The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) is scheduled to deliver a record-setting number of consumer signatures to Congress today in opposition to hidden credit and debit card swipe fees, also known as interchange fees.
The 2 million consumer signatures collected at convenience stores across the nation earlier this year are believed to be the largest number of consumer signatures obtained for a public-policy issue. Combined with the 1.7 million signatures that 7-Eleven franchisees collected and delivered to Congress last September, 3.7 million consumers have weighed in on this issue during the past year.
Credit and debit card swipe fees are a percentage of each transaction that Visa and MasterCard and their member banks collect from retailers every time a credit or debit card is used. These fees average about 2 percent in the United States and cost American consumers more than $48 billion in 2008, according to NACS.
“Millions of Americans did their part in signing these petitions and urging Congress to take action against unfair swipe fees. Now it’s time for Congress to step up to the plate and take a swing,” said NACS Chairman Jay Ricker, president of Anderson, Ind.-based Ricker Oil Co.
“The secretive and collusive way the credit card companies set swipe fees and impose them on store operators is bad for business and bad for consumers,” said NACS President and CEO Hank Armour.
In announcing the NACS petition campaign last October, Armour asked retailers to “overwhelm Congress with millions and millions of signatures demanding action to fix the broken credit card system.”
“These 3.7 million customers represent the tidal wave of support behind swipe fee reform. And if 3.7 million signatures aren’t enough, we’ll send more,” added David Seltzer, treasurer of 7-Eleven Inc. “We know how important this issue is for Main Street merchants and consumers, and we’re not going away.”
Credit card fees are the second-largest expense item for convenience stores, trailing only labor costs. As a percentage of overall sales, credit card fees increased last year from 1.35 percent to 1.45 percent of total industry sales dollars, factoring in all forms of payment, including cash and check, according to NACS figures. Total credit card fees ($7.4 billion) also surpassed overall convenience store industry pretax profits ($4.8 billion) for the fourth straight year in 2009.
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