2011 survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
The changing card landscape could cause consumers to flee to no-fee credit unions or simply plan to carry around more cash.
For restaurants and other businesses who struggled with tight margins in the recession, it's a welcome shift, said Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Restaurant Association.
"They were really trying to manage through tough times.Save on Bedding and fittings, When times are great, it's easy for costs to get lost in the system. When times are tough, nothing is lost in the system," he said.
The biggest challenge for retailers is understanding how much they're paying in swipe fees, which can vary by card and the various promotions they offer, Anton said. Some cards charge businesses more in order to make up for customer perks, such as frequent flyer miles, he said.
"You really have to be a sharp operator to really understand the costs."
Other local businesses are starting to take note and develop their own strategies to cut those card costs.
At the beginning of the year, the L&J Feed stores in Longview and Woodland began offering a 5 percent discount for all cash purchases, Longview store manager Nichole Hewitt said.
Store owner Lyle Smith realized that at least 3 percent of the store's sales were going to card fees, and the cash discount has put a dent in those costs, Hewitt said.Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,
Family-owned L&J relies on a wide base of regular customers who understood why the business wanted to avoid paying card fees, Hewitt said.
One man made it a point to hit the ATM machine before buying $600 in fencing,The additions focus on key tag and impact socket combinations, she said. "A lot of our customers will actually leave and come back to pay cash. And when they come back the next time, they do remember."
At Country Folks Deli, Coscia said she'll continue trying to educate her customers, but she won't take the drastic step of refusing credit and debit card transactions. That would cost the restaurant too much business, she said.
Coscia, who also owns the four Papa Pete's pizzerias in Centralia, Longview, Ridgefield and Castle Rock, is balking at posting a similar pay-cash request at those eateries because they often draw in travelers who only carry plastic, she said.
Coscia, who owns the Country Folks Deli in downtown Longview, calculated how much the fees cost her business in a year, and she was surprised at the result: $18,049.71, enough to hire at least another part-time employee.
"That's a huge amount of money, all for people being able to pull out a piece of plastic and swipe it," said Longview resident Coscia, who bought Country Folks nearly a decade ago with her husband.
This summer, she posted a flyer highlighting those costs next to the cash register along with a request to pay cash, and saw immediate results. In the two months since the flyer was posted, cash payments rose by 6 percent, saving Country Folks hundreds of dollars in pesky merchant fees.
"It's less (money) going into the credit card companies and more going back into the business and paying employees," she said.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop .
Nationwide, merchant fees are a $20 billion business for banks and credit-card companies and a sore spot for businesses. Some, such as Country Folks Deli, are taking matters into their own hands. Meanwhile, new federal laws are attempting to curb the costs for merchants, creating a cat-and-mouse game with bank fees.
On Oct. 1, federal regulators capped the amount banks can charge retailers for swiping debit cards at 24 cents for most purchases. Business lobbying groups declared victory, but banks are already looking for ways to make up billions in lost revenue.
Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. reportedly are planning to nearly triple the debit-card fees charged to merchants — to around 23 cents per transaction for small-ticket items — industry analyst Thomas McCrohan reported last month.
Also last month, Bank of America announced it would charge customers $5 per month to use debit cards, and this summer Wells Fargo announced a test program to charge debit card holders $3 per month in five states, including Washington and Oregon.
Once reserved for emergencies and special occasions, credit and debit cards have become as ubiquitous as the $5 bill. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 181 million Americans carried at least one credit card in 2010, a 14 percent jump over the decade. About 77 percent of consumers nationwide carry a debit card,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET . according to an April 2011 survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
The changing card landscape could cause consumers to flee to no-fee credit unions or simply plan to carry around more cash.
For restaurants and other businesses who struggled with tight margins in the recession, it's a welcome shift, said Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Restaurant Association.
"They were really trying to manage through tough times.Save on Bedding and fittings, When times are great, it's easy for costs to get lost in the system. When times are tough, nothing is lost in the system," he said.
The biggest challenge for retailers is understanding how much they're paying in swipe fees, which can vary by card and the various promotions they offer, Anton said. Some cards charge businesses more in order to make up for customer perks, such as frequent flyer miles, he said.
"You really have to be a sharp operator to really understand the costs."
Other local businesses are starting to take note and develop their own strategies to cut those card costs.
At the beginning of the year, the L&J Feed stores in Longview and Woodland began offering a 5 percent discount for all cash purchases, Longview store manager Nichole Hewitt said.
Store owner Lyle Smith realized that at least 3 percent of the store's sales were going to card fees, and the cash discount has put a dent in those costs, Hewitt said.Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,
Family-owned L&J relies on a wide base of regular customers who understood why the business wanted to avoid paying card fees, Hewitt said.
One man made it a point to hit the ATM machine before buying $600 in fencing,The additions focus on key tag and impact socket combinations, she said. "A lot of our customers will actually leave and come back to pay cash. And when they come back the next time, they do remember."
At Country Folks Deli, Coscia said she'll continue trying to educate her customers, but she won't take the drastic step of refusing credit and debit card transactions. That would cost the restaurant too much business, she said.
Coscia, who also owns the four Papa Pete's pizzerias in Centralia, Longview, Ridgefield and Castle Rock, is balking at posting a similar pay-cash request at those eateries because they often draw in travelers who only carry plastic, she said.
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